Psychology
Protect yourself from emotional contagion
Even more contagious than the flu or the Corona virus are emotions.
In his book “Contagion émotionnelle”, Dr. Christophe Haag, author, professor in organizational behaviour and key note speaker, explains how to identify and protect yourself from emotional contagion (if necessary)!
To understand, he met atypical characters who experienced strong emotions, and shed light on the effects of this contagion.
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1.Self-examination of our emotional imprint
We all have a responsibility as a pathogen agent of toxic or positive emotions. If we put too many negative emotions on others, they risk going into generalized anxiety disorders. It is a ripple effect from one person to another. For example, if you are focused only on “diseases”, you are more likely to create hypochondriac children later on.
The confinement acts here like reality shows, by amplifying what happens in a closed jar. And the heavy media consumption of negative information creates fears of all kinds with a large share of fantasies.
“It takes barely 21 milliseconds, the time it takes to project an image on a movie screen, for two people placed in the same room to synchronize their emotions and their movements” Dr .C.H
Like a relational sponge, man has a spontaneous, unconscious tendency to imitate his neighbour. It is all the more important to recognize the nature of our own emotions in order to become master of this contagiousness.
Positive or negative vector: you have the choice of choosing your side, says Christophe Haag! Today there are channels or blogs dedicated to good news such as https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org.
In business, it will be interesting for managers to find powerful emotional relays, that is, to put people with emotional intelligence in strategic positions to relay positive emotions.
2.Learn to regulate your emotions and create an airlock to contain emotional contagion
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- Greet your emotions and name them
We tend to suppress our emotions but like a ball that we push under the surface of the water, it creates internal tensions and when you let go of the ball, it rises violently to the surface. Opening the door to your emotions and understanding them is the first thing to do so that it does not violently affect others. Identifying what is trying to be heard inside you and what are the triggers, will help you build quality relationships with yourself. And finally, you can verbalize to the other if necessary: ”I am angry, not because of you, but because I need calm, intimacy, rest.” Sometimes being accompanied is necessary.
The Dr. Mood app allows you to quickly diagnose your emotion at a given time.
- Sort out your emotions and superficiality
Understanding where your fears come from and whether they come from something well-founded or not is a way to sort out what is real or what comes from emotional contagion. Reconnecting to what’s most essential will allow you to focus on the half-full glass. Knowing how to be fulfilled with what you already have is a skill that can be cultivated to develop a feeling of lasting satisfaction.
- Change your perspective
Putting yourself in the shoes of the person who you think manages his emotions best allows for a cognitive reassessment. What can you learn and imitate from this person?
- Identify and learn from toxic people around you
Toxic emotions are more contagious than beneficial emotions and they leave a lasting impression in our mind, consuming energy, very often a lot of energy.
If you get irritated when someone is rude to you, it’s a good bet you haven’t owned your own rudeness, so it reflects a part of the shadow in you that you did not accept. Without staying in touch with toxic ties, it is interesting to see how it affects you. It is often an accelerator of self-understanding.
“The human brain acts like Velcro for negative experiences but Teflon for positive ones. “Rick Hanson
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- Read to boost your human empathy
Christophe Haag encourages us to read fiction books like The Chameleon by Tchekov or Intrusion by Elena Sander to learn about human nature. This generates a memorable photo album where you can tap into when in real life. It also invites us to replicate positive behaviours. Watching lots of series like Bureau des Légendes or Homeland can contribute as well to this development of mirror neurons.
- Reconnect with nature and our capacity for wonder
We often forget as an adult this old ability that we had, as a child, to marvel at everything, every detail, with a fresh eye at each encounter. Nature offers us this possibility to reconnect with this super power. It also offers us the opportunity to reconnect to natural rhythms as a psychic rebalancing.
- Create available brain time and experience boredom
Taking the time to breathe, to be mindful, here and now, creates space to create new, quieter and calming memories amid the incessant and often polluting flow of information. Agreeing to do nothing will also lead to fertile ground for a new lucidity on situations and on oneself.
Ready for anti-contagion ?
About the author:
Sandrine Larive – personal development expert: certified coach, practitioner in Hypnosis and NLP, speaker, retreat organizer.
Know more about Sandrine in our article on her story : https://vivamost.com/sandrine-larive-unleash-the-creator-within/
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