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3: Keys
2: Concepts
1: Quick Article
"Emotional agility is the art of embracing discomfort and uncertainty as opportunities for growth and self-discovery, rather than obstacles to be avoided." - Susan David
3 Keys to Emotional Agility
Recognize Your Emotions: The first step to emotional agility is acknowledging what you're feeling without judgment—and that takes practice. Take a moment to pause and identify the emotions you’re experiencing and practice just noticing, observing or being with them. Remember, it's okay to feel whatever you're feeling—and if you’re feeling, you are healing.
Acceptance and Allowance: Emotions are energy in motion, and the emotions will pass. Instead of resisting or suppressing them, practice acceptance and allow yourself to fully experience your emotions, even the uncomfortable ones. This doesn't mean you have to like the emotions, but acknowledging their presence can help you move forward and out of the “hijack” of challenging emotions.
Choose Your Response: Once you've acknowledged and accepted your emotions, you're better equipped to choose how to respond. Do you value compassion? Empathy? Peace? Does your response seem more like a reaction than a conscious response? Consider your values and goals and respond in a way that aligns with them. This might involve taking constructive action, seeking support, or simply giving yourself time to process what you are experiencing.
A Couple of Concepts:
Flexibility: Emotional agility involves being flexible and adaptive in your responses to emotions. Just as a tree bends with the wind to avoid breaking, practicing emotional agility allows you to bend with life's challenges without losing your inner strength.
Mindfulness: Mindfulness practices, such as meditation and deep breathing, can enhance emotional agility by increasing self-awareness and providing a “time out” and a sense of calm amidst the chaos of difficult emotions. Incorporating mindfulness into your daily routine can help you navigate emotions with greater ease when they show up as reactions rather than responses.
A Quick Overview:
Emotional agility is the capacity to recognize, accept, and adapt to one's emotions in a way that promotes peace, harmony, growth and well-being. Rooted in decades of research in psychology and neuroscience, the concept of emotional agility offers valuable insights into how we can effectively manage our inner world amidst life's challenges.
In therapy, we focus on developing flexible thinking and emotional agility, which involves adapting to and responding to our emotions. This process includes recognizing and accepting what shows up without judgment, staying present, fully experiencing the emotion, and choosing responses that align with our values and goals. It is not about suppressing, avoiding, or ignoring our feelings but rather about consciously engaging with them in a mindful and intentional manner.
And practicing emotional agility can have profound benefits for our overall well-being.
Research has linked emotional agility to lower levels of stress, greater psychological flexibility, and increased resilience in the face of adversity. By learning to navigate our emotions with greater skill and awareness, we can cultivate a deeper sense of inner peace, fulfillment, and authenticity in our lives. Here’s the important piece: With practice, emotions will cease to hijack us.
Emotional agility is a powerful tool for navigating the complexities of the human experience. By recognizing, accepting, and adapting to our emotions with mindfulness and compassion, we can develop greater resilience, authenticity, and well-being in our lives.
References:
Susan David, "Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change, and Thrive in Work and Life"
Daniel Goleman, "Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ"
Tara Brach, "Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life With the Heart of a Buddha"
Matthieu Ricard, "Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill"
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by Laura Weber Garrison, PhD
From the publisher…
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