Wellbeing with Cate.
Wellbeing with Cate.
Zones of Regulation: Understanding and Managing Emotions
The Zones of Regulation curriculum is designed to promote self-regulation and emotional control. It is essential to recognise that all emotions are valuable and can be used to our advantage. The first step in regulating our emotions is to identify and acknowledge our emotional state.
Recognising Emotions and Triggers
Even as adults, we may not aways be aware of our emotions or what triggers them. To develop emotional regulation, it’s crucial to:
- Identify your emotions and recognise when you’re feeling different
- Become aware of your triggers and how they impact your emotions
- Develop self-awareness of your emotional state, starting with when you are feeling good.
Mapping your Emotions
It is hard to learn about your emotions when you are in crisis or dysregulated. The best time to start to learning to recognise or map your feelings is when everything is good. This is a good time to really think about and recognise what ‘good’ feels like for you. Then you can start to notice faster when ‘good’ is disappearing.
Here are some questions to help you map your ‘good’ -
Head
- what is our focus and thinking like? (e.g. sharp, scattered, focused, fuzzy, forgetful, racing, tangled?)
- What are your thoughts and self-talk like?
Body
- How is your physical state? (e.g. energised, calm, jittery, “amped up”)
- Are you experiencing physical sessions like a pounding heart of sweaty hands?
Do
- How is your motivation and energy levels? (e.g. do you want to run, walk or stop moving?)
- Are you multi-tasking or focused on one thing?
- Has your posture changed?
Connectedness
- How is your ability to work with others?
- How is your communication and trust in others?
- Do you feel good about the people around you?
By exploring these questions, you can develop a better understanding of your emotional state and improve your emotional regulation skills. Below is a body map to help you.
