By Caitlin Brock, Ed.S., M.Ed., LAC, NCC

Everyone has emotions because they are a necessary part of being human. However, sometimes you may not know exactly what you are feeling. If you do not know the emotion you are feeling, it is difficult to know how to manage and tolerate it. When you are not mindful of your emotions or you are trying to ignore, avoid, or fight emotions, this can lead to emotionally overflowing. Picture a bucket full of water. If you add even one more drop of water, it will overflow. Now think about that bucket representing your feelings. When you are walking around with a full bucket of emotions, adding just one more can cause you to emotionally overflow- lashing out at people, becoming aggressive, having the urge to hurt yourself, or becoming so depressed you stop getting out of bed in the morning.

Becoming more aware of your emotions and putting up with them, even when painful, is what is needed to be able to learn to manage and control emotions.

The first activity I have provided will help you to recognize and express what you are currently feeling. The next activity digs you deeper to gain insight regarding the different emotions you feel and naming those emotions.

My Mood

Start with thinking about how you are feeling in this moment. Are you in a good mood or bad mood? You do not have to put a name to this feeling. Just focus on the sensations in your body. Now represent this feeling using lines, shapes, colors, and/or images. Give yourself permission to do this in a natural and freeing way without judging or criticizing what you are creating.

Once completed, look over what you created and turn it different ways. Then answer the following questions:

  1. What do the colors, shapes, and lines represent?
  2. What images can you find in what you created? What might those images want you to know about your feeling?
  3. What was occurring before you created your art? What were you doing? Thinking?

Bucket of Feelings

Now draw a bucket and think about this bucket holding ALL of the emotions that are present for you right now. Draw a line across the bucket where your emotional level would be. Inside of your bucket, represent your different feelings using images, shapes, and colors. Then on the outside of the bucket, name and list the emotions that you represented.

  1. How did it feel to have to name your emotions in this activity? Was it harder than just representing your feelings through images, shapes, and colors during the first activity?
  2. Did you notice anything about your emotions as you were naming them? Did you begin to experience more emotions? Fewer?
  3. Journal this experience and the insight you have gained regarding the emotions you experience. Think about the typical level of your bucket. Does it tend to overflow or is it usually at a manageable level? Are you aware of your emotions or do you ignore, avoid, or fight your emotions?

Once you are able to become more aware of your feelings and name those emotions (without avoiding, ignoring, or fighting), you will gain more control over those emotions so that even intense emotions will have less control over you.

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Caitlin Brock (Ed.S., M.Ed., LAC. NCC) is the owner and founder of Creative Expression. Caitlin’s unique approach to counseling implements creative art expression and play therapy techniques to help children, teens, and young adults with freely and naturally expressing themselves through creative outlets. Caitlin is dedicated to help individuals with building trust, gaining hope, feeling understood, positively connecting, expressing thoughts and feelings, and improving overall well-being. She leads a pre-teen social skills group, teen girl self esteem support group, and an anger management group for teen boys.