Of course, it’s not about the numbers, but how well your feelings serve you and your intentions. You have the chance to decide how helpful a feeling is, to let it go, or to keep it.
Our problem with feelings is how we react to them. It’s a fact that there are many more ‘negative’ emotions than positive. And it’s possible that since COVID-19 those negative feelings were are more common. Bad is five times stronger than good – the wheel shows that rather too clearly.
Not that this is to say that therefore we should suffer. Suffering is a part of being human. We are not flawed because we get anxious, angry, depressed, or hurt. We feel because we are human. It is what we do when we experience the feelings that matters.
How do we live with our feelings, good or bad? When we pursue our values and purpose, we are more able to choose the feelings that serve us.
And to let some go because they do not. My Flexible Leader Whitepaper #1 helps to work through your emotional responses, using the wheel of emotions and other tools; check it out if you’d like to be more in charge of your emotional responses.
Why focusing on restoring work life can help to manage our emotions
McKinsey & Company’s Aaron De Smet & colleagues make the welcome claim that ‘companies are waking up to the need for greater empathy and compassion to create a workplace that can unleash the full potential of their people even beyond the crisis’.
We can certainly do with that.
‘Humanocracy‘ nurtures emotion, creativity, human connection and empathy.
It won’t be smooth sailing ahead – yes, we need to be optimistic, and also realistic.
They suggest we are in for a period of disillusionment, grief and exhaustion and that the pace of change we’ve been experiencing is not sustainable.
I think we all knew that, but it’s good to be reminded. And their model is a useful way to look at the potential responses we’ll experience. Knowing how to deal with a raft of emotions helps to avoid being blind-sided by them when they arise.
What leaders can do:
- normalise these reactions – they are real
- stay realistically inspiring, hopeful and optimistic
- make sure people feel their experiences of stress & exhaustion, in particular, are heard
- help people increase their resilience
- focus on care, connection and wellbeing
- reinvigorate a sense of purpose to create energy
With the support of executive coaching you can stay energised, work fluidly with expanded options, without having to figure it all out for yourself.
Book a call with me today to find out more about what I can offer you with my executive coaching programs.
