The scientific definition of emotion is when we appraise something important is happening to us in the world,
And we respond with an automatic set of physiological and psychological changes.
This means that when we see something in the environment,
Or when we remember something in our mind,
And we attribute it to be something important,
Our entire system is revved up to respond to meet this need or important challenge.
When we think about the definition of stress,
On the other hand,
Stress is an over-arousal of that emotional experience.
This means that we perceive something important happening to us,
And we feel overwhelmed,
Or the emotional response is high and strong.
It's interesting to consider that in order for us to feel stress,
We have to perceive the emotion is greater than something we can manage.
This is described in the literature as feeling as though there are more demands than there are resources.
When we have that feeling that we lack the resources to meet the demands of our environment,
We experience stress.
This helps us understand that there are actually different kinds of stress.
There is a good or effective stress that helps us simply to respond to our environment around us.
And then there's the difficult or more challenging type of stress that makes us feel overwhelmed.
Now in order for us to feel that good stress,
To be motivated to respond,
We have to believe that we have enough resources to meet the demands.
Importantly,
These resources are perceived,
And the demands are also perceived,
Meaning they come through our appraisal system.
What is stressful to me and feels overwhelming may not be stressful to you or feel overwhelming.
It all has to do with whether or not I feel I'm equipped,
Maybe have encountered this experience before,
Maybe recognize that I know how to handle it,
Or whether I feel instead it's overwhelming,
I won't be able to manage it.
So giving ourselves that ability to appraise the situation can make all the difference.
We consider how do we improve our resources to meet the demands.
One important way we can do that is by simply becoming aware of our emotional arousal.
Recognizing or feeling the emotion,
Noticing what are the sensations in our body,
As we feel either fear,
Or anger,
Or sadness,
And giving ourselves a moment to reflect what is the source of the sadness,
This fear,
Or this anger?
And what can I do to manage or respond to the situation that's triggering it?
In the case of stress,
We're often responding to a thought or rumination.
For example,
Will I be able to manage all the work I have to do this week?
When we stop having the ability to recognize where that stress is coming from,
We have an overwhelming experience of the emotion of anxiety,
Anticipation,
And the family of fear.
So to consider instead,
Gosh,
I recognize I'm feeling fear,
This week seems as though it might be more than I can handle.
But we take a moment to pause and to reflect and to consider this emotion of fear will pass.
This week,
I'll work as hard as I can.
That will give us that important pause,
Opportunity for reflection,
And allow us hopefully to get out of the tangle of our emotional experience.
