Donna Highfill
  • Home
  • About
    • About Donna
    • What People Are Saying
    • My Other Blogs
      • Dame Nation Blog
      • Huffington Post
  • Services
    • Power Up BUSINESS
    • Coaching
  • Books and Tools
  • Blog
    • Fave Products
  • Contact Me

Yes, Emotions Can Make or Break Your Body

Donna HighfillBlogNo commentsJune 11, 2015

I stood in front of the mirror, looked at my face and quietly muttered, “I’m mel-l-l-lting!” in the voice of the Wicked Witch of the West.  Jowls hung where there used to be a strong jaw, and my eyes were shaped differently due to the lovely drooping of my turncoat eyelids. I thought of that children’s song –

“Do your ears hang low/Do they wobble to and fro/can you tie ’em in a knot, can you tie ’em in a bow . . .”

Too much of me was hanging low. The rest of the day I was physically exhausted, and there’s a good reason for that.

Judith Orloff, M.D., says that emotions trigger biological reactions that shape our health as distinctly as exercise. Any reaction can make or break our sense of well-being.

On this particular morning, I told myself that I was aging. I felt vulnerable, fearful, and my body reacted accordingly. The amygdala, our brain’s emotional center, went on high alert as it does each time it senses a potential threat.

In this case, it was sagging stuff and the onset of aging — not exactly a man with a gun, but my body reacted as if it were. Most of the stress chemicals we release by our thoughts are excessive in reaction to the reality in front of us.

My emotional stress, in that moment, was causing physical degeneration . . . the very thing I feared.

For example, an ambulance just flew by my office, and my heart started pounding. I immediately went through the checklist of everybody I love and where they are at this very moment. It’s a reaction I have to an old story mom told me about a woman who heard a siren, saw an accident, and didn’t know her daughter was in the car that she passed by. I’m not blaming my mother – we all have those fearful stories.

So, we need to calm down . . .

When we learn to change our emotional reaction to any situation, we change our biological reaction as well.

Sounds easy, but for me, it isn’t. I’m the freak in traffic pounding my hand on the steering wheel because a car in front of me applied their brakes at a green light just in case the light turned red. My husband won’t even allow me in a grocery store if it’s crowded, and I seem to be the only one running the race of having to get to the restaurant door before anybody else.

So here’s some tips that I’m going to use to calm myself –

  • Deep breathing. Sounds obvious, but taking five deep breaths in . . . and out . . . floods the body with endorphins, our brain’s opiate-like painkillers. It replenishes Serotonin and puts us in a good mood. I’m doing this more often while driving, and it helps.
  • Meditation. I’m horrible at it, because it goes something like this . . .”Ohmmmmm . . . I forgot to buy butter today . . . Ohmmmm . . .I think I smell smoke from the kitchen . . . Ohmmmm . . .my face itches . . .” So I take short moments in the day, where I lean back in my chair, shut my eyes, and focus on my breathing for a couple of minutes. It works. And, hopefully, I don’t’ fall asleep and miss the entire work day.
  • Laugh. It is the most fun type of medicine and my favorite form of endorphin release.

Just know this . . .

Our thoughts matter.

The stories we tell ourselves could be destroying our physical well-being.

If we’re trying to eat well, and/or exercise, we should also take time to work on our thoughts just as diligently.

Check in with me in six months. I might just be lightly hitting my steering wheel due to the slow driver in front of me.

Every improvement counts.

Tags: Change Stories, donna highfill, inspiration, motivation, Stories

Related Articles

Goodnight, House

May 5, 2016Donna Highfill

Hands Rule

March 19, 2015Donna Highfill

How the Simplest Interactions Can Change Your Day

August 27, 2012Andrew

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Learn How to Tell a Better Story and Achieve Success!

Sign up below to receive 48 FREE Energizing Messages.

Connect with Me

Email
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Pinterest

Recent Posts

  • A Cab Driver Who Appeared as if from Nowhere
  • Here’s Some Honesty For You
  • Laughter is My Hero
  • A New Year in Old Clothes
  • Why I Will Face the Fall

CHECK OUT MY BOOK

highfillcover

As a leader, do you implement change only to watch the projects, processes and initiatives stall because you can’t get the people driving them to change? In my new book Real People, Real Change: Stories of a Change Warrior in the Business World I share real stories to illustrate how leaders can move people to action.

Archives

Where Donna Will Be Speaking Next

  • April 22, 2015 - SunTrust Women's Networking Group
  • April 23, 2015 - SunTrust Women's Networking Group
  • May 12, 2015 - LPGA Championship, Kingsmill, Williamsburg VA
  • May 21, 2015 - Education Association of Fundraising Professionals, Eerie, PA

Certified_hi-res

mbti_certified
huffbadge

Learn How to Tell a Better Story and Achieve Success!

Sign up below to receive 48 FREE Energizing Messages.

Recent Posts

  • A Cab Driver Who Appeared as if from Nowhere August 9, 2017
  • Here’s Some Honesty For You March 16, 2017
  • Laughter is My Hero January 10, 2017

Contact Me

804-370-6665
[email protected]
  • Home
  • Privacy Policy
  • Copyright
  • About Donna
  • Contact Me
Copyright Donna Highfill 2014