How to make an emotion journal, step by step and with examples.

Instructions and tips on how to keep an emotion diary and benefit from it.

Every day and every hour we feel emotions. Some are positive, others negative, some intense, others milder, and their duration varies.

There is no doubt that people feel emotions, but do we know how to identify them? are we aware that we feel them? Emotion diaries can help us to become more aware of the feelings we experience throughout the day, as well as to recognize which situations have triggered them and also allow us to reflect on what to do.

Here are some steps to learn how to we are going to see some steps to learn how to make an emotion diary, as well as some of the advantages of this kind of diary.We will also discuss some advantages of this type of records and how useful they are to develop our emotional intelligence and artistic skills.

How to make an emotional diary and benefit from it?

We can define as an emotional diary any type of record that we make in which we put how we are feeling every day or, also, pointing only those days in which an emotion, positive or negative, has taken a lot of importance for being very intense. This type of diaries are very used in psychotherapy to make the patient acquire a better management of his feelings, that is to say, to develop more the ability to deal with his emotions.This is, to develop more emotional intelligence, although it is recommended for any person.

People do not feel the same throughout the day. Our mood changes as the hours and days go by, and there are several factors that influence our emotions. The people we relate to, the situations we have to face and our own way of being cause us to manifest all kinds of emotions, all of them adaptive as long as they are within the healthy range and do not represent too high a level of alteration for our daily life.

However, living emotions is not the same as living our emotions is not the same as knowing how to detect and manage them.. It is very difficult to "analyze" an emotion at the moment it is experienced, but it is possible to do so more objectively once we have calmed down and seen it with the widest possible perspective, this being the main objective of the emotion diaries. Being calm we can reflect on how we have felt, in what situation the emotion has appeared, what response we have made to the problematic situation and what we can do in the future to prevent it from being too intense or harmful.

Tips for emotional journaling

An emotional diary can be made by simply writing down on a piece of paper the emotions as we feel them. It is enough to take a notebook and, in a schematic way, start to manage our own emotions by writing them down. We can write down how we feel every day or simply do it in those days in which the emotions have been very intense. The ideal is to write down every day, putting both positive emotions, such as happiness, joy or euphoria, and negative ones, such as sadness, anger, anxiety or rage.

The way we write down our emotions is quite free and is beneficial as long as it allows us to find some emotional pattern that is repeated and what emotions provoke us in specific situations, encouraging the development of emotional intelligence. There may be people who do well to write down how they have been feeling in a very free way, although it must be said that disorder can be a bit chaotic and rather than helping us to manage our emotions and bring us well-being, what it can do is to make us feel frustrated and overwhelmed.

To get the most out of our diary of emotions, it is advisable to follow the following points.

1. Use a notebook

To make a diary of emotions, it is best to use a paper notebook before using the notepad of the cell phone or using a word processor of our PC. Among the reasons why a notebook is preferable to any other format is that it is easy to carry with you and write in it whenever you feel inspired.

In addition, this diary is not only for writing, since in many cases, in order to clearly represent and explain how we feel, we need to make drawings, diagrams, diagrams or even collages.. A physical notebook is a format that allows us to interact with total artistic freedom, something that is directly related to emotions.

2. Choose a fixed time to write

As we have mentioned, there are those who prefer to write down how they have felt every day, while others prefer to do it only those days in which an intense emotion has flooded them, both for good and for bad. Although writing in this diary is something that can be done at any time of the day, it is advisable to establish a fixed time each day to write it down or, at least, to review it.

A good idea is to write (or draw) in this diary in the evening, either right at the end of the day but not necessarily before going to bed.. It is at that time that our mood is less likely to change, since little else is going to happen to us in the little that is left of the day. In addition, it is at night the time when we tend to be calmer, being the night hours the most appropriate time to reflect on how we have felt throughout the day.

3. Use a grid

Although we can use any artistic resource to express and describe our emotions, it is appropriate that within this freedom we use a minimum of order and using a grid is a good way to achieve this.. This grid made with rows and columns can help us to have a very precise outline of the emotional events that we have lived throughout the day.

We can put several categories in each column: situation, thought, emotion, response and suggestions or alternatives to our response, as well as questions.

3.1. Situation

In "situation" we will be able to what has happened to us during the day that has awakened a specific emotion.. We must be as specific as possible, specifying all kinds of details and people involved in the situation. It can also be a future situation that, although it has not happened to us yet, awakens emotions in us, both positive and negative. Some examples might be:

"Tomorrow I have an exam in which I am gambling 60% of the grade of a subject that I am having a hard time understanding".

"Today my classmate Caterina told me that I am totally useless at doing group work".

"This summer I will go to Tenerife".

3.2. Thoughts

In the "thoughts" column we will put the ideas that happened (or are happening) in our head that are related to that situation. These thoughts, in case they are anticipatory to a situation that has not yet occurred, can be exaggerated, either catastrophic or overly optimistic. It is by writing them down in the diary that we can detect whether or not they are realistic and proportionate to the situation:

"I'm going to fail the exam because I barely understand the subject and, despite having studied hard and having gone to all the classes I still don't understand anything".

