Hi, I’m Ilia Jones, Licensed Professional Counselor in Suwanee, Georgia. I’m here to talk about why it’s important to name your feelings. Being able to identify and name the feelings and emotions that you’re having is a really important skill for having good mental health.

If you can’t name the feeling, then the feeling itself can seem scary because you don’t know what it is. Being able to give it a name suddenly makes it sound like a perfectly reasonable way of feeling. It also helps you to understand and to manage your emotions, and it helps you decide how you want to respond to having that feeling.

For example, if you feel hungry, that helps you know that your body needs food and it helps you decide whether to eat or not. Feelings can be super helpful that way, and knowing exactly what they are can be important. A lot of times it’s also helpful because it helps you connect the feeling to the trigger or the cause for why it happened.

That also helps you know whether it’s related to a situation or maybe the trigger or the cause is a thought that you had. It is also helpful to know that, so that you can figure out the origin and then figure out how helpful that emotion is, and whether it is prompting you to do something about it. This all helps you manage it. So, let me know if you have any questions or comments.