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Name It to Tame It
Most thought-work asks you to name the feeling and rate it first. If that's genuinely hard for you, you're not doing it wrong — difficulty reading your own emotions (alexithymia) is common, especially for autistic people. The trick is to start from the body, where the data is, and work toward a word.
Start in the body
Tick where you feel something right now, even if you can't name it yet.
- [ ] Tight chest / hard to breathe
- [ ] Stomach — churning, knot, dropping
- [ ] Clenched jaw / shoulders / fists
- [ ] Hot, flushed, prickly
- [ ] Heavy, tired, slowed-down
- [ ] Buzzy, restless, need to move or leave
- [ ] Numb, blank, far away
Anything else my body is doing
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
Put a word to it — a best guess is fine
Tick whatever's closest. Close enough is useful; you don't need the perfect word.
- [ ] Anxious / scared
- [ ] Angry / frustrated
- [ ] Sad / low
- [ ] Ashamed / embarrassed
- [ ] Overwhelmed / too much
- [ ] Numb / can't tell
- [ ] Excited / keyed-up
- [ ] Okay / content
The closest word(s), in my own language for it
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
How strong, and what set it off?
Strength right now
Rate from 0 (Barely there) to 10 (Intense): ____
What seemed to set it off
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
Not knowing the word isn't failing: 'I can't name it, but my chest is tight and I want to leave' is a complete, valid answer. The body is data. Naming gets easier with practice — and this can be a warm-up before any other reframing worksheet.
Go deeper
Ready for more? These lessons pick up where this worksheet leaves off.
- Emotional Dysregulation & Alexithymia, from The Neurodivergent Brain. Why neurodivergent emotions hit harder, later, and longer; what alexithymia is; and how to build an emotional first-aid kit.
- TAS-20 — Alexithymia, When You Can't Name What You Feel, from Autistic Self-Discovery. What alexithymia is, why half of autistic adults have it, and what a TAS-20 score really means.
- The Neurodivergent Nervous System, from The Neurodivergent Brain. Interoception, the autonomic ladder, and your window of tolerance — why neurodivergent systems react harder and recover slower.