Recycling Emotions… and Mindsets

Can you recall a time where you “recycled” an initially unpleasant or painful emotion and translated it into useful energy, motivation, or clarity? Perhaps you were bullied, made fun of, or embarrassed to the point where you “put your foot down” and spoke up or advocated for yourself. Maybe you were so fed up w/ your long work hours that you set a boundary and told your boss what hours you could give your 100% effort.

First hand, we as humans could hopefully agree on the idea that experiences like stress, anxiety, and anger activate us. Internally we crank up like a thermometer and we may feel jittery, amped up, cold or hot, antsy, itching to move, impulsive, and/or overwhelmed w/ racing thoughts, just to name a few. I would also guess that many humans would label these sensations or symptoms as negative, distressing, and unhelpful. We often forget that our tendency to label sensations or symptoms is a choice. This introduces the idea of a mindset, which Dr Kelly McGonigal defines as “a belief that biases how you think, feel, and act (p.11, 2015). Dr McGonigal explains that thanks to mindset research, we know that how you think about something, such as stress, matters. In other words, your perception matters. What is your mindset or belief about stress, anxiety, or anger? 

I don’t want to bore you with some of these research studies supporting mindsets; however, I encourage you to consider, if possible, taking a step back when feeling stressed, anxious, or angry. What is this emotion telling me? What’s at stake here? How can I recycle or use this emotion to help me act in accordance with my values (what I care about)? Yes, you have a choice to get better at responding to stress, anxiety, or anger in place of reacting. 

Source:

McGonigal, Kelly. (2015). The Upside of Stress: Why Stress Is Good for You, and How to Get Good at It. United Kingdom: Vermilion.