Finding Clarity in Reflection

Using the Somatic-Cognitive Awareness Model to navigate life's disruptions.

Reviewed by Davia Sills

Key points

• Somatic-Cognitive Awareness Model helps people reflect on disruptions and understand their inner experience.
• They can learn to connect their body’s sensations with the stories and emotions that shape their reactions.
• Discover how emotions reveal unmet needs, helping people to make more intentional decisions.
• Use SOCAM to develop greater emotional awareness, clarity, and resilience in life’s challenges.

In today’s fast-paced world, disruptions are inevitable. Whether it’s a difficult conversation, an unexpected challenge, or an emotionally charged moment, these experiences can leave us feeling unsettled. While real-time tools like the CALM method help manage disruptions in the moment, reflection afterward offers a chance for deeper understanding.

The Somatic-Cognitive Awareness Model (SOCAM) is a reflection-based tool that helps you explore your emotions, sensations, and the stories you tell yourself. By working through SOCAM’s steps, you can gain clarity, insight, and greater emotional regulation after a disruption.

SOCAM: A Step-by-Step Guide

SOCAM is a structured process designed to help you pause and reflect, offering insight into how your mind and body respond to life’s challenges.

S — Situate the Disruption

Begin by situating the disruption—placing yourself in the context of the event and describing it factually. This sets the foundation for your reflection.

• Describe the Event: What happened? Who was involved? What was the sequence of events?
• Your Involvement: Were you a direct participant, an observer, or someone affected indirectly?
• Activation or Trigger: Was this a general increase in arousal (activation) or a specific trigger tied to past experiences?
• Engage the Five Senses: What did you see, hear, smell, taste, and feel during the event? Using your senses grounds you in the moment, helping you to paint a fuller picture of the external environment.

By situating the disruption, you’re able to better understand how the event set the stage for your internal experience.

O — Observe the Sensation

Next, turn inward to observe the sensations in your body. Your body holds important information about how the life disruption affected you. Being attuned to your physiological states is crucial, as it allows you to better identify your emotions, which is a key aspect of emotional regulation, mental health, and well-being (Morie KP, Crowley MJ, Mayes LC, Potenza MN, 2022).

• Physical Sensations: What did the activation or trigger feel like? Did you notice tightness in your chest, tension in your neck, or a racing heart?
• Describe in Detail: By describing these sensations with detail, you expand your emotional language.
• Curiosity and Awareness: As you get curious about these sensations, what was once vague starts to become clear, giving you both awareness and control.

Your physiological state informs the story your mind creates, making this step crucial for understanding your response.

C — Connect to the Story and Emotion

Now, connect the sensations to the story your mind constructed and the emotion that emerged (Barrett 2017). This is where your internal sensations and external experiences merge into meaning.

1. Identify the Story

The story is how your mind makes sense of the event. It’s the narrative that shapes how you interpret the world.

• What Does This Mean? Ask yourself, “What am I making this mean?” This often reveals layers of beliefs about yourself and others.
• Thoughts: What thoughts arise? Consider core beliefs, anticipations, or expectations that influenced your interpretation.
• Big Assumptions: Are there any “big assumptions”—deep-seated beliefs based on past experiences or cultural conditioning—that shaped your story?
• Attention and Emotion: Notice how your focus influences your emotional response. The story you tell is the lens through which you interpret your sensations and experiences.

Identifying the story helps you recognize how your external and internal landscapes combine to create meaning. Is the story serving you, or is it based on outdated beliefs?

2. Name the Emotion

Once you’ve recognized the story, identify the emotion that emerged from it.

• Name It: What is the emotion you’re experiencing—fear, joy, frustration? Naming it doesn’t need to be perfect but should reflect what you’re feeling.
• Why Naming Matters: Naming the emotion brings it into focus. Just as you describe physical sensations, naming the emotion moves it from abstract to known.
• Gaining Knowledge and Agency: By naming your emotion, you create clarity. Connecting the body with the mind strengthens your understanding and gives you agency. Research shows that labeling your emotions is a powerful tool for emotional regulation (Torre, J. B., & Lieberman, M. D., 2018).

By connecting the story and the emotion, you gain clarity about your experience and open up space for intentional responses moving forward.

A — Acknowledge the Emotion’s Message

After naming the emotion, the next step is to acknowledge the message your emotion is communicating about your needs.

• Emotions as Information: Emotions aren’t just reactions—they are signals that offer important information. Acknowledging your emotion means recognizing that it’s trying to communicate something about what you need in that moment.
• Use the Emotion as a Guide: By acknowledging the emotion’s message, you can begin to understand what your body and mind are asking for, helping you make intentional choices about your next steps.

M — Move Toward Your Need

Finally, move toward addressing the need behind the emotion and reflect on how it guided your actions.

1. Identify the Need

Emotions are often rooted in unmet needs.

• Check-In: Ask yourself, “What did I need at that moment?” Was it reassurance, clarity, or understanding? Identifying your needs helps uncover the motivation behind your emotions.
• Act On It: Reflect on how you acted in response to the need. Did your actions align with what you needed, or were they disconnected?

2. Emotion to Motion

Next, reflect on how your emotion translated into action.

• How Did You Respond? Consider how you expressed the emotion. Did you take constructive steps to meet your needs or react in a way that provided temporary relief?
• Release vs. Relieve: Did your actions release emotional energy constructively, or did they just offer short-term relief?

3. Reality Check

Finally, assess the outcomes of your actions.

• What is True Now? Reflect on the reality of the situation after your actions. What were the intentional and unintentional consequences?
• Relationships: How did your actions affect your relationship with yourself and others? Did your response foster connection or disconnection? Understanding these outcomes helps inform future actions.

Conclusion: Cultivating Clarity Through Reflection

The SOCAM method provides a structured way to reflect on life’s disruptions, fostering greater self-awareness and clarity. By working through its steps—situating the disruption, observing sensations, connecting to the story and emotion, acknowledging the emotion’s message, and moving toward your needs—you can better understand your emotional landscape and respond to future challenges with intention and resilience.

Reflection isn’t just about looking back—it’s about recognizing your needs, aligning your actions with your true self, and growing in self-compassion and emotional agility. Practicing SOCAM equips you with the tools to navigate life’s inevitable disruptions with greater clarity and purpose.