Stage 4 of 7 · 7 lessons · ~2 weeks

Name your emotions and read what they tell you

Learn to notice and name what you feel precisely, see how thoughts drive feelings, spot your triggers, and know when feelings need more help than a journal can give.

Start: Emotions are information

Lessons· one lesson for each topic, in this order

Do this

Use a feelings wheel to name your mood precisely twice a day for two weeks
Do a thirty-second body check three times a day for one week
Write down one situation, thought and feeling, and test the thought against the evidence
Track mood, sleep and screen time for two weeks and name two patterns
Write a three-step plan for your hardest recurring feeling
Save one person and one professional service you could contact if things got heavy

Start with· follow one of these

VideoFree
Why We All Need to Practice Emotional First Aid (Guy Winch, TEDxLinnaeusUniversity)
Guy Winch (TEDxLinnaeusUniversity)
Why we look after small emotional injuries less well than physical ones, in one talk
GuideFree
NHS Every Mind Matters
NHS (England)
Free NHS self-help for stress, low mood and sleep, with a short personal plan

Practise

Medito (free meditation app)
A free, non-profit app for short guided pauses to notice feelings and breath

Keep handy

Mind: mental health information and support
Plain-language A to Z on emotions and mental health, and when to get help
Find A Helpline
Free crisis and support lines by country, if feelings ever become too much

Also worth your time

Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy (David D. Burns)ReadPaid
The classic, readable guide to catching and correcting thinking traps

Before moving on: Two weeks of short mood notes with precise feeling words, your top two triggers or patterns, one thought you caught and rewrote more accurately, and a written plan for how you respond to your hardest feeling.

Tauseef's advice

If you were raised to keep feelings to yourself, naming them can feel strange or even disloyal. Start privately, in your journal, with one word at a time. You are not becoming emotional by doing this; you are becoming accurate. And if something feels too heavy to carry, that is the moment to reach out, not to try harder alone.

Struggling right now? If you are in danger or thinking about harming yourself, contact local emergency services or a crisis line: Find a helpline (any country), Umang (Pakistan), Tele-MANAS, 14416 (India).