"I think he made that comment to me because he doesn't like me, because my part of the work is well done and the teacher gave us a good grade anyway."

"Every day we are going to go to the beach in Tenerife, I'm going to meet new people, I'm going to get a tan and it's going to be an unforgettable vacation".

3.3. Emotions

In the "emotions" part we put how we feel. It may seem the easiest part, but curiously it is the most difficult. It is easy to identify our thoughts, but not so easy to identify our emotions.. Specifying and labeling how we feel, explaining it in the best way with words is a real feat, plus we have to do considerable introspection and recognize emotions we may not want to say we feel:

"I'm so nervous, I'm climbing the walls. I can't concentrate because the idea that I'm going to fail keeps running through my head and I get even more overwhelmed."

"Even though I know that girl is not right, she has made me feel very bad. I feel like I'm worth absolutely nothing, that I can't have good friends and that the few people I have relationships with aren't able to appreciate me for who I am."

"I'm going to have a really good time. I'm going to be happier than I've ever been. Nothing is going to go wrong."

3.4. Physical sensations

We can put a category for physical sensations, although they can also be described in the column of emotions as a result of them. We should specify whether the sensations change or are permanent, whether they make us unable to do normal tasks or give us pleasure. Some of these sensations can be the following, all of which can be caused by both positive and negative emotions: tachycardia, sweating, rapid breathing, numbness, tremors...

3.5. Response

We can analyze the behavior or response that we have made to the situation, also seeing if it is appropriate or not for the type of context and emotion we have experienced:

"I am so overwhelmed that I am not able to study, which is wrong because only by studying I will have a minimal chance to pass".

"I've told her that she's a total useless at a lot of other things, like being able to read a paragraph out loud in class without squinting."

"I've started making plans to make sure everything is going well for the trip. I have found out if I need to be vaccinated and if I can't bring certain foods or vegetables to the island."

3.6. Suggestions

Lastly, we can put what this emotion suggests to us or what alternative we can make to the response we have already made.

"I should calm down. I may not pass the exam but the best thing I can do is to calm down now and try to see if I get the contents in. There's no point in being nervous on the exam because, if I am, I'm certainly not going to know the questions and I'm not going to remember what I've studied.

"The best I can do in the face of her comments is to ignore her. I'm sure she has some problem or is on edge because something has happened to her. Since I've done my part well, I have no rational reason to feel bad about what she says to me. True, I would like everyone to like me, but you just can't do that, and sometimes there are people who pick on others just for the fun of it."

"Although I'm excited because I'm going to travel to Tenerife, I should calm down a bit and be proactive. It's not putting myself in the worst situation, but it is being a bit realistic. Maybe if I go around the island too happy and confident I'll end up getting robbed seeing that I'm not watching my belongings or not watching how expensive the restaurants, hotels and nightclubs are. I have to have a good time, but with substance".

Benefits of keeping an emotional diary

There are many advantages to writing an emotional diary. When it comes to expressing how we have been feeling during the day, this type of diary allows us to to be aware of those emotions, what situations have triggered them, how we have behaved, how we have anticipated that they would get better or worse and, in addition, it allows us to reflect and find ways to better manage those feelings. and find ways to better manage those feelings. In other words, it helps us develop our emotional intelligence and, consequently, brings us greater well-being.

For example, this type of diary is perfect for people who have a lot of obsessive thoughts, thoughts that can be very limiting when it comes to doing work or studying.. By means of the diary of emotions and writing them down on the days or in the moments and contexts in which they occur, we can see what are the triggers that make us have this kind of thoughts and, thus, put a stop to them by avoiding them or directly get rid of them.

Emotions turned into art

Emotion journals are not only a good tool to bring emotional well-being to our lives, but they are also a real exercise of self-knowledge and development of our artistic skills. As we have already mentioned there are those who prefer to explain their emotions by means of written text, but this does not mean that we write in a dry and cold way how we feel.. We can use metaphors, comparisons, say that emotions have colors and tones or describe them by saying that they evoke a certain melody or song.

However, if we are more visual people, the emotion journal can serve us well to practice many pictorial skills. We can paint, draw, make diagrams, represent with abstract figures how we feel... The diary of emotions can be a true work of art, a work of art made from our own lives, experiences, emotions, thoughts and feelings.. It is turning our emotions into art.

Bibliographical references:

• López E. and Arango T. (2002). Emotional Intelligence. Learning and growing together: Bogotá (Colombia). Ediciones Gamma S.A.
• Goleman, D. (1995). Inteligencia Emocional. Why it is more important than IQ: Barcelona (Spain). Ediciones B, S.A.
• Leahy, R. L. (2003) "Emotional Processing Techniques", chapter 8 of Cognitive Therapy Techniques. A practitioner's guide, New York, The Guilford Press.