---
# System prepended metadata

title: Research and Personal Reflection Template
tags: [RESOURCE]

---

# ON [INSERT SPECIFIC EMOTION]
## Reasons We Feel
**Purpose**: This prompt aims to help you identify and understand the underlying causes of your shame, acknowledging that there can be biological, evolutionary, or social purposes for this emotion. By recognizing these reasons, you can gain insight into the triggers and contexts that evoke shame. It is good practice to learn and document the existing research on shame to enhance your understanding.

<ins>Biological/Evolutionary</ins>:
<ins>Social Expectations</ins>:
<ins>Past Mistakes</ins>: 
<ins>Cultural Norms</ins>:
<ins>Internal Critic</ins>:
## Body Sensations
**Purpose**: This prompt aims to help you connect your emotional experience of shame with the physical sensations in your body. By recognizing these somatic "mind-body" connections, you can become more aware of how shame physically manifests. Learning to identify and link emotions with bodily sensations is a valuable skill. Documenting both common sensations reported by others and identifying your own personal experiences can provide deep insights.

<ins>Common Sensations</ins>:
## Common Urges (Internalized & Externalized)
**Purpose**: This prompt helps you recognize the typical behaviors and reactions associated with shame, both those directed inward (internalized) and outward (externalized). Understanding these urges can aid in identifying, managing, and altering your responses.

<ins>Internalized</ins>:

<ins>Externalized</ins>:
## Thought Patterns (Internalized & Externalized)
**Purpose**: The goal of this prompt is to identify and analyze the thought patterns that accompany feelings of shame. Reflect on instances where you may have externalized feelings of hurt, anxiety, and shame by attributing them to others as a form of projection. Recognizing these patterns can help you challenge and reframe negative thoughts, leading to healthier cognitive responses. You can use a Thought Record, as explained in Guidelines for Research and Personal Reflection on Emotions - Item 3b

<ins>Internalized</ins>:

<ins>Externalized</ins>:

## How to Transmute
**Purpose**: This prompt encourages you to explore ways to transform or alleviate feelings of shame into more positive or neutral emotions. It involves finding constructive methods to deal with shame and enhance emotional resilience.

<ins>Self-Compassion</ins>:
<ins>Reframing</ins>:
<ins>Seeking Support</ins>:
<ins>Mindfulness Practices</ins>:
## Opposite Action
**Purpose**: This prompt is designed to help you identify actions that directly counteract the feelings of shame. By engaging in opposite actions, you can diminish the power of shame and promote more adaptive behaviors.

<ins>Opposite Action</ins>:
<ins>Assertion</ins>:
<ins>Expression</ins>: 
## Synonyms, Antonyms, & Related Words
**Purpose**: This prompt helps expand your emotional vocabulary by identifying words related to shame. This can enhance your understanding and articulation of your feelings, aiding in more precise self-expression.

**Examples**:
<ins>Synonyms</ins>:
<ins>Antonyms</ins>:

## Resources
**Purpose**: This prompt encourages you to identify and gather resources that can help you manage and overcome shame. These resources can provide support, education, and strategies for coping effectively.

<ins>Books</ins>:
<ins>Podcasts</ins>:
<ins>Therapies</ins>:
<ins>Support Groups</ins>:
<ins>Articles and Websites</ins>: