[Neurons] 2024 Neurons #17 EMOTIONS AND STRESS

[Michael Hall]

From: L. Michael Hall

2024 Neurons #17

April 22, 2024

Emotional Intelligence Series #17

 

 

EMOTIONS AND STRESS

 

In one sense all emotions create or involve what we call stress.  That¡¯s
because every e-motion involves moving, movement, and energy.  To be without
any movement, emotion, muscular tension, and/or stress is to be dead.  If we
then begin with the idea of a continuum, we can begin to quantify the amount
of movement, energy, or ¡°stress.¡±

 

 


Death           Low Energy
Medium Amount                  High Energy     Overwhelmed

Nothing        Feeling very little                Of Energy/ Feeling
Excitement                        Stress Overload

 

 

Let¡¯s now ask the question, ¡°What does it kinesthetically feel like at
each of these stages, and what emotions would be typically present at each
stage?¡±   The kinesthetic feel means that at each increasing stage, there
is more energy in the body, more movement, and more physical tension.  Your
heart beat would be very relaxed and slow at the far left ... and
increasingly active to the point of reaching a really fast pace at the far
right.  So with the lungs, muscle tension in various parts of the body, and
as a person moves to the right, there will be more nervous energy,
excitement, and inability to stay still.

 

Emotionally, we would move from depressed, fatigued, relaxed, calm, serene,
active, eustress, excited, anticipating, anxious, irritated, annoyed,
overwhelmed, panic.  Now imagine we turn the continuum up on its end to
create a vertical line.  The arrow (¡ü) indicates the increasing of
¡°stress¡± as we move up the scale.  

 

              ¨O   Overwhelmed, Panic, Burn-out

              ¨O   Anxiety, Nervous

¡ü          ¨O   Frustrated

              ¨O   Excited

¡ü          ¨O   Eustress

              ¨O   Serene, Calm

              ¨O   Fatigued, Tired

¡ü         ¨O   Depressed, Down 

 

Eustress, in the middle, is the word that Hans Selye, the Stress Expert,
invented to indicate good or healthy stress.  The problem is not the
external or internal trigger that evokes us to respond.  Actually, we need
and have to have a certain level of ¡°stress¡± in order to live and thrive
and be healthy, hence eustress.  At this level we feel alive and energetic.
Emotionally we feel enough energy to do the things that we want to do in
everyday life.  Below that level we may be exhausted and needing rest,
fatigued and below that we may be depressing our energy, our hopes, our
dreams, etc.  Stress problems generally occur above the level of eustress.
When there¡¯s too much to do, when we have expended all of our energy within
a time limit, when there are too many demands, or not enough resources, then
we feel anxious and nervous and eventually overwhelmed. 

 

Acute stress occurs when this happens all of a sudden.  A crisis arises.  An
accident occurs.  Out of the blue, we are called upon to take care of an
emergency.  There¡¯s an immediate threat or danger and generally, we
experience the General Arousal Syndrome of fight/ flight in order to deal
with that acute stress situation.

 

What¡¯s most dangerous is chronic stress.  This is the stress that slowly
builds up over time as we take on yet ¡°one more thing.¡±  Generally, we
then begin adapting and after awhile, we don¡¯t even notice.  But we¡¯re
getting less sleep, we¡¯re feeling drained and exhausted more often, we¡¯re
cutting out long-term resources (exercise, quality time with friends,
coaching, etc.).  And then, eventually, something gives.  We reach threshold
and can take no more.   This is the strss that causes heart attacks,
strokes, headaches, backaches, ulcers, and all sorts of psycho-somatic
illness wherein the body is paying the price for the ongoing stress. 

 

Stress is not a thing, it is a process¡ªnamely, the process of the strain
you put upon your mind, emotions, and body by how you think about the
demands of your environment and your mind.  That¡¯s why what stresses one
person may be excitement to another.  Stress is psychological in that it
comes from your interpretations and meanings.  It also is influenced by your
skills in stressing yourself and your skills in de-stressing yourself. 

 

For more: See the book, Speak Up, Speak Clear, Speak Kind (1987) on the
Shop, it¡¯s free.  It¡¯s about stress and communication.

 

Questions about Emotions?  I have almost completed this series on emotions,
emotional mastery and emotional intelligence, if you have a qustion, send it
to me ¡ª  <mailto:meta at acsol.net> meta at acsol.net 

 

SEE OUR NEW PAGE ON THE WEBSITE!

http://www.neurosemantics.com/thinking-for-humans/




 

 

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.

Executive Director, ISNS

738 Beaver Lodge

Grand Jct., CO. 81505 USA

meta at acsol.net

 

 



 

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