Sage Leadership, The Power of The Word and Cooling Down

I'm noticing a general sense that things are "heating up" - and I don't just mean because it's summer here in the Connecticut/New York area.

Perhaps this is due to a variety of reasons – ongoing uncertainty with the economy, getting laid off, having too much to do in a given day, going nuts keeping up with technology – but people’s fuses and capacities are getting shorter and tighter.This is a sure sign of stress overload – operating with an overtaxed sympathetic nervous system - the flight or fight syndrome.

This leads to people saying things they don’t mean or saying them in a mean way. Everything starts and ends with the power of the word. Whether you are finding yourself in a tense meeting trying to do the impossible with less, working against insane deadlines or you are looking to find more meaning in your work - what you say and how you say it are key in these changing times.Before you say something to the ‘wrong’ person, at the ‘wrong’ time, in the ‘wrong’ situation, take a moment to cool down your nervous system. If you feel the temperature rising, the most basic way to cool down and “detox” the moment is: Take a slow, deep inhale through your nose to a count of 8, exhale through your mouth with an "o" shape to a count of 8. You can add: bring in positive feelings with each inhale; discharge negative feelings with each exhale.

Do this 3-11 times. This will allow enough pause and space in the conversation and energetic exchange for a shift to happen. Then open your mouth to respond versus react.  It is only in the present moment that we can truly change anything. And it starts with ourselves.