Building Emotional Awareness

Noticing and understanding emotions in oneself is considered one of the four key ingredients of emotional intelligence (Davies, Stankov, & Roberts, 1998). According to Charoensukmongkol (2015), mindfulness can help one develop emotional intelligence by increasing people’s understanding of their own emotions. Since the practice of mindfulness involves noticing one’s current thoughts and feelings without judgment or interference, one learns to observe different emotional states. In line with this notion, Feldman, Hayes, Kumar, Greeson, and Laurenceau (2007) found that mindfulness is positively correlated with increased clarity of feelings, increased attention to feelings, and lower distraction. Just as intellectual intelligence is manifested through reading and learning, emotional intelligence can be fostered through mindfully attending to current emotional states.

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Goal:

The goal of this tool is to help you develop their emotional awareness through mindfulness meditation.

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Advice:

• While other mindfulness practices targeting emotions typically include ‘acceptance’ instructions (e.g., direct the breath toward the feeling in the body, allow the feeling to be there, sit with the feeling until it reduces or changes) to allow you to experience the transient nature of difficult emotions (see the Acceptance of Emotions Meditation), this exercise focuses on emotional awareness only, and as such, it does not guide people through the process of emotional acceptance. Clients are invited to simply notice and connect with an emotional state. The goal is not to regulate or tolerate emotions, but to help you to become gradually more familiar with their emotions. As such, it is advisable that you choose to connect with positive or neutral emotions in this exercise rather than with difficult or distressing emotions.

• People who have a low level of emotional awareness may struggle to find words to describe their emotions or to describe edges, colors, and any other characteristics of the emotion. If you have a lower emotional awareness it's important to adopt a curious attitude while completing this exercise. Moreover, it takes time and practice to increase emotional awareness.

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• Charoensukmongkol, P. (2014). Benefits of mindfulness meditation on emotional intelligence, general self-efficacy, and perceived stress: Evidence from Thailand. Journal of Spirituality in Mental Health, 16, 171-192.

• Davies, M., Stankov, L., & Roberts, R. D. (1998). Emotional intelligence: In search of an elusive construct. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 989-1015.

• Feldman, G., Hayes, A., Kumar, S., Greeson, J., & Laurenceau, J.-P. (2007). Mindfulness and emotion regulation: The development and initial validation of the Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale-Revised (CAMSR). Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 29, 177-190.