Women Rise: Emotional Wellbeing at Work and Home
This May, we hosted the third event in our Women Rise guided conversation series. Our conversation guide for Emotional Wellbeing at Work and Home was Laurie Shopland - known by her clients as “The Chief Encouragement Officer” and winner of the coveted Award for Business Success from The Life Coach School.
Laurie Shopland shared a 3-step process to help attendees own and process emotions. This process is helpful in a fast-moving world in which we juggle multiple roles and responsibilities, and allows us to make time to check in with ourselves and our emotions.
Emotional Wellbeing Workbook
Download Laurie’s Emotional Wellbeing Workbook
Process and Reframe Emotions: ABC Method
A - Acknowledge
Process: Start by asking yourself: How you are feeling, what are you thinking, and what is your response to this emotion? Is your initial response to react, resist, or avoid the emotion? Noticing and naming your emotions provides a workable jumping off point to effectively process and work through your emotions.
B - Belief
Process: After you land on the emotion you are feeling, ask yourself what is the belief you have about that emotion? Your thoughts and beliefs about your emotions will narrate how you behave. Reminder: Its ok to feel positive and negative emotions. Allowing yourself the space to feel negative emotions rather than ignoring or pushing them down will help you work through them faster.
Reframe: Try reframing your response to the emotion or situation from language that includes “I should, I need, I have to” to language that includes, “I get to, I choose to, I can.” Your brain remembers how you feel about emotions and will continue to have those reactions. Shifting your language will help rewire your brain to have new responses to specific thoughts or emotions.
C - Curious
Process: Get curious about why you are feeling a certain way. Where do you feel the emotion in your body? Moving the emotion from your thoughts/narratives to your body helps stop the emotion from being reinforced by the thoughts and stories you are telling yourself about it.
Reframe: Refocus the question from WHY you’re having the emotion or belief to HOW you can shift your beliefs about it.
Rewiring Your Brain for Positivity
Celebrate small victories
One easy way to rewire your brain for positivity is to celebrate small victories! Acknowledging and celebrating the mundane, every day wins will help your brain get dopamine from small victories rather than negative situations.
Setting Love Lines (Boundaries)
Another way to reframe our beliefs is to think of boundaries as “love lines.” Learning to set a love line is about saying no… with love! Not only do boundaries protect ourselves and our own wellbeing, but they ensure we can show up as our best, fullest selves for the people we care about. Love lines ensure our own cup is full before giving to other people.
Blog Posts for Wellbeing
Questions to Ask Yourself When Feeling Mom Guilt - Cayley Benjamin
Hacks for Whole Body Wellness at Home - Aretha Moller-Roth
Key Stretches for Areas Most Commonly in Need of Love - Carey Yuen