Use Your Emotional Indicators To Prevent Burnout
Written by: Jane Christine, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Feeling like you’re on an emotional rollercoaster? You have so much energy then you crash and burn? Perhaps you feel so overwhelmed your brain is surrounded by fog, you can’t think clearly, you don’t even know where to start, you are exhausted? If you’ve felt any of these before, chances are you weren’t using your emotional indicators to prevent burnout.
What are emotional indicators?
I believe our central nervous system is the gateway between our emotions and our body sensations. When we feel an emotion, our body interprets this information and manifests an external bodily response. You can use these bodily sensations to indicate what emotions you are feeling, and with this awareness, you can quickly change course to honour your emotions. I also believe our outwardly manifestation of our emotions is an instinctual way we all relate and communicate with each other collectively, and most experts agree that 70% to 93% of all communication is nonverbal.
Emotional association
Everything has an emotional association; every place, experience, person, object, task, song, season, it all will bring up an emotional response for you. And this can be amazing, think of the last time you heard a song from your past, didn’t it transport you right back to that moment singing with your friends, you remember who you were with, what you were doing, what season it was, how you were feeling, what was said.
This is called an anchor. Like an anchor on a boat – the music is the connection to that experience. Music is a great example of an anchor, but everything has an anchor and an emotional association, a special piece of jewellery, an aunt or uncle, a flower, a specific business task, it all will connect you with an emotion. Both positive and negative emotions can arise, so it makes sense why you may feel drained by some people or tasks. You may have a negative emotional association and that’s preventing you from wanting to be around that person or complete that task.
Neuro-physical effect cycle
Your mind uses a psychological cycle that fuels your emotions. It works like this; you have an experience, that brings up a past memory, that triggers an emotion, then produces a neuro-physical effect.
So, an experience is attached to the memory of the object, task, sound, smell, place, or person that gives you a neuro-physical effect. It’s much easier to feel your body sensations than to try and pinpoint your exact emotion in the moment. For this reason, using your body’s response as your indicator can help you know when you need to pause and recharge before burning out.
How to build awareness & connection with your bodily sensations
Did you know your body is constantly talking to you? Sometimes you're so busy you're not able to listen. As you now know there is a neuro-physical effect between your mind and your body, this means your body responds to how your brain has interpreted an experience and memory. A study conducted in 2014 by Enrico Glerean and his colleagues, found there are 13 main emotions that correlate with specific body parts similar to that of a heat map when they are active or inactive - this is called body mapping. As studies on this are still fairly recent it may differ from person to person, but as we already know we are all unique and tapping into our intuition to know what feels right is always best.
As a guideline here are the 13 emotions and where it can be stimulated within the body:
Happiness: activated all over your body
Angry: mainly activated upper half of your body and arms, some feet
Fear: activated upper body, without arms
Disgust: activated in the middle of your torso up to your head
Sadness: activated head and chest, with deactivation in lower half of body
Surprise: activated in chest and head, with deactivation in legs
Anxiety: activated in torso only, with deactivation in lower arms, legs, feet
Love: activate all over the body, except legs
Depression: deactivation all over the body, except torso
Contempt: activated in head and hands, deactivation in pelvic in legs
Pride: activated in torso, head, arms
Shame: activated head and torso, deactivation in lower arms, legs and feet
Envy: activated in upper chest and head, deactivation in upper legs
Notice your body's response with these 13 emotions and write down what happens and what experience was associated with making you feel this way.
Use your emotional indicators to help establish your boundaries
Once you’ve completed your body’s emotional audit and have an idea of where your emotions manifest for you, you can start to assess what experience created this emotion. By taking a step back and looking at the data you’ve collected you will be able to establish your boundaries. I don’t see boundaries as limiting, actually on the contrary, as when you know what your current natural emotional capabilities are you’ll be able to work with specific areas you’d like to expand, purposefully and intentionally. This is the difference between doing everything because you feel you’re being held back and limited by your current emotional awareness and being able to honour yourself before it gets to the point of being all too much and burning out.
“You’ll be in alignment with your bodily sensations”
When you know your boundaries, you’ll prevent burnout because you’ll be in alignment with your bodily sensations and use them as emotional indicators. If you’d like to explore this in-depth for yourself reach out and let’s get started embracing your emotions and establishing your boundaries.
Jane Christine, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Jane Christine is a certified Life Coach, NLP Master Practitioner, and author. Originally from Australia working in the corporate world until she questioned her life's purpose. Jane believed there had to be more to life, so she sold everything she owned and set off for a nomadic lifestyle traveling around the world searching for answers and a place to call home, which she finally found in Spain. Her search and transformation took her to over 37 countries. Life experiences and her own personal growth guided her to become a certified Life Coach. Her travels inspired her quest to learn about the world around us and why we do what we do. Since 2012, Jane Christine has been studying how our pasts shape us, the effects of societal standards, and the impact of values. With Neuro-Linguistics Programming techniques and through the power of transformation, learn how to; bridge the gap, define self-worth, set tangible goals, find comfort through change, and how 1% micro-changes can alter lives. Jane Christine is the author of "How You Know Already: Questions to ask yourself to find the answers within," as she believes we are all unique, and so are each of our paths to follow. She is dedicated to her clients and supporting their growth and journey. Her motto: Design your life, don't just live it!
