A warm hello from Paris!
I hope you are well.
As you may know, October is Mental Health Awareness Month. This month is a time to focus special attention on our mental and emotional health.
I’d like to highlight one important fact. Emotions are information. Once we can see our feelings as simply data to inform our decisions and actions, it changes everything. We can use our emotions productively and dynamically to act, and create change.
None of our emotions are inherently good or bad – they just are. Nor are they directives commanding how we should think or behave. They don’t tell us we have to act happy, sad, angry, or in accordance with any other feeling. We can just notice, with curiosity – ‘What is this feeling? That’s interesting. What does that mean?’
We can make a conscious choice about how we respond. Giving the emotion a name, recognizing it and accepting it as data to inform our response, helps us to detach ourselves from the emotion, and deal with it. When we bring in self-compassion and turn kindness inwards, to ourselves, we can enjoy better mental health, clearer thinking and be a greater leader.
Happy leading and happy learning!
Palena
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