For Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week, MYPAS Counsellors shared their expertise on handling different emotions by covering one emotion each day of the week.

Using characters from “Inside Out 2”, they provided examples of how to respond to the feelings and offered tips on dealing with them.

Here’s the round-up of the emotions we covered.

Ennui: a feeling of and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of occupation or excitement

Tips from us:

• Try to stay with an empty mind and pay attention to whatever random thoughts pop into your head
• Instead of scrolling on your phone, try to learn something new, either through YouTube, Wikipedia or anything similar

What can help you:

• Listen to music; maybe save a new album or artist you have always wanted to listen to for these moments
• Use mindfulness techniques to notice random thoughts that pop into your head
• Journal any thoughts and feelings that are coming from this feeling

Sadness: the feeling of being unhappy, especially because something bad has happened.

Tips from us:

• Acknowledge how you’re feeling and know that it will get better within time
• Accept small changes in life, everyone goes through them from time to time
• Create a structure for yourself and try to keep a routine

What can help you:

• Go outside to breathe fresh air
• Share your feelings with someone you trust and who will make you feel understood
• Do some exercise; it will stimulate the production of endorphins, which will uplift your mood
• Commit to the structure you set for yourself

Fear: an unpleasant emotion caused by the threat of danger, pain, or harm

Tips from us:

• Acknowledge and accept the fear
• Rationalise and process where the fear is coming from and what the fear is about
• Try to face up to your fear, slowly and gently

What can help you:

• Do breathing exercises
• Practice meditation
• Do some art work
• Talk about it with someone you trust
• Remove yourself from the situation, physically and emotionally

Anxiety: a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease about something with an uncertain outcome; fear of the unknown

Tips from us:

• Understand the root cause of the anxiety, as it can be irrational
• Acknowledge the anxiety and understand that it’s a normal reaction
• And have in mind:

– Anxiety is not a bad thing, it’s a warning to keep you safe

– It can affect normal functions, like eating and sleeping.

– It’s important for you to manage it, not get over it.

What can help you:

• Breathing exercises
• Mindfulness meditation
• Journaling to externalise your emotions to better understand and rationalise them
• Do some positive self-talk
• Have some alone time or be around people – see what works best for you

Anger: a strong feeling of annoyance, displeasure, or hostility

Tips from us:

• Acknowledge the anger and try to find out the source
• Identify if it’s normal or supressed anger
• If directed at someone, tell them it might be a sign of underlying emotions
• Be self-aware, but remember that being angry is normal

What can help you:

• Take some alone time to process your anger
• Do some art work to externalise your feelings
• Do some exercise, like running
• Hit a pillow or a boxing punching bag

Embarrassment: a feeling of self-consciousness, shame, or awkwardness

Tips from us:

• Practice self-compassion, everyone experiences embarrassing moments, they don’t define you
• Shift your perspective and ask yourself if this will matter in a week, a month, or a year
• Remember you’re not alone, everyone experiences embarrassing moments; it’s part of being human

What can help you:

• Take deep breaths to calm your nervous system and reset your thoughts
• Talk to a trusted friend or family member to gain perspective
• Write down what happened and reframe it with humour or a learning mindset

Envy: a feeling of discontented or resentful longing aroused by someone else’s possessions, qualities, or luck

Tips from us:

• Acknowledge that feeling envious is normal, everyone feels it
• Try to identify positives about yourself
• Realise that everyone has their own insecurities and struggles
• And ask yourself: Can this be turned into an aspiration?

What can help you:

• Journal to understand where the envy comes from and if you can, indeed, turn it into an aspiration
• If preferred, do some art work of your choice to understand the feeling
• Practice gratitude
• Talk to friends who will hype you up