Season 4, Episode 7 – Unlocking Recovery: The Power of Emot…

Welcome to Absolutely Focused Radio, Season 4, Episode 7: “Unlocking Recovery: The Power of Emotional Awareness” featuring Bhee Yhou and Anna Heryiwego.In this episode, Daniel Thabudd Nelson explores how emotional awareness c...

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September 11, 2025

Season 4, Episode 7 – Unlocking Recovery: The Power of Emotional Awareness

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Welcome to Absolutely Focused Radio, Season 4, Episode 7: “Unlocking Recovery: The Power of Emotional Awareness” featuring Bhee Yhou and Anna Heryiwego.In this episode, Daniel Thabudd Nelson explores how emotional awareness can transform the recovery journey. From the science of naming emotions to real-world strategies like mood-tracking apps and midday check-ins, this conversation offers practical tools and personal insights for anyone navigating sobriety, stress, or self-discovery.Learn how simply asking “What am I feeling right now?” can activate the rational brain, reduce relapse risk, and build resilience. Discover how emotional granularity, self-reflection, and intentional pauses can become your greatest allies in recovery.Key Takeaways: – Why tracking emotions reduces relapse risk by over 40% – How apps like Moodnotes and Daylio support emotional clarity – Real-world examples of emotional awareness in action – Practical advice for starting your own check-in ritualOne mic. One mind. Stay rooted. Stay real. Stay awesome.

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Transcript

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Welcome to Absolutely Focused Radio. I'm your announcer, and today

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we're honored to bring you a conversation that's both timely

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and timeless. This is Season four, Episode seven, Unlocking Recovery

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The Power of Emotional Awareness, featuring be You and Anna

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Harry WeGo. In a world that often teaches us to

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silence our feelings, this episode invites us to listen deeper

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because emotional awareness isn't weakness, it's wisdom. And when we

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learn to name what we feel, we unlock the strength

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to heal. So, wherever you are walking, working, or just

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catching your breath, thank you for tuning in one mic,

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one mind, let's build.

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Here's something that shocked me. Studies show that people who

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regularly track their emotions are forty percent less likely to

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relapse in recovery. But most of us were taught to

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push our feelings away, creating this massive disconnect between what

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science tells us and what we actually do.

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That's such a powerful statistic and it really challenges what

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many people believe about emotional awareness. What made you start

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looking into this connection between feelings and recovery.

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Well, it actually came from my own experience hitting rock bottom.

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You see, I used to pride myself on being logical

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and unemotional, but that approach led me straight into relapse.

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After relapse, it wasn't until I started paying attention to

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my feelings that things began to shift.

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That makes so much sense when you consider how the

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brain processes emotions. Research shows that simply naming our feelings

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activates the prefrontal cortex. It's like flipping a switch from

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reactive to responsive.

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Exactly right. And here's what's fascinating about that. When we

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use emotion tracking apps like mood notes or Daly, oh,

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we're essentially training our brains to create that pause between

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feeling and reaction. It's like building a psychological speed bump.

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Oh wow, So these apps are actually rewiring neural pathways.

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How exactly do they work?

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So here's the brilliant simplicity of it. You set a

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daily reminder, let's say at three pm, and when it

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goes off, you just answer one question, what am I

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feeling right now? No judgment, no analysis, just awareness, and

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that tiny pause can literally save your sobriety.

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That reminds me of something I read about emotional granularity.

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How people who can identify more specific emotions tend to

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handle stress better than those who use vague terms like

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good or bad.

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You know what's interesting about that. When I first started

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this practice, I basically had three emotions in my vocabulary, fine, angry,

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and really angry. But over time I started recognizing the

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difference between feeling disappointed versus defeated, or anxious versus excited.

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And I imagine that kind of emotional precision makes it

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easier to choose appropriate coping strategies.

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Exactly that. And here's a real world example. Last month,

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at a wedding reception, instead of just white knuckling through

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the evening, I kept checking in with myself. I noticed

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I was feeling proud to be there, sober, a bit

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lonely watching others drink, and excited to celebrate with friends.

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That level of awareness must have made it easier to

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navigate such a challenging situation.

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Well, here's what's really powerful about it. Once you start

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recognizing these emotional patterns, you can actually predict and prepare

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for challenging situations before they become overwhelming. It's like having

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an early warning system for your recovery.

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That's fascinating. So emotional awareness becomes both a diagnostic tool

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and a preventive measure precisely.

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And you know what's really interesting, The research shows that

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this kind of emotional awareness doesn't just help with addiction recovery.

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It improves everything from relationship satisfaction to workplace performance.

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So, in essence, we're talking about a fundamental life skill

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that most of us never learned.

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Right, And here's the thing that really gets me excited.

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Anyone can start this practice today. You don't need special

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training or expensive tools. Just set that reminder on your

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phone and commit to checking in with yourself.

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Though I imagine some people might find it uncomfortable at first,

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especially if they're not used to acknowledging their feelings.

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Oh absolutely, and that discomfort is actually part of the process.

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It's like exercising a muscle you've never used before. At first,

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it feels awkward and maybe even a little painful, but

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with practice, it becomes natural.

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And speaking of practice, what would you say to someone

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who's just starting this journey.

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Well, I'd tell them what I wish someone had told me.

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Start small, maybe just once a day, Set an alarm

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for a time when you're usually alone. When it goes off,

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take three deep breaths and ask yourself what am I

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feeling right now? That's it. No need to fix anything

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or judge what comes up.

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That's such practical advice, making it simple and achievable rather

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than overwhelming.

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And here's another key point. There's no such thing as

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a wrong emotion. Every feeling is valid and has something

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to teach us. Even the uncomfortable ones are just messengers

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trying to get our attention.

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That's really powerful, shifting from seeing emotions as problems to

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viewing them as information exactly.

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And when we make that shift, something remarkable happens. Those

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feelings we used to run from, they become our greatest

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teachers in recovery. They show us where we need support,

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where we're growing, and where we might need to make changes.

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That's such a transformative way of looking at it. Any

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final thoughts for our.

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Listeners, Well, here's what I want everyone to remember. You

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don't have to be perfect at this. You just have

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to be willing to practice. Set that reminder, ask yourself

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what you're feeling, and let whatever comes up be okay,

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because every time you pause to feel, you're building strength

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in your recovery.

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That's beautiful, turning emotional awareness from something scary into something empowering.

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And that's really what recovery is all about, transforming our

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greatest challenges into our greatest strengths. One feeling at a.

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Time, that was unlocking recovery. The power of emotional awareness.

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A heartfelt reminder that every emotion is a messenger and

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every pause is a chance to grow. If this episode

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spoke to you, share it with someone who's learning to

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feel again, and remember, you don't have to be perfect

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to be present, You just have to be willing to

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show up until next time. One mic one mind, stay rooted,

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stay real, and stay awesome.

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I'm not here to audition trauma. This saint drama. This

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is drama. Every your two sens it, every sabotage.

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Now I'm the with brecks made of mon law.