Coming to your emotional rescue.
Emotional Inflammation
I saw these words in the sidebar of a recent copy of Psychology Today. When I tried to turn the page, the words, for fear of being ignored, hung there demanding I notice them. Holding the page between my forefinger and my thumb, I hung there as well. Slowly, I placed the page back down. Staring at those words: “Emotional Inflammation” as they settled back into place waiting for their meaning to stick.
Can you allow your brain to make the connection to physical inflammation and what you know that to mean? Do you too feel a rise of understanding?
It sure feels like an accurate way to describe living in today’s tumultuous, anxious and overwhelming world.
Emotional Inflammation is considered a “condition of our time” according to Dr. Lise Van Susteren from her recent book titled the same. Shockingly, the book was written before the pandemic yet accurately describes the emotional challenges that exist in our present moment.
The parallels of emotional inflammation and physical inflammation are many. Like physical inflammation, emotional inflammation is frustrating. It hurts but we can’t quite pinpoint where. It is difficult to overcome because the source is elusive. Physical inflammation results in an autoimmune response that attacks our body’s defense system, our emotional inflammation can result in a cognitive and emotional self-attack. Our immune response is necessary, as it stimulates the body to repair itself after injury. However, a chronic and severe stress response, whether in the body or the mind, has the opposite effect. Feeling inflamed should not be a normal state, it impedes us from taking action.
Chronic physical inflammation in the body requires a “wholebody” approach. It takes time, intention and many times radical changes in our nutritional and lifestyle habits. The question begs, how can we reverse the effects of emotional inflammation? There is no quick fix for this type of inflammation either. The answer does not come in a pill, a bottle or an edible. The answer is already inside of you - and research shows it is there for a very good reason.
Coming to your own emotional rescue.
As humans we experience a wide range of emotions. Rarely do we give ourselves time to think let alone register our emotions to understand what it is that they are trying to tell us.
Emotions are defined as systems that exist within us that help us survive by understanding the world around us so that we can act accordingly. We have two broad emotional evolutionary processes: negative and positive. I invite you to view them as working together as conduits to wellbeing vs looking at them as bad or good.
Negative emotions narrow our thought-action options so we can think and act quickly to keep us safe. We don't want a huge menu of options when threats come along. Ever cross the street while texting and hear a horn beep? Your body reacts faster than you can think about it by sending energy to the extremities giving you the reflexes like a cat to jump back.
Positive emotions do not emerge in threatening situations. In fact, they are only able to arise when we do not feel threatened. Dr. Barbara Fredrickson, describes “Positive emotions both broaden the individual’s momentary thought-action repertoire, and in turn build the individual’s enduring personal resources.” Her extensive research spanning over twenty years shows that our positive experiences allow us to let go of automatic responses and allow a more expansive view of our environment. It is in this space we can access creative, flexible, and unpredictable new ways of thinking and acting.
“Being open, seeing more, uncovers more options; options offer more choices; choices feed our actions; actions impact our behavior; and behavior, over time, effects who we become. ”
Additionally, unlike the immediacy of our negative emotions, there is an adaptive element to positive emotions that move past the present moment. The resources (physical, social, intellectual and psychological) gathered through repetitive positive experiences build over time. This wholebeing approach is very similar to the wholebody approach that we spoke about in solving physical inflammation. For example, physical resources include such things as sleep quality and stronger immune systems. Social resources are evident in our expanded social connections and support systems. Our intellectual resources bloom from our brains having more room for creativity and problem solving. Lastly, psychological resources can be seen by our strengthened level of resilience and increased optimism. From an evolutionary standpoint, it is through the accrued repeated experiences of positive emotions that enhanced the odds of survival allowing humans to live long enough to reproduce.
By broadening people's mindsets, positive emotions build durable personal resources that function as reserves to be drawn on later during trying times. Dr. Fredrickson refers to this as an upward spiral as seen in the figure below. (Fredrickson, 2013.) We can begin to reshape ourselves one positive interaction at a time. Coming to our own emotional rescue.
Fredrickson, B., 2013. Positive Emotions Broaden and Build. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. Volume 47, Pages 1-53.
Coming to our own emotional rescue involves experiencing more positive emotions. ARGH! I hear you AND you are already having hundreds of positive emotions each day, you may be out of touch with them, but you are having them.
If I have peaked your curiosity about how you might Learn to Live More Positively, join me in my new course where you will discover how to reduce emotional inflammation and strengthen your emotional intelligence using proven tools that will enable you to exist fully and joyfully in the complexities of your life.
If all this talk has left you in need of a little pick me up, try one of the exercises below taken from the course. Come to your own emotional rescue and broaden your thoughts while building your personal resources.
Take an awe walk. Go for a walk with the intention to look through the eyes of a child. Even if it is a familiar route to you, make an effort to notice new things. The same old sights you pass may turn out to be surprising sources of inspiration. I once read that Paula Hawkins, the author of The Girl on the Train got the idea for her best-selling book while she gazed curiously out the window of the train during her morning commute.
Take in the good. Dr. Rick Hanson invites us to look for good facts and turn them into good experiences. Take for example the taste of a good cup of coffee. Let yourself feel good about it. He invites us to stick with this good feeling for 30 seconds. And finally, allow the good feeling to sink into you. This could be represented by a feeling of warmth spreading through your body with each sip of delicious coffee. Each time we allow the good to sink in we are shifting our brain.
Take a breath in a simple, intentional round of three. Dr. Deepak Chopra recommends “to connect to your inner self, breathe deeply in for three counts, hold for three counts, and exhale for three counts. Repeat three times.”
Give a positive shout-out to someone right now! Spread a micro-moment of love by connecting with another. Call, text, email or write a letter to express your appreciation for another human in your life. This is an act of loud gratitude and it really is powerful for both you and the one you shine on.
Emotions are contagious. They can be passed almost instantaneously. When we pass positive emotions, we open the possibility windows. When we pass fear, anxiety and scarcity we close those windows and lock them tight.
Are your windows open?
“Our day-to-day positive emotions function as nutrients for our overall wellbeing. Today’s positive emotions do not simply exemplify today’s wellbeing, they also help to create next month’s increases in wellbeing.”