The Power of Emotional Literacy
Your emotions play a big role in your reality.
Whether it’s in your conscious awareness or not.
You ever met that one person who always got angry very quickly?
And when you point it out to them, they looked at you like you were crazy?
It’s because they may have not been aware of their emotions.
Emotions are a very vague term.
And when something is vague, our language regarding it is vague as well.
Picture someone who PRETENDS like they know what they are speaking about.
They talk in circles & say a whole bunch of nonsense.
After they are done talking, you feel more confused than you were initially.
When we lack a true understanding of something, our language normally gets sloppy.
And sloppy language leads to vague concepts.
Why do you think the greatest leaders tell you to WRITE down your goals?
That’s because you are bringing clarity to them.
Well, guess what bud?
You gotta bring some clarity to your emotions.
Otherwise, you are going to leave a sea of wreckage.
Charisma comes down to knowing how to tune into your emotions & regulate them.
You are the maestro.
In order to learn to regulate your emotions, you need to build emotional literacy.
The ability to define & put words/perspective on your emotions.
You’ll be learning that in today’s post.
Keep reading if you think the emotions that you radiate will come back to play a big role in your life.
The Dangers of Fuzzy Emotions
You ever had that moment when you felt off?
Couldn’t quite put the words to it.
When someone asked you what was wrong, you wanted to say something…
But didn’t the problem know yourself?
If this situation sounds familiar, then you are like many out there.
And this is one of the reasons you have anxiety.
Anxiety is born from ambiguity.
Confidence is born from clarity.
When you lack an understanding of your internal world, your language gets fuzzy.
Or you put black & white labels to gray emotions.
The end result is you inadvertently bottle something up.
And who knows…
That emotion may come back to haunt ya.
If you get angry about small things, then you are running away from the big things.
What is Emotional Literacy?
Emotional literacy is a very funny phrase.
Because it is an oxymoron.
This will make sense, but first, stay patient for a second.
Emotional literacy is when you are able to put your feelings into perspective & words.
Our words play a big role in our reality.
And when our words are sloppy, then our mindset becomes sloppy.
How well can you identify your emotions?
While you ponder that question, I want to say why I called emotional literacy an oxymoron.
The reason is that words are a big part.
Yet also a small part.
In reality, what makes emotional literacy, LITERATE, is not the words.
But the process of physically feeling emotions.
When you can feel emotions, that’s when you add depth to your being.
You may realize you were getting worked up over something that was minuscule.
‘If feeling our emotions is important, then why don’t more people do it?’
Because it feels like you’re doing nothing.
But that’s because your focus is on the objective world.
When you are just sitting and doing nothing, you feel like you’re wasting time.
However, for your subjective reality (your internal world) doing ‘nothing’ makes all the difference.
Sitting still in some silence allows you to physically feel the emotions.
And when you physically feel emotions, you temporarily strip the emotion of a subjective label & process just the energy.
- Emotion = Energy + Perception.
Our goal is is to temporarily suspend the perception to feel the energy.
That’s when your journey for emotional literacy begins.
Adding Depth to Your Emotional Vocabulary
Now that you have FELT the energy, you have more data for your database.
This is very powerful in all parts of your life.
It’s funny when I hear the advice ‘listen to your intuition.’
Yet, when you think about it, the advice is vague.
If you’re a very logical person, then you have no clue what that means.
Yet you confuse yourself into thinking that you understand the concept.
Intuition is not something that you can logic with.
It’s a FEELING based phenomenon.
And intuition rises the more that you get in touch with FEELING the energy of your subjective world.
The next thing you need to realize is that ‘happy’, ‘mad’, ‘sad’ are beginner-level stuff.
It’s cool to start off there, don’t get me wrong.
But think of those labels as kindergarten level.
Once you start feeling your emotions as energy, you start adding nuance to those words.
Now you realize that you can feel:
Scared & hopeful.
Anxious & excited.
Happy with a tad bit of doubt & courage.
Once you start layering the labels, your emotional depth builds.
Here’s a quick warning…don’t turn this into some intellectual exercise.
Intellect has its place in the real world.
But let building emotional literacy be a more intuitive exercise.
Intuition is a skillset.
It’s something that we have to constantly work on.
And emotional literacy will be your gateway.
Emotional Literacy 101:
- Feel the energy.
- Do your best to be descriptive.
Why Emotional Literacy Will Improve your Confidence
Now with all that has been said, I want you to know something.
Emotional literacy is a personal experience FIRST.
You are not just building emotional literacy so you can tell others how you feel all the time.
That may be a derivative.
However, you are building emotional literacy so you can grab control of your internal world.
A large part of your life is influenced by your perceptions.
Not necessarily what happened to you.
But rather, how you PERCEIVED it.
When you start learning this crucial life lesson, you realize that emotional literacy is a major skillset.
It’s because you have more in-depth knowledge via your internal world.
Individuals who have knowledge of their subjective reality make smarter decisions.
They don’t just have experiences.
They have processed experiences that lead to wisdom.
When you have wisdom, you KNOW.
And I mean the real KNOW.
Not the person who just recites a bunch of data, facts & stuff.
When you know, it’s something that happens in your being level.
And that level of knowledge happens when you can feel your energy.
Your body & mind are linked.
One influences the other.
Emotional intelligence is an exercise of you integrating both of the worlds together.
When the brain & the heart meet, you level up your confidence.
Practice Makes Perfection: Becoming Emotionally Literate
The beauty of emotional literacy is that you never run out of opportunities to learn.
This is a mega tool in terms of self-improvement.
You ever met 2 people who have gone thru a lot of similar experiences, yet were very different?
One became a victim.
The other became a victor.
Why?
It’s because of the differences in their perception.
One took the shotgun approach to say they were ‘anxious’ and mailed it in.
The other took the road less traveled to sit with some dark emotions.
And then they were able to assess the situation, feel the energy & assign the right label.
Results?
A perception of a winner.
All the opportunities for emotional literacy are here for you bud.
It’s time you learn the art of sitting with your feelings more.
A step towards doing nothing to obtain a whole lot of something.
For more practical communication insights, subscribe to my free daily newsletter.
– ArmaniTalks 🎙️🔥
