Dancing with the Noise Inside
Feel more. Fight less. Lead better.
The moment:
Emotions. This is the flood that threatens to drowns us.
Some emotions are strong and force you into deep ditches others are distracting pests that keep you less productive than you aspire to be. Big, small or in between emotions are wasted moments that take you off track and derail your plan fort the day.
The monster:
You are dancing with Emotional Dysphasia
Dysphasia- an impairment to understand language
I coin the term emotional dysphasia to describe an inability to understand and interpret our own emotions.
Life's narratives may have taught us that emotions are the accidental burps and hiccups of being human. Or that emotions have no valid role in our lives and ultimately have no useful consequence on our outcomes. As a result, this creates an antagonistic relationship with our emotions. We have a "bad day" when we feel emotions drive any part of it.
Here is the truth:
Emotions are nodes of intelligence that our body is trying to offer us.
We don't have to deny our emotions to be productive. And, we don't have to put aside productivity to deal with our emotions.
If we can learn how to discern, interpret and apply that intelligence we can be more effective in navigating our day.
Emotions are life's flags and indicators hinting at opportunities and/or realities that we have yet to fully realize. They go before us with the expectation that we can bring awareness that allows agency where there once was confusion.
The dance:
Build your emotional vocabulary. The only way to overcome the fear of not knowing our emotions is to get more knowledge. Start with expanding your basic understanding of emotions like Sad, Joy, Angry and Disgusted.
Use this tool to develop your emotional word bank:
Questions to gain intelligence:
In which direction is my emotion pointing me?
What does this emotion “feel allergic” to right now?
What do I need right now?
What stream of momentum is open to me right now based on my emotions?
What intelligence can I take away from these questions?
I'll be doing a breakdown on each emotion throughout this newsletter. I'll be highlighting the intent of emotions, showing the diverse set of options behind each emotion. I will offer research based insight on the most productive use of each emotion. If you want to get that resource join this community!