Navigating Life’s Ups and Downs: Positive & Negative Emotions
It can be easy to be pulled in into negative thinking. Our brains are dominated by the limbic system and overridden by the fight-or-flight response. It is due to this, we have a tendency to be reactive and feel overstimulated when obscuring thoughts arise.
In the workplace, being aware of emotional responses can be a key to your productivity, development and enjoyment in the office.
Negative emotions also have functional effects and provide us with clues about how we feel about things. Are there tasks or projects you’re trying to avoid? Could you improve your relationship with some colleagues? By balancing the mind, you develop the objectivity to utilise those feelings. Not only do we become less frazzled, but we also discover the clues to unraveling those stirring thoughts before they become unhinging. Thoughts have their own currents, which can take you out of the present moment. The more you’re taken off track, the harder it can be to return to your vital state: attentive, aware and in control.
Developing those noticing abilities and being in tune with your emotions gives you the best possible platform to work from. Your inner life governs your outer life, and if you can align the two, you will go a long way to improving the quality of your life and creating more peace of mind.
Here are simple steps for Handling the Emotional Ups and Downs at Work
Identify unhelpful negative thoughts and challenge them
When something goes wrong at work and you start to have negative emotions, you have a clear choice to make – to see these emotions are helpful or unhelpful. Sometimes they can be useful ways to learn a lesson that will help you in the future, but if they are just making you feel bad about yourself, you need to be able to recognise this and challenge them to disrupt the effect they have on you.
Get motivation from the bad times
Turning a negative into a positive is one of the key aspects of being emotionally agile. Instead of dwelling on what has gone wrong, use it as an opportunity to set yourself a new goal to make things right again, and you will give yourself fresh energy.
Go for a walk to clear your head
Another way to turn negative energy into positive energy is to turn the focus to your body rather than your mind when it is troubled by unhappy thoughts. Instead of sitting down and worrying, go for a walk around the office or your house and get some fresh air if you can. This will take your mind off your worries and get you ready to deal with things when you get back.
The reality is that the way we feel about our emotions can have a profound impact on our reactions to them. When we label and judge our emotions, we unconsciously engage the sympathetic nervous system and see the negativity as threatening to us. We then either avoid the emotions altogether—the flight response—or we recruit the “seeking system” of the brain from a place of fear.
HOW INBLOOM HELPS LEADERS LEAD WITH WELLBEING FIRST
In order to navigate your working life’s ups and downs, leaders must first focus on their own personal and professional wellbeing. At In Bloom, we are helping leaders have a better understanding as to what their wellbeing looks like, holistically. We do this with in partnership with the Global Leadership Wellbeing Survey. This is the first step of our Leadership Wellbeing Coaching journey.
Reference:
https://gethppy.com/hr-infographics/how-to-stop-unhappy-thoughts-affecting-you-at-work