How to feel my emotions?

I grew up in the same environment with my dad being alcoholic and mom co-dependent. As a child my real feelings were never acknowledged, validated, or soothed. So I think I learned early, how to just ignore my emotions and not feel them, since they would make all the chaos at home even worst.

So as an adult, I always put on a happy face, and everything was always "fine", I was always doing "okay or good", and could never express or really feel my feelings.

To help me feel my real feelings and emotions, my therapist gave me a feeling chart (similar to the one I will attach for you):

Feelings Chart
www.ami-tx.com/Portals/3/EmotionsFlyer.pdf

List of Emotions
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_emotions


I used these to help me identify what I was feeling, then I started saying to myself out loud, "I'm feeling_________________!" I would say it a few times, and see if that word really fit how I felt on the inside, then I could agree with that feeling or try to find a better word.

I still remember when I finally learned to say: "This makes me angry." " I don't like this at all." " and "I am not happy about this." when I started expressing how I truly felt, I had to remember not to change the expression of my feelings based on the expressions of concern or fear I got from others. I usually explained nicely why I was feeling the way I was feeling, and I learned not to expect others to help me modify my feelings, nor was I responsible for their reaction. It was up to me to soothe my emotions, but feeling my feelings was the first step.

It also might help to post your feelings on the feelings page:
laarecovery.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=feel