The Emotional State of Employees Cannot Be “Left At the Door”
January 2002
Disengaged Employees and Employee Post Traumatic Stress
This article was written after 9/11, yet it applies to the business world today, in 2010, because of the collapse of our banking structures, a contracting economy, financial fears, and the potential for personal failure through a foreclosure or job loss.
Emotions Move
Did you know that our energy field changes with each and every thought and emotion that flows through us, whether we know it
or not? Even as you read this article, your reaction to these words change the colors and configuration of your energy field. As
you react to your environment, there are subtle changes in your emotions, which affect your energy field. These changes are
called moods.
Our emotional responses to the events since September 11, 2001 have resulted in widespread posttraumatic stress syndrome affecting our mood. Most of us in the business world went into a state of shock, almost not reacting at all. And as the days and weeks went by, our emotions were “put away” as new shocking events grabbed out attention. Not only did we not process our reaction to the September events but we added on fears of war and how it was affecting the business world in general and our companies in particular.
Energy Moves
Our reactive emotional responses of anger and fear are held within our energy field. Yes, we cannot expect to resolve the world political, social and economic crisis easily, and most of us cannot do anything at all about it. Yet we can and should address our mood for many reasons. Whether it’s an unconscious feeling or a feeling we are aware of, our moods contain energy. This energy is very real. Everything we touch we transfer our energy to, whether it is a cake we bake, the way we stroke a small child, a letter we write to ask for a raise, or a sales pitch. Many people are now aware that our energy field is more important and truthful than the smile on our face that often masks what we are truly feeling.
What Is Posttraumatic Stress and What Does It Have to Do With Productivity?
Human beings cannot go through a high level of stress such as what happened since September 11th and not have an emotional reaction whether the person shows/knows it or not! Most of us agree that life changed after September 11th and many say that our world will never be the same. The self assuredness we felt living and doing business in America is gone, replaced by some very real fears, such as recession anxieties and not so concrete fears as “what else can they do to us?” All of this information and our reactions are contained in our energy field and needs to be worked through and processed.
The need to reduce this post traumatic stress is more important than ever. We have not really recuperated from the traumatic events of last year and more may be upon us. Whether its Anthrax Anxiety or the blues because we are afraid to lose our jobs, more than ever in our history, the proper acceptance and processing of emotions is necessary to be able to get back to living fully again.
If we do not process these emotions out of our energy fields (remember, the definition of emotion is to move out), they are “held” within our energy field. Television and the news constantly remind us that our fears might be legitimate. Because of the strong work ethic in this country most of us are working diligently. Unfortunately that does not mean we are working up to par, or anywhere near what our normal standards are for excellence.
Disengaged Employees
In the business world there is a word used to describe workers and employees that are not fully committed to their jobs: disengaged. Disengaged employees are going through the motions of working. The problem of “disengaged” employees has augmented dramatically since 9/11. Post traumatic stress creates a type of disengagement that is vastly different from the typical disengagement of unsatisfied workers. This type of disengagement affects a wider range of employees and can include staff that is normally very loyal and vigilant about their jobs and the organization.
In checking the energy fields of employees and managers since 9/11 it has become obvious that many are not truly mentally “present” or engaged in their jobs or responsibilities. The keen attention required to keep the competitive edge is often absent from employees across the board. They are showing up to work, they have a mental commitment to their jobs, but the razor edge performance, the single-pointed focus, the mental commitment is no longer the same for too many in the business world.
If the business world were a country and that country had been attacked as unexpectedly and brutally as the business world was attacked physically and especially psychologically on 9/11, it would be assumed that the people would have post traumatic stress and there would be the appropriate sympathy and therapy. But in the business world, it is always business as usual, as if being in business actually created human beings without emotions or emotional responses!
We neglected our human resources
Not taking into consideration the emotional responses of employees and management to the recession, down sizing and the current state of the world has left us with a workforce that is demoralized, frightened and stressed. Adding to it the residual effects of what happened to the World Trade Center on 9/11, it is no wonder the work force is disengaged.
Mantras: A Professional Way to Process Emotions
It has been known for centuries that breathing patterns affect well being. Yoga, for example, teaches us to modify our breathing patterns, reducing stress and improving overall health. It is also known that our emotions can be anchored or released through the use of breath. A new technique developed by Frances Fox (derived from Energy Psychology) known as point specific mantras uses breath to accept and process our emotions quickly and simply. According to Webster, the definition of emotion is to “move out.” Very often we are stopped from processing our emotions because the expression of our feelings amongst our family, friends, and coworkers, is unacceptable.
These unprocessed emotions and thoughts stay within our energy anatomy, tangled up in our mind until we successfully “breath” them out. By breathing out these unprocessed emotions, we are able to reduce stress. We suggest that you try this simple little exercise called a mantra. You should find it very effective and quick at changing your mood. In that way you can enjoy your family and the holidays without needing to pretend it is all-ok.
The Purification Mantra focuses on acceptance of our emotions, enabling us to process them quickly and simply through the use of breath.
Preparing for the exercise
1. Identify the emotion or thought that is bothering you.
Formulate a phrase that encapsulates
the emotion or the thought.
You formulate a phrase, which begins with
“Even though…” and complete it using the
emotion that needs to be processed.
“Even though I am angry at ________”
2. Add the statement, “I love and accept myself,”
to the first group of words,
“Even though I am angry about my salary, I love and accept myself.”
THE EXERCISE
Regulating the breath: Draw in your breath through
your nose, all the way to your belly.
Say the acceptance phrase in your head:
“Even though I am angry about my salary…”
As you say the words, start releasing your breath
through your mouth slowly.
Take another deep breath through your nose and
begin saying the words, “I love and accept myself.”
As you are saying the words, release your breath
slowly, as before. Expel any remaining breath out through the mouth.
While practicing this exercise you will feel the subtle body movements that tell you your energy field is reorganizing and unblocking. You can use any set of words that address what you cannot openly express but need to move “out”.
Test your stress level
To test whether this works for you, ask yourself before starting what your level of stress/well being is before you commence, on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being maximum level of stress. After doing the mantra several times, recheck your stress level. Most people find that they drop several points on the grading scale. This simple little mental exercise can help you enjoy life by processing your natural reactions to the current world events that we now find on our doorstep.
We need to accept that emotional reactions are automatic and that we should encourage people to process their legitimate or even unreasonable reactions to their life today. If not, the individual is left with a congestion of thoughts and emotions that may end up blocking their intentions or the intention of the company.
Note: Remember, this article was written in 2002. Imagine how much more stressed our people are today and we are still not addressing the emotional issues resulting from foreclosures, lost jobs and bankruptcies. We are rapidly becoming a nation of emotionally congested people. The market confidence we need to get back on track cannot flourish under existing conditions.
It is possible to clear/purify fear and past failures. That is what stress management is all about. But this time the issues that need to be addressed are surrounded by a atmosphere of economic chaos. We need to be even more focused in our intention to balance our minds and emotions. We cannot expect to leave our emotions at the door. Nor should we expect our President to do that either….
Electroaddiction, our addiction to electronic devices and their radiating frequencies has created a mental condition called electrofog. Electrofog includes diminished judgment, memory loss and lack of focus. Multitasking is enjoyed, much to the detriment of quality focus, which is what has always produced genius and great advances.
Add to that our limited contact with nature, particularly trees and you end up with a nation/world of unfocused, emotionally congested, depressed and/or raging robots.
