Do You Know How You Feel? Emotional Health Basics

That look on your face

You're at church, at a bar, out with your kids at the grocery store or park, grabbing coffee for a quiet minute, or on a plane rushing home for a family emergency. For whatever reason, your face tells the world one thing:

You’re not in the mood.

Something has gone wrong on a large scale for you.

Stephanie left the small town she grew up in because she wanted to travel. Her sister stayed to care for their mother, who has several medical issues. Six years ago, their mother had a quadruple bypass and now takes many medications. Yesterday Stephanie's sister Chris called: their mother blacked out in the grocery store.

Chris rushed their mom to the E.R. After an MRI, the doctors diagnosed her with delirium. Stephanie was already on a plane before the medical team finished the CT scan, and she felt terrified.

On the plane the passenger next to Stephanie asked, Are you alright? Is something wrong?

Emotions versus feelings

We often say emotions and feelings like they mean the same thing, but they do different jobs. Emotions are the brain's biochemical reaction to changes in the body, a survival mechanism. Fight or flight is an emotion. Feelings are how you experience those emotions, often at a subconscious level.

We can't control the moment an emotion happens, but we can learn to identify and regulate our responses once the emotion appears. Correct identification matters. If you can name what you feel, you can choose how to respond.

Common feelings

• Excitement
• Shame
• Empathy
• Mood shifts
• Tiredness
• Anxiety

Some feelings overlap. For example, contentment and joy both sit under happiness. The important part is noticing the signal your body sends, then naming it.

How do you feel?

Start with a baseline. Recognize feelings you know well. Tiredness is an easy example: your body tells you to sleep. If you can answer How do I feel? honestly and quickly, you found a familiar feeling and a place to explore your mind-body connection.

Stephanie felt terror about her mother and anxiety about the situation. Those were clear signals she could name. Name your feelings when they occur. Use that clarity to choose a next step, even if the next step is resting, calling a friend, or making a plan.

Recognizing your feelings gives you options. It doesn't make the emotion disappear, but it helps you respond with intention instead of reaction.