3-Minute Emotion Noticing Practice

Time needed: 3 minutes (60-60-60 seconds)

Setting: Any time emotions feel present or confusing

Purpose: Building awareness and relationship with your emotional landscape

Emotion Identification (60 seconds)

What: Gently explore what you’re feeling:

- Ask “What emotion is present right now?” without forcing an answer

- Notice if multiple emotions exist simultaneously

- Try naming the emotion more specifically (frustrated vs angry, worried vs scared)

- Observe where this emotion lives in your body

  Notice: How emotions show up physically, whether naming helps or creates pressure, what happens when you just acknowledge feeling something

  Why: Builds emotional vocabulary, reduces emotional overwhelm through recognition, creates space between you and the feeling

Emotional Landscape Mapping (60 seconds)

What: Explore the fuller emotional picture:

- Notice what triggered or contributed to this emotion

- Identify if this feeling is familiar or unusual for you

- Observe how intense the emotion feels (1-10 scale)

- See if other emotions are hiding underneath the obvious one

  Notice: Patterns in your emotional responses, how emotions layer or connect, what emotions feel safe vs threatening to experience

  Why: Develops emotional intelligence, reveals emotional patterns, builds tolerance for complex feelings

Emotion Witnessing (60 seconds)

What: Practice being with emotions without fixing:

- Breathe with whatever you’re feeling instead of changing it

- Notice how emotions naturally shift when simply observed

- Offer yourself compassion for having human emotions

- Let the emotion be present without acting on it or pushing it away

  Notice: How emotions move and change on their own, what happens when you stop fighting feelings, where self-compassion helps

  Why: Builds emotional resilience, reduces emotional reactivity, creates healthy relationship with all feelings

Closing: “All emotions are information, and I can handle what I feel”

Notice: How witnessing emotions differs from being overwhelmed by them

Why: Anchors balanced relationship with emotional experience

Tips:

- No emotion is wrong or bad

- Emotions are temporary visitors, not permanent residents

- Naming emotions often reduces their intensity

- You can feel an emotion without being defined by it

- Emotional awareness is a skill that improves with practice