Name it to Tame It

Help youth to get more specific and expand their emotional vocabulary, replacing basic feeling words with more sophisticated terms. They graduate from using words like ‘ok’ or ‘fine’ to using words like ‘alienated’ and ‘hopeless,’ or ‘tranquil’ and ‘serene.’ By teaching subtle distinctions between similar feelings, this empowers youth and adults to recognize the full scope of their emotional lives and address all feelings more effectively. Another outcome is to understand how our emotions in turn affect our behaviors, decisions, ability to relate to others, physical and mental health. See: ei.yale.edu.