Did you know that high-intensity (positive) emotions can also have a negative effect on you and your team?

Hello dear Hearthunter!💖

How are you?

OK?

Are you really OK?

I can honestly say - my last 2 months have been rough. Psychically and emotionally. And I was not OK. A lot of things (there were not all negative!) have happened in my life at lightning speed and I guess it was just too much to handle at once, so my "inner system" needed to restart and reload again.

I'm still recovering but I feel much better. What I'm about to tell you made a huge difference in my progress. Let me empower you with one fact that I got in the form of a soul lesson in the last few weeks.

"Too much excitement and too many high-intensity emotions (even if they are genuinely positive) can also have a depleting effect on our energy. Especially if they are followed by extreme (negative) situations and our heart rate stays at a very high level for a long period of time."

You don't believe that?  Believe it. It's scientifically proven. 

Recently I have come across a piece of interesting information that explains more about this matter.

We can claim otherwise, but many of us in the modern (business) world have come to rely on our stress response to get things done. We fuel ourselves up with adrenaline (and some of you also caffeine - I'm not a big fan of coffee btw), over-scheduling ourselves and waiting until the very last minute to complete projects, waiting for that “fight or flight” mode to kick in and believing we need a certain amount of stress to be productive. I used to do that as well. I'm unlearning that belief. Especially after the last 2 months.

Research shows that most people in the "Western world" thrive on high-intensity positive emotions. Research by Jeanne Tsai of Stanford University shows that when you ask Americans how they would ideally like to feel, they are more likely to cite high-intensity positive emotions like elated and euphoric than low-intensity positive emotions like relaxed or content. In other words, Americans equate happiness with high intensity. East Asian cultures, on the other hand, value low-intensity positive emotions like serenity and peacefulness. Quite interesting right?

Which one do you choose?

A lot of people also believe they need high-intensity emotions to succeed — especially to lead or influence. This intensity is reflected in the language we use to discuss achievement goals: we get fired up, pumped, or amped up so that we can bowl people over, crush projects, or crank out presentations — these expressions all imply that we need to be in some kind of intense attack mode. 🥷

Do you really want to play a ninja role all the time? A warrior? I was told to step out of it, because "warrior energy" can only attract situations where you need to fight and struggle! And I really don't want that.

We have to be aware, that high-intensity emotions are physiologically taxing. Excitement, even when it is fun, involves what psychologists call “physiological arousal” — activation of our sympathetic (fight-or-flight) system.

High-intensity positive emotions involve the same physiological arousal as high-intensity negative emotions like anxiety or anger. Our heart rate increases, our sweat glands activate, and we startle easily. Because it activates the body’s stress response, excitement can deplete our system when sustained over longer periods – chronic stress compromises our immunity, memory, and attention span. In other words, high intensity — whether it’s from negative states like anxiety or positive states like excitement — taxes the body.

You can read that again. When I had become aware of this fact, I needed some time for this information to sink in.

Just to be clear, that does not mean we should never feel intense emotions (positive or negative)! Emotional variety is an essential aspect of life, one that adds the depth and richness that we need. However, what we need to be mindful of is balance. 

Let's get practical now!

I would like to introduce you to a very special but super effective tool - HeartMath Depletion To Renewal Grid for self-awareness of the emotions we experience and also for a practical understanding that depleting and renewing emotions have different effects on us (below is a photo, and at the end of the article you also have pdf version for your own use).

So what do we see up here?🤔

The left two quadrants represent depleting (draining), lower vibrational emotions and the right side represents the renewing/higher vibrational emotions. What is written in the grid are only a few examples. There can be of course many more different emotions on both sides.

The vertical line represents the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) which regulates over 90% of the body’s internal functions. ANS has two branches, the sympathetic branch speeds up internal processes (increases heart rate) and is represented by the upper two quadrants. The emotions in the upper two quadrants are those that have a higher intensity and tend to raise the heart rate.

The second is the parasympathetic branch, which slows down internal processes (decreases heart rate) and is represented by the lower two quadrants. The emotions in the lower two quadrants are “quieter” and have a lower intensity.

The horizontal line represents our hormonal response to emotions. This is a key part of the hormonal system that regulates many other hormones and systems. Hormones are important because once secreted, some will have long-lasting effects on our bodies' biochemistry.

Two key hormones that are impacted by the emotions we experience are cortisol and DHEA. We need cortisol, but when we secrete too much or too little, there can be negative health implications.

Cortisol has a long-lasting effect, so once we produce it, its effect on the body lasts for hours. One impact too much cortisol has is disrupting sleep. So if you don’t sleep well at night, what effect does that have on your inner battery? Not good, right?

And be aware - it’s not only cortisol that is produced when we’re on the left side of the grid. Also set in motion is a cascade of over 1,400 biochemical and hormonal changes that use a lot of energy and can have a depleting effect on our physiology. Even feeling a few repeated minor irritations in terms of anger, emptiness, frustration, inadequacy, helplessness, fear, guilt etc... can have that same effect.

So what do we have on the other side? On the right side of the grid is DHEA, which is known as the vitality hormone or anti-ageing hormone because it has a regenerative effect on our physiology. More DHEA is available when we experience renewing emotions and less stressful emotions such as joy, gratitude, serenity, interest, hope, pride, amusement inspiration etc.

Also, a different cascade of biochemical and hormonal changes is set into motion when we experience renewing emotions, which have a regenerative effect on our physiology.

DHEA and cortisol come from the same precursor hormone, so if we are producing more cortisol, it’s at the expense of producing DHEA. 

OK, now we have learned what actually happens when we are in a certain emotional state. When I became aware of that "chemical explosion" in my body I became more self-aware of my emotions (and reactions). It is not easy to take a break and ask ourselves: "How am I feeling?" because we simply forget. Our inner software keeps running without a pause. But it's very smart and beneficial to start doing that.

A simple practice for gaining moment-to-moment self-awareness is Spot Check. It is used to become more aware of our vibration and where we are on "the grid throughout the day.

• Spot Check is taking a personal inventory of your inner state. Be honest with yourself.
• Pause and focus on the heart area. This can provide more objectivity to the vibrational state you are in.
• There are many situations where we allow our mechanical responses to override our intuitive promptings to pause.
• A quick Spot Check can help you be more aware also of the dynamics you bring to the team.
• You can Spot Check anytime and anywhere. The key is remembering to do it. You may even want to set an hourly reminder on your phone, for example. I'm going to start doing that.

Ok, that's it for today. I hope you have (again) learned something new about yourself and the people around you. If you haven't resonated with what I wrote, don't worry about it. That only means your truth is different. I still love you anyway! 🙂

Until next time…in heart💖 space, where else!😉

Keep on shining!💥☀️

I'm Anja Žibert, founder of Free Spirit Human Capital, HR Tribe Magician @ trailblazing AI startup AxonJay and HeartMath® Activating The Heart Of Teams™ Certified Trainer. But you can also call me Multi-dimensional Hearthunter - because I'm always "on the lookout" for heart energies, especially in recruitment.🙂

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