If you have ever felt a heavy weight in your chest but could not quite explain why? Or snapped at someone and later realized it was not really about them? Then, you are not alone. Many of us experience feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, or numb, but often we do not have the vocabulary to describe what goes on inside. According to the American Psychological Association, emotional awareness is the ability to recognize and name your emotions and is a foundational skill for emotional well-being.

When we can name what we are feeling, we become better equipped to regulate this feeling, communicate effectively, and make healthier decisions. Think of emotions like internal signals. If we can’t read the signal, we can’t respond appropriately. As psychologist Dr. Dan Siegel puts it: “Name it to tame it.”

As highlighted by many Indian famous psychologists, understanding and naming emotions is the first step toward building emotional intelligence and overall mental well-being.

In this blog (which is part of our blog series “Understanding, Describing and Managing Emotions”) we take a deeper look at our emotions to understand what they are, what they entail and how they help us.

What Are Emotions?

Emotions are more than just “feelings.” They are full-body experiences involving:

Prompting events/ triggers (something that occurs internally or externally)
Interpretations (how we interpret or think about the event)
Physical sensations (tightness in the chest, racing heart, tears, smiles)
Urges to act (to cry, to shout, to run, to reach out)
Communication (facial expressions, tone of voice, body language)

This means emotions are not just “in your head”, they also involve your body, brain chemistry, attention, and behavior.

Experiencing Emotions: How They Work in Real Life

Emotions can at times be intense and confusing especially if we have never been taught to recognize or work with them. Hence, it becomes important for us to understand what the experience of “feeling our emotions” looks like-

Emotions often show up quickly and unexpectedly, like waves. They rise, peak, and fall usually within minutes, but what we do in these moments can either help us ride this wave or keep us stuck in it. Our emotions are also self-perpetuating. For instance, have you ever noticed how your emotions can influence everything around you? When you are angry, everything feels unfair. When you are sad, the world seems heavier. This is because emotions make us susceptible to things that match what we are feeling at that moment. Our emotions are made of multiple components that are often elicited in response to external and internal events. They are systemic and involve thoughts, biology, sensations, and behaviors, and each of these components influences the others in the system.

Components of Emotion: A Closer Look

Let’s break down the different parts of an emotional experience

1. Prompting events

These are external or internal events that ‘trigger’ the emotional response. For instance, these could be a stressful email, a memory, or even a physical sensation. There are

Internal prompts: Thoughts, memories, pain, or hunger
External prompts: A breakup, loud noise, criticism, weather
Automatic reactions: Fear when looking down from a high place

2. Attention and awareness

There is no emotion without awareness. If you are distracted or preoccupied, the emotion may not fully register. Hence, you can begin to work with it only once you have noticed it.

3. Interpretation of the event

The meaning you assign to the prompting event is often what fuels the emotion, as your brain is trying to make sense of what is happening in a short time span.

Example: A friend doesn’t respond to your text.

Interpretation 1: “They’re mad at me” → Anxiety
Interpretation 2: “They’re probably busy” → Neutral

4. Sensations

Emotions are always accompanied with physiological sensations and are “felt” viscerally. For example when we feel anger we may also experience an increase in our energy, tightness and tension in our muscles, or when we feel sadness, we may also experience heaviness in the chest or a sinking feeling in the pit of our stomach. Our emotions activate our autonomic nervous system which controls the major bodily systems (endocrine, circulatory, respiratory, digestive, urinary) which cause us to feel these various physiological sensations and changes in emotional states.

5. Behavior

Emotions urge us to act in different ways such as to hide, cry, reach out, shout, withdraw. The goal of emotions is not to suppress behaviors, but to choose responses that are helpful, adaptive and that reflect your values and long-term goals.

What Does It Mean to “Understand” Emotions?

Understanding emotions means more than just recognizing “I’m sad” or “I’m angry.” It means being curious about

What triggered the feeling?
What thoughts came with it?
How did your body react?
What do you need right now?

For example, anger often masks more vulnerable feelings like fear, disappointment, or shame. Recognizing this can shift how we respond to them and in turn ourselves or others.

Primary vs. Secondary Emotions

Primary emotions: these are your first emotional responses to any event. They are instinctive and immediate such as fear, sadness, anger, joy.
Secondary emotions are how you feel about your primary feelings. For example, you might feel ashamed for being sad, or guilty for feeling angry.

Understanding this difference can help you respond more kindly to yourself. Instead of pushing emotions away, you can ask: “What’s underneath this?”

Why do emotions exist and how do they help?

Emotions often get a bad reputation especially when they feel big or uncomfortable. But in reality, they serve an evolutionary purpose of helping us survive, connect, and grow. Our emotions help us by performing the following functions:

Motivate quick and automatic action

Emotions prepare us to act fast. For example, fear helps us avoid danger, and anger gives us energy to confront injustice. Many of these action urges are biologically hardwired. Think of your emotions like they are an internal GPS. They give you direction, even when you don’t have time to consciously think through your next move. In urgent situations, emotions often kick in before logic. For instance, jumping out of the way of a speeding car does not require a pros and cons list.
Help overcome obstacles

Strong emotions such as love, grief, or determination can give us the drive to keep going, even when things are hard mentally or physically.
Communicate with ourselves

Emotions are like internal signals or alarms. They alert us when something matters. For example, anxiety may tell us we are facing uncertainty, while guilt might point to acting, thinking or communicating something that misaligns with our values.
Communicate with others

Facial expressions, body language, and tone of voice often reveal what we are feeling, even before we say a single word. Emotions also influence how others respond to us, whether we intend them to or not.

Misconceptions About Emotions

Many people grow up believing myths that can cause them to suppress or judge their feelings. Here are a few common ones

“Emotions are bad or weak.”
“Negative emotions are destructive.”
“Being emotional means being out of control.”
“There’s a right way to feel.”
“If others disapprove of my emotions, I must be wrong.”
“Acting on emotions means you’re truly free.”

These beliefs can lead to avoidance, shame, or emotional repression which makes it harder to understand and cope with feelings in a healthy manner. It is important to understand that our emotions are natural responses to events and help us process information quickly, automatically and motivate us to act in a situation.

Sources & References

American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Emotion. Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/topics/emotion

National Institute of Mental Health. (n.d.). Mental Health Treatments. Retrieved from https://www.nimh.nih.gov

Barrett, L. F., et al. (2015). Emotion Differentiation and Health. Journal of Emotion.