- emotions are indicators and not facts
- emotions need exploration
- step in, step out, check your values, move on
Indicators vs facts
Emotions are just indicators, and they are designed to protect us in a split-second reaction. But left unchecked, we can easily latch on to them and treat them as facts.
Emotions are a way for our subconscious mind to tell us that something is a potential threat to us, and it’s our job to try and figure out what that is, the more we pay attention to them and analyze them with acceptance, the faster they will fade away. It is when we ignore emotions, or overreact to them is when the emotion will be back, stronger than before.
A simple framework to follow is Step in, Step out, Walk your why, and Move on
4 step framework
Step in is just about acceptance and understanding. Sit with the emotion, don’t try to chase it away
Step out is about trying to make sense of the emotion and put it in a bigger context. Why is it showing, is there anything that happened recently that might be connected?
Walk you why is about knowing what matters to you and making sure that we don’t do any actions that will jeopardize your values
Move on is about letting go and moving on with life
This 4 step framework comes from a brilliant book by Susan David called Emotional Agility (this is my affiliate link).