Emotional Management

By: Pennie Murray

Emotions are powerful forces influencing our everyday behavior. Yet until recently, emotions have not received the attention they deserve. The first step in regulating and managing emotions is learning to identify and label them as they occur. This ability often requires not only the ability to observe one’s emotional responses in situations but also to describe with a sense of accuracy the context in which the emotions occur. Hence, learning to identify an emotional response is aided enormously if one can recognize, describe, and understand the major attributes that constitute each emotion and then use these attributes to create a more effective result. However, for most of us this is not an easy task. But by becoming one with our emotional experiences, we can learn the relationship between our thoughts, feelings, and reactions in order to manage them better.

It starts by understanding how the struggle to meet emotional demands affects you?

Stress cannot be avoided. How we deal with “it” can greatly influence how “it” affects us. Emotional stress is predictable and always has the same effect on ourselves, others, and the environment. For example, when emotional stress persists too long, it causes a reaction. At first, our body will resist the emotional imbalance. We may continue to resist successfully unless the stress continues for too long, too hard, or too often. At some point, our ability to resist will reach a stage of exhaustion and the results are almost always sabotaging, disruptive, or destructive. It is not the emotional stress itself that causes damage, but your ability or inability to successfully cope with it. The three major factors that determine the degree of emotional stress we will experience with any given situation are lack of predictability, lack of control, and lack of outlets for frustration. At Alliance, we realize that the best and most optimal plan for managing emotional stress is prevention—through understanding emotional stress and then creating acceptable coping skills.

• 76.6% of Americans are faced with the daily effects of emotional-stress

• Pressures of Expectations:  41.18%

• Frustrations:  39.32%

• Conflicts:  19.50%

Emotionally Balanced Professionals Make More Effective Decisions and Choices

The constant question in today’s workplace is if it is possible to improve the social and emotional competence of adult workers.  Research in training and development, sports psychology, and behavior change suggests that it is possible, but the typical approach used in present day training programs usually fail to accomplish this intended goal. Social and emotional learning is different from cognitive and technical learning, and it requires a different approach.

From the time we enter kindergarten, our educational systems focus on honing our cognitive or technical skills. Virtually no emphasis is placed on the education of managing the inner conflicts and unbalanced emotions we experience every day. As "emotional intelligence" becomes more widely used and understood, educators are realizing that cognitive ability is not the sole critical determinant of our aptitude to flourish in today's society. Proficiency in emotional management, conflict resolution, communication and interpersonal skills is essential to develop inner self-security and become able to effectively deal with the pressures and obstacles that will inevitably arise in our lives. It is for this reason, Alliance follows another learning curve.

By:  Pennie Murray

© 2015 Alliance Training and Consulting, Inc.

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