The benefits of an Emotions Chart
Now I will be honest with you, when this tool first got introduced to me by my Speech Therapist I was a little apprehensive because I thought it was something I would never actually end up using and potentially just be a waste of my time. Me being me of course didn't want to offend and verbalise these internal thoughts so I went along for the ride and honestly it's one of the best decisions I have made!
This is a tool where I can go periods where I don't need to utilise it all that often and other times where it's my best friend, but regardless of the frequency I use it, just creating it was a very helpful self-reflective task that helped me become more aware of myself. If you have a partner or someone who is a big support to you, it's a great idea to get them involved too as sometimes they are able to add ideas that you might not even be aware of! My husband was amazing with helping me creating my chart and was potentially more accurate at putting signs and strategies into their correct levels than what I was, because he's the one that observes it every day so was able to give me that outsiders perspective of how I'm presenting to the world.
What is it?
Put simply it's a chart that helps us break down our emotional stages using colours so that when words escape us we are still able to identify how we are emotionally and have some regulation strategies ready to go so that some of the thought process and pressure can be removed. If you have a child with neurodivergency you might be aware of the feelings volcano tool, it's visual tool to help children learn to identify their emotional state so they can learn to better control and regulate as they grow. The emotions chart is essentially a grown up, more detailed and tailored version of the emotions volcano, as it requires us to identify what each emotional stage looks like for the individual and proven tools and strategies that work for that individual to help them regulate their emotions.
This is not only an incredibly useful tool for yourself, but a great tool for any loved one, carer, friend or even professional that has a lot to do with you as it will help them identify when you are starting to get overwhelmed and struggling to cope and help support you in regulating your emotions so you can avoid a meltdown/shutdown.
How it works
An emotions chart involves breaking your emotions down to 5 different stages starting from calm and relax working it's way up to meltdown/shutdown stage. Each stage has a different colour attached to it which you can change to suit what you like, but the general idea is to pick a cool calming colour for your most relaxed stage then work your way up to a bold and alerting colouring such as red, but again this is something can be completely personalised so you pick colours that make sense to you.
For each stage you identify how you feel, as best you can because this for me was a challenging. Then for each stage in the chart you have 2 columns, "what it looks like" and "how to help". The column "what it looks like" involves a mixture of what it feels like internally for yourself but also what it looks like on the exterior, so the signs that would be visual to others. Now this is where having someone you are close to is incredibly helpful because they can potentially offer insight to habits or ques you haven't even taken note of, for example my husband contributed my willingness to leave the house as a signal for what stage I'm at, the more relaxed I am the happier I am to leave and the higher up on the chart I am the more likely I am to make excuses or struggle to leave the house. Once he said it I couldn't have agreed more, but it was something that never crossed, potentially because it's a coping mechanism and a way that my brain helps me feel safe, but in any case it's a great que and signal for others around me to be able to help identify what stage I'm at.
Then you have the column "how to help" which identifies some of the tools and resources you find useful to help regulate your emotions and de-escalate your emotional state to a more calm one where you can feel in control of the situation. These strategies can include things like your favourite foods, sensory comforts, fidgets, strategies such as removing yourself from the environment and so much more. Again it's incredibly helpful to have someone you're close to and trust to help with these suggestions because they are often the ones that are helping us try to regulate in overwhelming times so they might even do or give you things that you didn't even realise were directly related to helping you try to regulate, and these coping methods are essential for this chart to be able to work properly. If anything having your support person contribute to this chart makes you realise just how much they know you and help you through your daily emotional rollercoaster.
How to us it There are many ways you can use this chart and potentially many I am yet to think of, so if you have any other suggestions I would love to hear them!
But a few ways that I use my chart is by having a printed copy or two up somewhere I will see it frequently so for example the fridge, above my desk etc. I also like to keep a copy of my phone, it's not a version I use often because it requires me to remember that I have it to be able to open it up utilise it, but I love having it because it's my emergency copy so if I were to forget other versions I do have a reference and it's something others like my husband can remind me of if needed. Another way I use my chart, which I will be honest took me a long time to wrap my head around and accept that it's ok to have and doesn't make me less of a person, is having a keychain version. So I have each stage on a small bit of coloured card (keychain size) and on one side have the "what it looks like" column and on the other side have the "how to help" column. Although this version took me the longest to be ok with it's probably the most useful version I have because it's portable so as long as I have my keys I will always have a copy on me, so I have that quick reference guide on me to help when I'm struggling to think for myself. Now I think about it I could definitely create a similar version of the keychain one to have in my wallet for those times I'm not driving and don't have my keys on me.
Try it yourself
I strongly recommended this tool and encourage you to give it a go. At the very least creating your own chart will help you with your personal development and self-awareness, and like I said before if you can get a loved one or someone you're close to and trust to help you complete it then you have the potential of creating an even stronger and more powerful resource for yourself.
If you'd like to give it a go, I have a template of the chart you can download using the link below. In the template I have included examples of "how I feel" for each stage which you can either keep or use as starting points to help you identify what each stage feels like for you.
Remember you can change the colours for each stage to what you like and what makes sense to you, the only thing I recommended is trying to keep the colours starting at a cool calming tones and moving up to more warm and vibrant tones to make it easier to identify each individual stage, but again if that doesn't sit right for you and doesn't make sense then you do you! Because you should always stay true to yourself and be loud and proud!
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