Day 19 - Coping with emotions

Picture credit - Pixabay

Day 19 - Coping with emotions

28 April 2020

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What is Coping with emotions?

Emotions are biological states brought on by thoughts, feelings, behavioural responses, and a degree of pleasure or displeasure. 

The basic emotions are 

1. joy/ sadness, 

2. acceptance/ disgust, 

3. fear/ anger, 

4. surprise/ anticipation. 

The word "emotion" dates back to 1579, when it was adapted from the French word émouvoir, which means "to stir up". Emotions create responses in the brain called feelings. 

Coping with emotions is - 

a. understanding the patterns of emotions, 

b. understanding our responses to emotions and 

c. taking corrective and preventive actions

My learning for the day

While studying the science of emotions, I had the opportunity to read about something called the endocrine system. 

The endocrine system is a chemical messenger system in our body. It is a collection of ductless glands that secretes hormones directly into the blood.

A hormone is a chemical that moves throughout the body to help regulate emotions and behaviours.

What I found interesting was - 

a. each endocrine gland is associated with emotions

b. each endocrine gland is associated with a Chakra (nerve bundle)

c. each Chakra is associated with a Yoga posture

Here’s the mapping of the endocrine glands, emotions, nerve bundles (Chakras) and Yoga poses

1. Adrenal gland (The Base Chakra or Mooladhar) - Associated with survival, fear and insecurity. When this chakra is in balance (i.e. when the associated gland is healthy), we feel stable, confident, independent and strong. The Yoga posture to manage the emotions related to this gland - Mountain Pose (Tadasan)

2. Reproductive glands (The Sacral Chakra or Svadhishthan) - Associated with pleasure, guilt and sexuality. When this chakra is in balance, we feel positive, satisfied and intuitive. The Yoga posture to manage the emotions related to this gland - Triangle Pose (Trikonasan)

3. Pancreas (The Solar Plexus Chakra or Manipur) - Associated with control, anger, helplessness, inner worth, will and personal power. When this chakra is in balance, we feel confident, productive and focussed. The Yoga posture to manage the emotions related to this gland -  Cobra Pose (Bhujangasan)

4. Thymus (The Heart Chakra or Anaahat) - Associated with love and compassion. When this chakra is in balance, we feel compassionate, friendly and caring. The Yoga posture to manage the emotions related to this gland -  Camel Pose (Ushtraasan)

5. Thyroid (The Throat Chakra or Vishuddha) - Associated with communication, trust and faith. When this chakra is in balance, we communicate positively and listen to others actively. The Yoga posture to manage the emotions related to this gland - Shoulderstand (Sarvangasan)

6. Pituitary gland (The Third Eye or Aadnyaa) - Associated with foresight, conflict, duality, intuition. When this chakra is in balance, we feel free of fear and free of attachment to material things. The Yoga posture to manage the emotions related to this gland - Child’s Pose (Baalaasan)

7. Pineal gland (The Crown Chakra or Sahasraar) - Associated with unity, separation, peace and tranquility. When this chakra is in balance, we feel enlightened. The Yoga posture to manage the emotions related to this gland - Headstand (Shirshasan)

There is an amazing meditation practice called the Chakra meditation that helps bring all these chakras in balance. Here’s a 48 minute video for you.

Hope you can practice all these Yoga poses and do the Chakra meditation to master your emotions. 

I am grateful to all who enriched me in this study. Here’s what I studied - 

Chakra Therapy by Dr Meenal Sohani

Balance Your Chakras and Create Higher Self-Esteem by Karen Chaston

The Biology of the Chakras and the Vagus Nerve by Institute of light and sound

Vagus nerve by Encyclopaedia Britannica

The 7 Chakras – A Guide about their Attributes, Strengths and weaknesses, related yoga postures by Ram Jain

Grateful to Subhash Sondkar and Trupti Pandit who opened doors for me to new knowledge of meditation and the Chakras 

How to improve your coping skills?

Set a goal to become a go-to person by mastering the art and science of coping with emotions. 

Follow the LAST model to build your personal brand as a Guru of emotions management. 

1. Learn - Invest time in learning different frameworks/ models/ techniques of coping with emotions 
2. Apply - 
• Identify a model suitable to you
• Create a template to document the flow of the process
• Find opportunities to use the selected method/ template
• Maintain record/ process flow of every important activities you did to cope with emotions
• Maintain notes of your thoughts/ insights/ failures/ challenges…. to be used for sharing/ training others
3. Share - Share the insights captured in step 2 above in a planned manner (social media posts, blogs, videos, study notes…)
4. Train - Generate opportunities to train your peers and team members so that, over time, your organisation benefits from your efforts

Purpose of this document

I took a 66 day challenge to study Life Skills last year (10 April 2019). To my astonishment, I succeeded in studying for 66 days one skill a day. 

My objectives of learning these skills were - To strengthen my mind to face life’s challenges with ease, To use these skills in my worklife for a better performance, To use these skills in my personal life for enriching my relationships, To open new possibilities to surprise myself. 

This is my next 66 day challenge (from 10 April 2020) - To share my Life Skills learning with my social media friends. 

I pray that my toil helps you in your success journey.

What are Life Skills?

UNICEF defines Life skills as - psychosocial abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life. They are loosely grouped into three  broad categories of skills

• cognitive skills for analyzing and using information, 
• personal skills for developing personal agency and managing oneself, 
• inter-personal skills for communicating and interacting effectively with others.

Which LifeSkills are covered?

The World Health Organisation identified these basic areas of life skills that are relevant across cultures: 

1. Decision-making
2. Problem-solving
3. Creative thinking
4. Critical thinking
5. Communication
6. Interpersonal skills
7. Self-awareness
8. Empathy
9. Coping with emotions
10. Coping with stress.

Some trivia

‘Life skills’ was never part of the school curriculum. WHO/ UNESCO mandated academia to teach these skills in all schools across the globe in 1993.

Different countries educate their children in these skills with different objectives

• Zimbabwe and Thailand - prevention of HIV/AIDS
• Mexico - prevention of adolescent pregnancy
• United Kingdom - child abuse prevention
• USA - prevention of substance abuse and violence
• South Africa and Colombia - positive socialization of children.