Emotions can be difficult to understand (especially for special needs children), but figuring out and identifying your own emotions is critical to understanding who you are as a person. How we react to certain situations and the intensity in which our emotions flare up can tell us a lot about ourselves, and it’s what makes each and every person unique. You can read out guide on how to teach emotions to your autistic child here.
One of the most important aspects of your emotional palette is your home emotion.
What is a Home Emotion
Your home emotion is how you feel often when you are alone with no one else to influence you. It’s an essential piece of identifying who you are, and everyone has a home emotion.
A home emotion doesn’t have to be a singular emotion, but it can be a mix of several; it’s simply a term for what this mix of emotions might be. It also isn’t limited to a select few, as some people’s home emotion can be anger, while others can be joy.
These are different from situational emotions, which occur in reaction to certain people, events, or ideas.
Identifying Your Home Emotion
Picture yourself on a Saturday afternoon. You have the day off from work, your chores have all been done the day before, and you have no plans for later in the day. You’ve gotten plenty of sleep, you’ve eaten, and you have yet to pull out any form of entertainment. You’re home alone, and at the moment, you’re lying in bed, getting comfortable.
Within these moments, how do you feel? Are you anxious? Do you feel content? What sort of thoughts tend to run through your head? What would you do after this moment of relaxation, and why? These are all questions that will help you to identify your home emotion. You can use an emotion color wheel to help you with this.
Remember that the lack of emotion still counts. Apathy does technically count as an emotion, even if it’s an oxymoron.
By knowing your home emotion, you can use your understanding to help yourself, whether it’s to plan out how to motivate yourself or simply to understand how your emotions shift and change around other people.