[00:00] Welcome back to the Focus B show. This is Katie Suddar here aka the focus b. And on this show I interview high performers and leaders around the world to discover their secrets on peak performance, productivity, mindfulness and leadership. So if you want to take your performance and your leadership to the next level, then you're in the right place. Listen up and connect with the magic.
[00:36] You. Do you struggle with managing your emotions? Do you often feel that they're out of control and that you can't actually manage them? Then you're not alone. One of the core reasons people struggle with managing their emotions is because we try to talk ourselves out of them. So we try to say, there's no point in being upset. You don't need to be worried. And we have this self talk going on in our mind telling us that it's going to be okay, that we don't need to be afraid, that we don't need to be upset, that there's no point in being angry. This doesn't work too well. I don't know what your experience is with it, but I know that when I've tried, I've seen that this doesn't really help me to relax so much. There are a couple of reasons why this doesn't work. One of them is because we're negating and ignoring the emotions and they're sending us a signal. There's a fear involved, there's an anger involved, there's something going on that's bothering us and we're just ignoring it. That's one reason why self talk doesn't work. But the other reason is because the neocortex, which is that rational brain, where that self talk often comes from, doesn't actually communicate that well with the limbic part of the brain, which is where the emotions are stored. Recently I read this fantastic book by David Servan Schreiber who was called in French, it was called Guerrille, but it's to heal anxiety and depression without medicine or psychotherapy. And one of the main things he talks about is the fact that if we try to talk ourselves out of emotions, this isn't as effective as using our body. The reason for this is because the limbic system, the limbic part of the brain is actually more correlated and related with our physiology and our body than it is with that neocortex rational way of thinking. So what can be done in those moments where you have strong emotions or overall, if you're going through a period of depression or anxiety or nervousness and you feel that talking it out, maybe talking, even to a therapist, isn't working as much as you'd like to. There are several ways in which you can influence your physiology that will help you to feel better. And it's quite astounding how literally our body supports our mind. This is something that's also linked to a more Asian oriental way of looking at health, which is that if our body and physiology is healthy, then our mind will be great. And we'll have great mental health. This is a bit the opposite. In today's society, we tend to think, okay, if we've got some sort of mental issues, mental health, this will affect our body. But we don't really look at the reverse way. Of course it goes both ways. Once you're upset, this will impact your body and then your body impacts your mind. They're directly correlated. But what I'm suggesting is, how about if we start with the body instead of starting with the mind? So here are a couple of things that really have been proven to make a difference in the mental health. Some of these will be familiar, some of these maybe come as a surprise for you. The first one I'd begin with is exercise. And this is because by using your body, by moving and shifting your physiology, this directly sends off endorphins into your body. Feel good hormones reduces stress. Now, don't get me wrong on the moment, exercise increases cortisol, the stress hormone. But once you've exercised, it helps you to deal with stress during the day. This is why they say that exercise, but also cold showers and cold immersion are hormetic stresses. It means they do put your body under stress, but over time, they help you to deal with stress better in your life. So that's the first one, exercise. It's so important. I could really do the whole episode on this, but we've got other things to cover. Keeping in mind that if you haven't been moving as much, maybe something as simple as a walk, maybe a bit of a hike, maybe just a light jog, a bit of a few push ups, something like this can shift and alter your physiology. Second one is nutrition. Nutrition plays a huge role on how we feel and it's something we often don't think about or we neglect and we often don't see the correlation. We don't notice that if you eat several cakes, maybe the next day you're feeling slow and sluggish and a bit upset and you're not necessarily going to think it's linked to those cakes or to those extra glasses of wine or to having too much bread. We don't think about how these things actually impact our nervous system. And so it's important to cut down on processed food. You've heard this before, you know this already. But these things really do give us a peak of cortisol. They put your whole body under stress, they impact your cells, they impact a lot of things in your body and then it makes it harder for you to be in a good state. And so, yeah, things like sugar, alcohol, processed food, tremendously impact your mental health. Versus eating lots of greens, eating some pulses and having more water, hydration. So basic things like this can impact the way you feel. And one example that was given in the book by David Servant, Schreiber, was having omega three S. They are found in fish. They're also found in algae and you can just take supplements. And this has been proven that some people, if they have a deficit of omega three S, are more prone towards depression, and if they take more omega three S feel better. Who knew, right? Amazing how the body functions. So those were two things, again, using our body, using our physiology that impact our limbic system, impact our brain overall, and make us feel better. Another one that recently I've been really looking into, and I think it's particularly fascinating is heart coherence. And this is when your heart variations are harmonious. And this impacts everything from your nervous system balance to the way your body feels. And it just makes you feel way calmer, more grounded. Things like exercise and nutrition can help to have heart coherence meditating regularly. But also just that simple breathing practice. 5 seconds in and 5 seconds out. And again, breathe in for 5345, hold a bit, breathe out for 512345. I guarantee if you just do ten breaths like this, you're already helping your heart to have this heart coherence. And this has so many benefits from feeling calmer and grounded, managing stress better, sleeping better, boosting your immune system. Seriously, it impacts the whole body. There's another way in which you can both process emotions, but also that will help you to have this heart coherence. And this is using EFT or tapping. And this is because it helps to impact the nervous system when you tap on these different points. And it's interesting because I both heard about this in a course I went to and afterwards in this totally unrelated book that I read by David Servant Schreiber. So both of these talked about EFT and tapping and actually using the body to do this. The idea is if you go through a moment where you're feeling distressed or you have an acute emotion coming up, you calm your nervous system. So you can do it with the 5 seconds in, 5 seconds out, or you can do it like this, just tapping for 1020 seconds on this main point, then here on your chin and then on your chest. And then you can alternate also tapping here on both sides of the chest. And this will help you to feel calmer, to feel more grounded. This will calm down your nervous system. And another interesting one, you can use eye movements and by doing big circles with your eyes from top to right, down, left, up, and then the other way up, left, down, right up. And you can do this several times. Up, right, down, left, up, and up, left, down, right up. And if you do this, this will calm you down. This is because, once more, your limbic system, the part of your brain that deals with the emotions, is more connected with your body than it is with your rational brain. So if you go through a moment where you're feeling distressed or upset, that's acute use these EFT methods. Use the eye circles and then the 5 seconds in, 5 seconds out breathing. Once you've done that, then you can deal with the trigger. And for the more long term, maybe a bit of anxiety, maybe a bit of a low state, not quite feeling good. Change your body. Look at what you're eating, look at how you're sleeping, look at how you're exercising. Focus on that instead of focusing on the situation or the problem. Because most of the time when we're upset, we think it's because of this work or this relationship or this thing bothering me, et cetera, et cetera. And we try and fix these, talk them through, maybe see a coach or therapist about them. It can help. It depends what it is. But shift your body and this will really impact the way you feel. I can't emphasize this enough. So these were the cool points for today's episode on managing emotions and more specifically on the limbic brain. I think it's absolutely fascinating how much our body can impact our emotions and how much we can actually affect our own physiology. Both long term with things like exercise, nutrition, coherent breathing, but also short term with EFT eye circles and the 5 seconds in, 5 seconds out breathing. This can help with more acute moments. I hope this is useful for you. I hope that you remember to use it both for long term and short term. Enjoy the journey and remember to connect with the magic of life.
[11:22] Thank you so much for tuning in today to the Focus Bee show. I would absolutely love to hear your feedback. So let me know in an Apple review or YouTube comment what was most valuable for you, and feel free to share this episode with friend or a family member. Wishing you a wonderful, magical and focused day ahead.
[11:51] You close.