In one of our sessions, I asked David to identify 5 feelings he wanted to feel each day and 5 he didn’t (but knew sometimes he might) This was a concept I brought to life with my client, let’s call him David, using a very simple card game called The Emotional Culture Deck. Conscious awareness of our emotions and feelings provides us with a choice to do something differently When we have a conscious awareness of our emotions, in other words awareness of the feeling, in depth data is provided which can offer up the choice of a different pathway for us to take in order to achieve what we want to. The interpretation of our feelings are shaped by our experiences, beliefs, values, memories and thoughts.įor most of us, we will have been experiencing the same emotions and feelings for years, which means for the most part they are automated and habitual. Feelings are our brain interpreting our emotions So our feelings are what arises as our brain interprets our emotions. Then we begin to integrate the emotion and “think” about it. We experience an event, then our body releases emotions (chemicals) all over, not just in our brains.

I believe this virus has given us all an invitation to stop and look at our emotions and analyse if they have been working for us or not.Īccording to neuroscientist and professor at the University of Southern California, Antonio Damasio, feelings are our brains conscious interpretations of emotions. If we are willing to stop and be consciously aware of our feelings, they are a tremendous source of data. The common thread through both of these aspects is everyone is experiencing emotions and feeling their feelings. Some people are feeling gratitude for aspects of the shifts this virus has all forced us accept. Some people are in deep fear about what is happening now and the uncertainty of what lies ahead. The array of peoples experiences and therefore their emotions is wide and varied and they are all as valid as each other. Yet it’s true to say that because of our collective experience of this pandemic, emotions and feelings are running high with many people right now. If you are like me, you have been inundated with emails about how businesses are dealing with the virus or invitations to webinars on how to be resilient and keep things ticking along during this crazy time. Forgive me for beginning this article with a reference to Covid-19.

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