I just finished reading Emotional Agility – Get Unstuck, Embrace Change and Thrive in Work and Life, written by Susan David.

I highly recommend this book and think it would be an amazing partner read to “Together – The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World” written by Dr. Vivek Murthy.

Far too often we can think of feelings and emotions as good or bad.

“Emotions serve a purpose.  They signal to ourselves what we need.  They signal our values.”  Susan David

I am sure each of us can think of times where we pushed down what we were feeling and put on the “face” of being happy and positive when that was so far away from what was going on for us.

Pretending to be happy, or just be positive is self-defeating. This sets the bar for unrealistic expectations depriving us of the benefits of the negative emotions.  I do believe that being positive when that is not how we are feeling makes it more difficult to build real connections and be present.

“Our raw feelings can be the messengers we need to teach us things about ourselves and can prompt insights into important life directions.”

At times when we are feeling anger this may be sadness.  “When you’re mindful of your anger, you can observe it with greater sensitivity, focus and emotional clarity, perhaps discovering where the anger is actually coming from”.

Our emotions and thoughts are not directives, they are only ideas. We can label them and sit with them.    As we learn to sit with emotions, breathe into them, we can begin to reflect on how they align with our values.

The big piece that resonated for me with the connection between our emotions and thoughts and our values.  When we consider the values piece this can be such a different conversation.

One closing thought from the book:

…Accepting and noticing all your thoughts and emotions – viewing even the most powerful of them with curiosity and compassion, and then choosing courage over comfort in order to do whatever you’ve determined is more important to you.

I encourage you to take a look at this book and follow Susan David on social media.  Her work is a true gift.

Be nourished in all you do.

Sharon

At The Nourished Executive we coach business professionals and share strategies to invest in wellbeing, manage stress and prevent burnout. Our founder, Sharon K. Summerfield,  is a holistic nutritionist and certified breath coach, with an extensive business background.  We have a strong commitment to giving back, investing in local community creating space for all students to consider careers in construction, science, technology, engineering and math