Lesson 4
Thoughts and Emotions
This lesson focuses on the difference between thoughts and emotions, and teaches you to know which you are experiencing. This ability is very valuable.
My Journal
Emotions or thoughts
In this activity, you’ll learn to tell thoughts and emotions apart by remembering a time when you experienced both.
First, think of an event that sparked one of the feelings in the list of charts below.
Then, remember any thoughts that came with the emotion. For example, if your friends didn’t invite you to a party, you might have felt angry that they didn’t even text you about it.
"I am happy or joyful"
When did you feel it?
What did you think?
"I'm unhappy"
When did you feel it?
What did you think?
"I'm super-mad"
When did you feel it?
What did you think?
"Will something bad happen?"
When did you feel it?
What did you think?
"Gross"
When did you feel it?
What did you think?
Congrats!
You just earned:
25
Experience points help you keep track of your achievements. How many can you earn?
Lesson 4
Emotions and thoughts are different.
Were the thoughts about the emotion? Something else? Did the thoughts make sense to you then? How about now?
Have you ever thought about how emotions and thoughts can work together?
This exercise helps us see the difference between thoughts and emotions. It also helps us see how they can be linked. Sometimes, we have trouble telling the two apart.
Remember our discussion of EI, or emotional intelligence? It can help us understand ourselves, make better decisions, and connect to others.
This exercise builds our EI by developing a skill called the observing self. This skill allows us to observe and monitor events, processes, thoughts, and emotions within us.
My Journal
The Internal Journal
Event
Pick an event that caused you moderate but not severe discomfort or distress. For example, you might choose “coming home to find a pile of dishes in the sink” or “taking a test”. Write it below:
Senses
Select whether you saw, touched, heard, smelled, or tasted something that made you aware of the event.
Emotions
Which emotions did you experience?
Thoughts
Thoughts are beliefs, opinions, evaluations, analyses, or facts that we have about the event. For example: “I shoudn’t feel sad about this” or “Nobody really cares”.
Behavior
What actions did you take when the event occurred?
SUDS
SUDS stands for “subjective units of discomfort scale”. A rating of 0 means completely calm and a level 10 is the most uncomfortable one could possibly be. Set the slider below to indicate your level of discomfort.
Self-soothing
Now, it’s time for a self-soothing exercise!
My Journal
The Internal Journal
SUDS
Rate how you feel about the memory now, after doing a self-soothing exercise.
Any improvement in your SUDS score is amazing! It means that your brain is beginning to rewire itself around that event and the emotions you feel about it. If you didn’t experience an improvement in your SUDS score, that’s ok, keep practicing self-soothing exercises to help bring it down.
This process takes time, but it can help us feel better about negative memories. Did you experience more space or distance between you and your memory?
Congrats!
You just earned:
A rare prize
These special rewards don’t appear often. See if you can collect all 5!
Congrats!
1
You completed a lesson!
0
You added 0 experience points.
1
You learned a new skill.
