Dr. Marc Brackett’s; RULER

RULER Skills by Marc Brackett; Permission to Feel

For your reference, Marc Brackett’s; Permission to Feel reviews the RULER approach in depth.

What is RULER?

Dr. Marc Brackett created RULER, an evidence-based social and emotional learning (SEL) approach at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. The approach focuses on:

• Understanding the value of emotions
• Building the skills of emotional intelligence
• Creating and maintaining a positive school climate

Recognizing:

We pick up on our own emotions by paying attention to our thinking, physiology, and how our body feels and to other people’s facial expressions, body language, vocal tone, and behavior.

Understanding:

I may see that your face looks worried, but I have no idea why you’re worried, or I may misperceive how you’re feeling (which happens very often). So the U is saying, “Let’s get deeper. Let’s get at the cause. What might be the reason for that feeling?”

Labeling:

This is where we can ask ourselves questions like: I feel angry, but am I enraged? Am I livid? Or am I feeling annoyed, peeved, or frustrated? This allows us to get at the granularity of the emotion.

Expressing:

How we express our feelings varies as a function of context. If you’re in a workplace that says, “Emotions don’t matter here,” you’ll learn very quickly to suppress them.

Regulation:

What strategies can I use to keep or shift how I’m feeling? For example, if I’m having a bad day, what strategies can I implement to shift how I’m feeling if my emotions are not aligned with what I am trying to accomplish?

If you are unsure where to start, go ahead and schedule a free therapy consultation. We will work together to discover your strengths and needs. In the meantime, the self-work can begin now with the two resources I shared above. Stay safe and take care of yourself.