I don't know how to identify my emotions and what I'm feeling and express them

I really don't know what emotions I feel. I kno what emotions others are showing but I don't know what they feel like. I feel myself as a child inside crying but I haven't a clue as to why. I know anger and agitation and fury but I don't know any others or how they feel. Please help.

Wow I'm either that much of a loser or I'm beyond helping. No ones answered of 111ppl and I know the majority is probably ppl who don't have profiles so they cannot answer or suggest any advice. This does wonders for my self esteem. Really makes me hate myself less and makes me think it really is me. I am the failure the loser I've always been told I am. I should just quit before I get deeper eh? I mean I even answer my own post cuz no one else will. I'm pathetic!

I'll answer...if it could even be considered an answer.
I too have a hard time understanding what it is that I'm "feeling". I know when I'm angry, or frustrated, or ticked off at someone or something, but outside of that I just get confused. Oh, wait, I do know nervous, anxious, and fear.
Emotions confuse me. I've smashed them down, choked them down and suppressed them for so long, I cannot identify them.
I guess it will take time to learn to have emotions, and to feel safe enough to let them out.

Ok, I'll bite. Exactly what kind of help are you looking for? Unless you are clear on what kind of help you are looking for, no one is going to be quite sure how to respond to your response.

Do you want other people to respond to admit that they experience something similar so that you don't feel like the only one who experiences this particular issue?
Are you looking for responses that will be supportive and encouraging so that you feel like someone cares?
Or are you looking for practical advice on ways to evaluate yourself and your own behaviors for clues to understanding how you are feeling at any given point in time?

Just for the record, I am a bit limited on emotions myself, so you will receive practical steps or advice to ways to overcome this if you are asking for the latter kind of help. In fact, my exact advice in this situation would be to point out that some people are just unable to experience or understand emotions, and the reasons for this are varied, whether through personal experiences or neurological differences. If you want advice on how to function with blunted or limited emotional range, go hang out with the Aspies and Schizoids because they are the ones who live with this. If you have a full range of emotions but just difficulty identifying them due to life experiences, go hang out with the abused/PTSD posters. It doesn't matter yet why you are the way you are if you are looking to become functional. Get behavior and coping skills that will stabilize you to the point where you can feel start exploring the underlying issues.

You can also consider investing in some books or websites about body language and what behaviors indicate about people's moods. There's a book for writers called the emotion thesaurus that provides a pretty good variety of emotions and what kind of physical behaviors accompany those. In fact just a general search for emotional or behavior online should get you a wide array of hits online. If you're not a reader and more of a visual learner, go hang out at public places and sit and people watch. Try to figure out what people are feeling based on their behavior. Eventually the patterns will emerge and you will be able to recognize commonalities and apply them to yourself.

Do a little research so you have your vocabulary and understand the core concepts you can move onto practicing self-awareness. Once you know what kind of behavior accompanies certain emotions you can start using that knowledge to understand what kind of behavior you are displaying and the likely emotions that you are feeling to accompany that. If you start to realize what behaviors are ones that drive other people away you can start reading books about emotional intelligence or behavior modification, or start watching TED talks online or whatever to get ideas on ways to modify your impulses. If you have reason to believe that your behavior may be rooted in neurological or require medication, then don't hesitate to go to therapy for help. Mindfulness therapy will help you learn to recognize your feelings in the moment, behavioral therapy will help you learn healthy methods of coping. Read books about how to get along better with people and try to apply those ideas will help you interact better with other people so that they are more willing to offer you help when you ask. Also, all of this is a process and takes time and trial and effort on your part, so you can't expect an immediate fix.

KQiao, you did a good job responding, i don't myself have a good response because i'm not that knowledgable to give advice to this person, but i think you are right. i hope monkeybrains 21 understands and i hope he can get help from a doc and t too.

Have you tried writing and drawing to express what is going through your mind about a particular situation or issue? I find that can help me get in touch with parts that I don't normally express.

Thank you. I worry that I may come across as too... brusque in my responses when that isn't my intention. I just really don't do emotions or express sympathy well, so I focus on what I can do, which is give practical advice that people can use or not as they see fit.

@monkeybrains21-
thecrankyone also has a good idea. Art therapy is actually a good medium for people who don't have the words to understand what they are feeling. Sit down and draw for a bit. For one thing, the act of drawing will give you something to focus on and provide an action that will allow you to calm down. Then you can examine the lines and colors and whatever else you came up with in order to try and understand what you are feeling. Like if you find yourself doodling a wilting flower, then maybe you're sad. If you drew something that looks kind of like an exploding volcano or whatever, then you might feel like you're about to have a meltdown. You might even find that intentionally drawing something that depicts an opposite type of scene can cause a shift in your mood to something more stable. All you could do was make chaotic scratches and scribbles? Try to draw another picture, this time with soft curving lines. Maybe you could post your pictures on here and open up some discussions about what you were feeling when you drew the picture.

It did seem a bit harsh and I did react very negatively to it but I calmed down. It's not ur fault I just tend to take things very negatively. I do like practical as logic. I have an extremely hard time figuring out what I really feel. Ido appreciate the responses. I saw the Inside Out movie tonight and was enlightened. Yet I still have no idea what the emotions feel like. I can look at a person and tell what emotion is going on with them it am completely oblivious to myself.

It's like I stuffed all my feeling except anger down a hole and can't reach them. I do paint, but usually only when really depressed and SUI. I've tried painting other times and absolutely hate them. I have an art degree and went to art school. My paintings r on here in my profile. I haven't added more recent ones but really I have had no motivation for it. I don't have a lot of motivation for anything anymore.

When I paint I paint with nothing on my mind. I can't plan it or anything. I just put my headphones on and let the music play and pick the colors I feel and let it go.