One of the truths about positive living is to be authentically you and own every aspect of who you are. The alternative is to pretend to be something you are not and spend your life in search of fulfilment and happiness whilst being consumed by your fears and living the potentially unhelpful story you write about yourself.
When faced by potential disappointment or failure it feels like we are being swallowed whole by the emotion of the situation. Our brains are hardwired to protect us and that often means wanting to run or fight (fight or flight stress reaction). At work that can look like rationalising, burying your head, and/or blaming others.
Even with small, everyday conflicts and disappointments, our desire to avoid physical and emotional discomfort is the primary reason we don’t really face up to what is really going on. We disengage to self-protect.
Fear, anger, and aggression can consume us when faced with every day conflict and challenge. It is at these times we need to find our inner calm and peace. If we can manage the emotions we experience when under stress we have more control over our fight, flight or freeze stress response. We stay calmer and our thoughts are more logical making us perform better.
Facing up to our fears may be really frightening. Ask yourself what beliefs do you have about yourself? What do you perceive others think of you? Is this real? The truth is sometimes we do make mistakes or drop the ball. It is the story we make up about ourselves about our own self-worth and value which is the truly painful part of this story.
Owning our stories means acknowledging our feelings and wrestling with the hard emotions—our fear, anger, aggression, shame, and blame. This isn’t easy, but the alternative—denying our stories and disengaging from emotion—means choosing to live our entire lives in the dark. It means no accountability, no learning, no growth.
One of the truths about positive living is to be authentically you and own every aspect of who you are. The alternative is to pretend to be something you are not and spend your life in search of fulfilment and happiness whilst being consumed by your fears and living the potentially unhelpful story you write about yourself.
When faced by potential disappointment or failure it feels like we are being swallowed whole by the emotion of the situation. Our brains are hardwired to protect us and that often means wanting to run or fight (fight or flight stress reaction). At work that can look like rationalising, burying your head, and/or blaming others.
Even with small, everyday conflicts and disappointments, our desire to avoid physical and emotional discomfort is the primary reason we don’t really face up to what is really going on. We disengage to self-protect.
Fear, anger, and aggression can consume us when faced with every day conflict and challenge. It is at these times we need to find our inner calm and peace. If we can manage the emotions we experience when under stress we have more control over our fight, flight or freeze stress response. We stay calmer and our thoughts are more logical making us perform better.
Facing up to our fears may be really frightening. Ask yourself what beliefs do you have about yourself? What do you perceive others think of you? Is this real? The truth is sometimes we do make mistakes or drop the ball. It is the story we make up about ourselves about our own self-worth and value which is the truly painful part of this story.
Owning our stories means acknowledging our feelings and wrestling with the hard emotions—our fear, anger, aggression, shame, and blame. This isn’t easy, but the alternative—denying our stories and disengaging from emotion—means choosing to live our entire lives in the dark. It means no accountability, no learning, no growth.