Affect Labeling

Have you noticed how our negative feelings feed themselves?

• We get angry about being angry.
• We get anxious about being anxious.
• We get stressed about being stressed.

These downward spirals make the emotions much more intense than they need to be.

But luckily, there’s a simple technique you can use to break out of them.

It’s called affect labeling, and it’s as easy as naming the emotion you’re experiencing.

If you feel anxious, for instance, you can make the soft mental note: “Anxiety.”

Research shows that labeling emotions this way decreases their intensity¹.

So, make a habit of putting negative feelings into words.

If you name them, you will tame them².

Footnotes

1. Putting Feelings Into Words
2. I picked up the “name and tame“ phrase in Mindsight by Daniel Siegel.