“Our universe is as big as our language“

– Bernard of Chartres

In the world of emotional intelligence, you will often hear the phrase, “name it to tame it.”

Naming emotions, and being able to recognise them when they crop up is a vital skill in better understanding what triggers certain emotions and being able to understand, in the moment, if the emotion we are experiencing is going to help us or hinder us and move us closer to, or further away from, alignment with our values.

It’s because of this that developing a strong emotional vocabulary is such an important first step in increasing our emotional activity.

Like children, if our vocabulary is limited, we have difficulty expressing ourselves or correctly identifying issues. I’ve had several occassions where my young toddler has been inconsolable, and when I ask her what’s wrong, she can’t find the words to express herself which leads to more frustration, an inability to reconcile and accept her emotions and ultimately lashing out or fully melting down.

I’m not suggesting you might reach this stage (though I’ve certainly come close!), but my point is that, without the words to properly express what we are feeling, we can’t fully reconcile that emotion and that can lead to frustration or emotional reactions that aren’t aligned with the kind of person we want to be.

It’s therefore important that we are doing the work to expand the pallet of emotions we have to choose from, and develop our emotional vocabulary in order to be more emotionally intelligent and better aligned with our values.

Today’s prompt:

How big is your universe? What steps do you need to take to expand it?

What emotions have you been feeling most recently? Try to go beyond ‘happy’ or ‘sad’.

Happy journaling.