Emotional awareness is the ability to recognise, understand and manage personal emotions. A lot of people who know me well, would agree that I was very poor in this regard. My two brothers tell a story about when a mutual friend of theirs said to them “your older brother has a short fuse doesn’t he” they responded in unison saying, “no he doesn’t” to which their friend replied “I’ve seen him out and about in town and he definitely has a short fuse”. My brothers laughed  and said “he doesn’t have a fuse at all”

The poems I’ve included in this chapter touch on how our emotions can change, one poem reflects on my previous lack of self-control. Other poems here refer to areas that might influence our feelings, the dangers of a lack of emotional intelligence and how developing more awareness can affect feelings and reactions.