Communicating My Feelings

Explain

• In the last activity you learned how to identify your emotions. Now you’ll explore how to express those feelings in healthy ways. Good mental health includes taking responsibility for your emotions.

• Communicating your feelings appropriately helps others understand you better, helps to alleviate stress, and allows you to develop and maintain long-term relationships, which improves your health.

Share

• Think back to the last week. Write down some of the emotions you went through and the circumstances that caused them.

• Did you think you expressed your emotions in appropriate ways?

I-Messages

• I-messages are a way to appropriately communicate how you feel.

• Using the word “I” allows you to take responsibility for your emotions.

• I-messages don’t blame or attack the other person.

Read and Complete

• Let’s review some appropriate I-messages.• Turn to “What Can I Say?”

Complete

• Other strategies also can be used to help express emotions appropriately.

• Turn to “Self-Talk & Body Language”.

Ask and Discuss

• How can I-messages help you communicate your feelings in an appropriate way?

• How can self-talk help you understand your feelings before you express them?

• What aspects of body language are important in communicating your feelings?

Summarize

• Communication is most successful when people stop and think about what they want to say and how they want to express their feelings.

• You can develop skills to help you communicate emotions appropriately.