Emotions and Reflection

Identifying our emotions can be an important part of good mental health. Being able to name and describe emotions provides us with the capacity to begin to understand ourselves and our reactions. It is an important part of the capacity to reflect. Understanding what you're feeling at a given moment can help you to make better decisions, move through uncomfortable emotions, and prevent some of those bad feelings in the future. Psychologists are often surprised by how many patients cannot accurately put a name to the emotion they felt when describing a situation. Individuals can describe how they felt but cannot categorise the emotion; for example; an individual can describe feeling like they wanted to cry, but does not describe the emotion as sadness. Emotions have important functions or meanings and the work of therapy can sometimes be making more balanced interpretations of our emotions.

Reflection
Reflection is the examination of one's own conscious thoughts and feelings. In psychology the process of reflection relies exclusively on observation of one's mental state.
Through self-reflection, one begins to identify areas of strength and need, and can identify emotional responses. The process of reflection may improve personal performance and encourage continued self-awareness over time. Self-awareness is key to the development of emotional intelligence, as it allows us to recognise the feelings we have and become aware of our mood and the thoughts that are driving our mood. Both reflection and emotional intelligence help with the development of insight and self-awareness.

Emotional Intelligence
The theory of emotional intelligence was introduced by Peter Salovey and John D. Mayer in the 1990s, and further developed and brought to the attention of the public by Daniel Goleman; however some psychologists do not believe it can be measured easily and therefore question how easy it is to scale. However; it is believed you can learn to identify the emotions you are feeling as well as understanding them. If you are able to name the emotion you are feeling, you have a better chance of understanding what you are feeling. You can also learn to better regulate your emotions just by stopping and thinking before you act and judge.