emotion

Address the Emotional Root Cause

Stress we might feel. Frustration buried under the surface. Worry simmering around the corner.

These all hold us back from the freedom of good work and joy of a grateful life.

Of course stress, anger, and caution can motivate is to work effectively…

…but I’m talking about the stress keeping you in the office through dinner, the frustration that comes out on those you love, the worry causing you to check your work email when you can’t sleep at 1am.

Build a rhythm to address the emotional root cause. Addressing that will help separate from work or tasks through the day and lead to the life we really want.

I use mindfulness exercises, physical exercise, and journaling but you should find a rhythm that works for you. Only you can do it and I think we each must do it.

Scan to Notice Emotions

My default is to suppress and minimize my own emotions. They may get in the way of my reasoning. I don’t want to seem unreasonable.

But in reality skirting our emotions can be the thing that makes us unreasonable. Our emotions are there for a reason. They are there as attention magnets, to help us notice things. To point out where we might need to focus.

We do need to ensure to manage our emotions but we cannot get used to suppressing them.

Emotion assists with reasoning.

At times we may find it easy to notice and actualize our emotions. Put words or images to our emotions and know what to do with them.

Other times we may miss them entirely. If you sense there is emotion present but you cannot recall it to the front of your head, try to simply scan your body.

Scan your body inside and out. Take note what is there. Wonder what the emotion behind that noticing is.

Allow emotion to assist in your reasoning process.

This idea is new to me. I learned it from Ed Batista’s Post on Antonio Damasio on Emotion and Reason.