Workplace Emotions: Using Them as a Tool Instead of Being One

How often, when you find your emotions heating up (or cooling down) a bit, do you talk yourself out of the emotion, stuffing it away or trying to kill it with denial?

This is played out in the workplace a lot.  Since emotion is often frowned upon and even-keeled emotion is more valued, when we sense our emotion mounting, we deny it by acting like it doesn't exist.  This "going undercover" with your emotion rarely works for more than a little while.  It will bubble up and out - in things like bitterness, anger, depression or resentment.

Rather than denying your emotion, try something called emotional containment.  This is when we take an emotional pause to actually identify our emotion and quickly acknowledge it.  This actually only takes seconds and then we can proceed in an even-keeled way, but not in a way that denies relevant and actual emotion.

Just taking the pause can be enough to contain the emotion for a productive result.  Brain scans show that converting negative emotion into words actually calms the emotional center of the brain - the Limbic System.

This conversation can be completely internal.  The outcome is external - in an even-keeled response springing from an emotionally intelligent and healthy internal dialog - one that took 1 or 2 seconds.

So next time a coworker is tripping your emotional trigger, take an emotional breath and identify the emotion that is triggered.  See if that doesn't help calm your emotion down - almost immediately.  

For help in managing your moments better, read my #1 Best Selling Book or contact me for some life coaching or to host a workshop at your workplace.