Recognizing emotions... How?

[Nothingness]

I went to the school therapist today. She's a very nice lady, very warm. She's been trying to help me, so today and I showed her my burning wounds. She was a bit shocked, but I think that at the same time she expected it.
She asked me to try and not to do it again and every time I visit her she leaves me "homeworks".
Her homework today was "When you get the urge to do it again, try to listen to how you are feeling..." which I find very hard.
Up until now I hadn't taken much care of my emotions. I just let them clutter up inside me, so I can honestly say I'm not sure what to listen to. I can't distinguish. I just know some thoughts trigger episodes of extreme distress, and doing SI sort of numbs up the situation.
I wanted to know if any of you could offer tips on how to identify emotions.
Thanks in advance.

[WorkDaySarcasm]

I had/have a similar problems, not recognizing emotions so it comes out as something else or explode after being bottled up.

As for tips, Writing down what your feeling, and then trying to break it up if you can.
An example:
Sometimes I'll get very angry at myself. But really I'm upset with something that happened, then angry/annoyed with myself because feeling as such and that it's gotten to me. So actually that's a few emotions not just anger, it's saddness, annoyance, embarrassment and self dislike.
Does this make sense?
So writing out could help make it more obvious to you, a dairy, on on scraps you can keep for your T, or even on here. (To which I'd advise starting a 'Place' thread if you haven't already. - it's a thread you can do what ever you want in, chat, rant, post pictures etc bit like a blog/online journal. The board link is on the main page)

Tip 2, What happened before you felt urgey/distressed? Think about what could have triggered it, perhaps also write down.

Tip 3, if you like drawing, not only is it an excellent distraction from the urges but it doesn't necessarily mean it blocks out the feelings, but you can outlet whatever is going on through what your drawing. Then if you really want to go overkill, you can try and interpret why you subconsciously drew this or that.

Hope something is helpful, good luck