Friday Musings—04/08/23

If you haven't read it yet, in this week's post I discuss how I'm using the practice of Red Teaming to think more sharply, make better decisions, and become a problem-solver. I also share a podcast recommendation. As always, I invite you to share your thoughts and insights in the comments. I'd love to get your feedback and continue the conversation.

Now onto my weekly musings 😎

Don't judge your emotions

On Monday, I attended a training session on the basics of emotional management. It was led by MJ, the same coach who introduced me to the world of self-development. Emotional Intelligence is such a crucial topic, and it deserves to be discussed at length. But there's one key takeaway from the session I'd like to share here.

It's common to label certain emotions as negative, and as a result, we often end up either ignoring or suppressing/repressing them. But here's the thing—emotions aren't inherently good or bad. They actually carry messages from our body and mind, trying to communicate something important that we need to understand in order to respond effectively. If we reframe these emotions as uncomfortable rather than negative, we can then become curious about why we're experiencing that discomfort and how we can address it constructively. The idea is not to judge our emotions, but to sit with them and ask ourselves, "What is this emotion trying to tell me?"

Seeking the positive

During the training, we also emphasized the value of cultivating positivity. It's in this emotional space that we can truly grow, open up to the world, and unleash our creativity. It reminded me of a Guardian article I came across a few days ago. The writers spoke to a series of experts who explained why things aren't always as bad as they seem, and offered a list of reasons to be a bit more optimistic. There's also this great Italian organization, Mezzopieno (meaning "half full") entirely dedicated to promoting positivity. Whenever I find myself feeling truly disheartened, I go read a couple of their articles to remind myself there are genuinely good people and good things happening out there.

While we can't deny that we live in worrying and troubled times, it's also true that the media tend to spotlight the negatives. Also, our minds have a cognitive bias towards the negative—we pay much more attention to negative events than positive ones, and we tend to remember them much more vividly. This means we need to make a deliberate effort to focus on the positives and celebrate them. I invite you to share any positive story and experience you've had recently in the comments, so we can contribute to nurturing and spreading positivity!

Time-out

When I find myself overwhelmed by negativity, one of my go-to remedies is slow-paced yoga. It allows me to sit with the discomfort without reacting to it, simply waiting for it to pass. I'd like to share a simple and short routine I recently discovered, which has become one of my evening favorites.

Yoga may not be your cup of tea, but I encourage you to give it a try or find another practice that's easy to implement and that you can turn to whenever you need some time out. The aim is to build a small "toolkit" of self-care resources you can use to pause and reset whenever whenever life feels overwhelming or unsettling.

Quote of the week ✍️

"Believe you can and you're halfway there". (Theodore Roosevelt)

That's all from me today, enjoy your weekend and TTYS

ML