Have you ever reacted to something and thought a few moments later:
“Why did I respond like that?”
Maybe an email immediately made you tense. A comment triggered irritation. A conversation left you feeling anxious before you could even explain why.
We often assume that our thoughts come first and our emotions follow.
But our physiology tells a more interesting story.
Research into the heart-brain connection shows that emotional processes can occur before our higher thinking centers have fully processed what’s happening. The heart and brain are also in constant two-way communication and the signals traveling from the heart to the brain influence emotional processing, attention, perception and decision-making. (HeartMath)
In other words, your body may already be responding before you’ve had time to “think it through.”
So why do we keep trying to think our way out of stress?
When we’re overwhelmed, we often tell ourselves:
Calm down.
Stop worrying.
Don’t let this bother you.
Just think positively.
Yet if our emotional and physiological systems are already activated, simply changing your thoughts may not be enough.
This is one of the reasons I’ve been drawn to HeartMath® for so many years.
HeartMath teaches practical techniques for creating greater coherence which is a measurable state in which the heart, brain and other physiological systems work together more harmoniously. Research associates increased coherence with greater emotional stability, mental clarity and self-regulatory capacity. (HeartMath)
And here’s the part I find especially empowering:
Emotional regulation is a skill.
It isn’t about suppressing what you feel.
It isn’t about never becoming frustrated, anxious or overwhelmed.
And it certainly isn’t about being positive all the time.
It’s about developing the ability to recognize what’s happening internally and learning how to shift physiological and emotional states in order to have greater choice in what happens next.
It is often in this process that individuals find that buried emotions may have something to do with unresolved grief that was never processed. Getting into the heart is a great first step!
With practice, that can mean noticing the tension before sending the email.
Recognizing overwhelm before it becomes exhaustion.
Creating enough internal space to choose a response rather than automatically reacting.
That is where emotional regulation becomes something much more practical than a wellness concept.
It becomes a skill for everyday life.
How overwhelmed are you right now?
Sometimes we’ve been operating under emotional stress for so long that it simply begins to feel normal.
That’s why I created my Overwhelm & Emotional Exhaustion Check-In.
It’s a simple opportunity to pause and take an honest look at how chronic emotional stress may be affecting your energy, emotions and daily life.
Visit Michelemariscal.com to download your complimentary check-in and discover what your current level of emotional stress may be telling you.
Awareness doesn’t require judgment.
Sometimes it’s simply the first step toward creating a different response.
Download the Overwhelm and Emotional Exhaustion Check-in here: Michelemariscal.com
