Naming the Storm: How Writing Calms Chaotic Emotions

 

Week 2 – Naming the Storm

Last week, you met your journal — a place that listens without judgment. This week, we’re going to give your emotions something they often don’t get: a name.

Most of us are taught to keep our feelings neat and quiet, like shoes tucked away in a cupboard. But science — especially neuroscience — shows us that the opposite is healthier. When we label an emotion (“I feel anxious,” “I feel angry,” “I feel sad”), the intensity of that feeling actually drops.

It’s called affect labeling. Brain scans reveal that when you name what you feel, the overactive emotional center (the amygdala) calms down, while the rational, soothing part of your brain (the prefrontal cortex) lights up. In short: words make the storm less wild.

This week’s focus:

Instead of bottling feelings up, give them form. Put them into words. Write them, draw them, sketch them — let your journal catch the storm.

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Writing Prompts:

1. “Right now, the heaviest feeling I carry is…”
   Don’t overthink. Just complete the sentence. If one word is all you have, that’s enough. If it spills into a page, even better.

2. Draw your anxiety/stress as a shape or weather pattern.
   Is it a tornado? A gray cloud? A boulder? A knot of wires? You don’t need to be an artist — let your pen or pencil sketch the feeling, not the picture.

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Takeaway:

Words (and even doodles) give shape to what feels chaotic. Once you can see it, you can begin to carry it differently.

Your storm, named and sketched, loses some of its power. And your journal becomes not just a page — but a safe container for the weather inside you.

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✨ Next week, we’ll explore how to shift perspective — turning those named storms into stepping-stones.