Structured Emotion Exploration
Identify an emotional reaction that you experienced this week and explore the following questions.
- Briefly describe the situation leading to your emotion.
- Name the emotion. (Use an emotion wheel if needed)
- Observe the emotion. Step back from the emotion and describe the experiences (thoughts, urges, body sensations…).
- Identify and describe any parts of the experience that come and go like a wave (thoughts, body sensations, urges), and describe your efforts to let them come and go without trying to push away or cling to these experiences.
- Explain how it is that you are not your emotion and how you can have the emotional urge without acting on it.
- How long did it take for your worry about this emotion to go down?
- Describe parts of your emotional reaction that you are open to accepting.
- Rate how much you were suffering from this emotion before and after this exploration. (0-10; 0 = no suffering, 10 = extreme suffering).