How to express your emotions: 8 tips

Tips on how to open up to others so they understand how we feel.

Virtually no interaction between human beings would make sense if we could not express our emotions. The most important thing in a dialogue, whether with words or without words, is to show desires, intentions, needs and, in general, our way of experiencing emotions. However, doing it in the right way is not easy. Some people do it naturally without having to think too much about it, but for others it is more complicated.

In this article we will look at some tips about how to express emotions of a suitable way in our personal relations of the day to day.

How to express emotions in 8 steps

Showing what we feel is not only necessary to connect emotionally with other people. It is also therapeutic, necessary. It is difficult to keep what we feel to ourselves, especially if it has to do withespecially if it has to do with emotionally charged experiences.

But where there are conversations there are usually also certain dynamics of self-censorship. The fear of what people will say, of giving a bad image? All of this makes it difficult to open up to others.. Taking this into account, expressing feelings is not easy, since it implies showing our most personal and, sometimes, even intimate side.

However, there is virtue in balance, and there is always a way to keep certain topics too intimate to share in any way and express what can be revealed, without letting misunderstandings arise. So, let's look at some tips on how to express emotions when interacting with others.

1. Map your feelings

It is impossible to express an emotion if you don't have a rough idea of what the feeling is.. Therefore, it is important to stop and think about how words can best fit that experience.

So, if necessary, write down on a piece of paper how you feel, in as structured a way as possible. But don't be obsessed with accuracy, because after all, feelings can never be fully reflected by language: even with the use of metaphors, there will always be facets of them that cannot be communicated. Try to ensure that what is most important is translated into words.

This step is especially important at the beginning, not only because of the lack of practice that exists at this stage. It is also important because If we do not go through this phase, it is easy for us to get stuck, and these situations are often so unpleasant that we can become discouraged and stop trying to make progress.These situations are often so unpleasant that they are capable of discouraging us from trying to make further progress in this direction.

2. Don't wait too long

This advice is derived from the previous one. Don't wait too long believing that the passage of time will give you the tools to express yourself better. That will only make you constantly postpone the task of expressing yourself, and you will never get out of your comfort zone. you will never get out of your comfort zone.

3. Choose the right time and place

Context also has communicative power. It is not the same to open up to someone during a university class as it is to open up in** a quiet, quiet place**. Therefore, look for a context that suits the content you want to convey and that does not lead to confusion.

4. Determine the purpose

What is the purpose of expressing what you are feeling?Do you just want to get it off your chest, or do you want to make sure the other person understands everything you say and help you solve a problem? Based on this information, it will be easier for you to adapt the following tips to your needs.

5. Make sure you don't rely on abstractions alone.

To express feelings, you should use abstract concepts, such as "helplessness" or "fear", but it is important to complement this with other content that refers to more concrete and easily identifiable elements. That is why it is good to to use examples of concrete past experiences that give way to a description of objective facts. In this way, the other person will not get lost.

6. Create a narrative

Don't just describe what you feel in a static way, as if those emotions and feelings were static. If you show its evolution over time, everything will be more understandable and the other person will be able to identify better with you. and the other person will be able to identify better with you. Explain why you feel this way and how your emotions came about.

7. Be concerned about whether he/she understands you

Give the other person the opportunity to ask you if he or she does not understand something, put yourself in his or her place, change the formulation of your sentences if you are using references unknown to your interlocutor... In short, avoid making this experience a monologue.

8. Learn from your mistakes

Human relationships are always imperfect, so there is always something to improve. there is always something to improve. Every time you decide to express your feelings, be sure to mentally review what happened, and take note of your mistakes to correct them and learn from them. Practice and repetition will lead you to improve in this type of skills, just as it happens in the rest.