I wrote something about this pretty recently - it must be a topic that is "in the air" but I do think it's a really important one. I was inspired (and informed) by Brené Brown's book Atlas of the Heart (there's also a special of the same name on HBO Max.)
"Recent research indicates that most people don’t even know how to identify their emotions beyond happy, sad, and angry. But without being fluent in the nuance and variety of emotions, known to researchers as emotional granularity, we can find ourselves with a profound lack of information about what is really taking place. This increases the chances that in any given situation, the emotions will indeed be pulling the strings and that we will merely act as their puppets. We need to be able to name our emotions in order to truly grasp them, and by doing so grapple with them so that we can use them as information."
"Harvard psychologist Susan David, explains that if we don’t have a sufficient emotional vocabulary, it is difficult to communicate our needs and to get the support that we need from others. But those who are able to distinguish between a range of various emotions “do much, much better at managing the ups and downs of ordinary existence than those who see everything in black and white.” In fact, research shows that the process of labeling emotional experience is related to greater emotion regulation and psychosocial well-being."
I definitely think it's a really important skill that nearly all of us can work on and improve.
