I wanted to share this TED talk with you, because my reflective practice group had a meaningful conversation about accessing our full range of emotions stimulated by this talk. In it the Harvard psychologist Susan David, talks about the dangers of the tyranny of positivity which means that blocking the acknowledgement of how we really are feeling can be damaging to our long-term health and resilience.
The TED talk explores what emotions are permissible, and this led us to a rich discussion of how this can manifest itself in our cultural and family systems. We explored what emotions we allow easily as individuals, and which are not allowed or more difficult to name and acknowledge for example when I started my coaching practice training 15 years ago, I exclaimed “I don't do anger”. What I now know was actually true was I didn't give anger a place and didn't know how to express it. Now I can notice my anger, connect to what has sparked it, acknowledge how it is serving me, and decide whether I want to take any action. Which leaves me feeling much more comfortable with the emotions I’m experiencing in any given moment so whether for you it’s anger, fear or sadness it’s important that you take the time to recognise them.
This is such a thought-provoking talk and so wanted to share it with you. Enjoy!