[PODCAST TRANSCRIPT]
Hello, everyone. I’m Savannah Alalia, and welcome to the latest episode of the High Functioning Human podcast, where you connect to yourself as a high-functioning human.
In today’s episode, we’re going to discuss a profound yet overlooked aspect of emotional health, what I like to call Emotional Infiltration. This is about how the emotions and moods around you, from the media that you watch to the people that you interact with, can subtly affect and influence your own emotional states. Sometimes, this can happen even without you realising it.
Have you ever found yourself laughing just because somebody else started to laugh, or felt a sudden sense of sadness when a friend shared a distressing story? This is emotional contagion, a clear and immediate example of emotional infiltration at work. It is amazing just how quickly and powerfully you can absorb the emotions of others.
So why does this matter so much? By understanding the dynamics of emotional infiltration and how it quickly impacts emotional contagion, that is essential for maintaining emotional health, because it helps you to distinguish between your authentic feelings and those imposed by external factors.
Imagine this. It’s a quiet evening, and you feel relatively calm and content. You decide to catch up with the day’s news. As you watch the headlines roll by, global conflicts, natural disasters, and economic crises each story seems more dire than the last, painting a picture of a world on the brink of chaos.
Within minutes, the peace of your evening changes. You feel a knot in your stomach and a sense of dread clouding your mind. This overwhelming sensation feels as if the world is ending, and helplessness washes over you. Yet just moments before, before you turned the news on, you were fine.
So what happened? Understanding the idea of emotional contagion, including emotional contagion through media, is a game-changer. It allows you to process your emotions more healthily and maintain a clearer emotional boundary between yourself and the world around you.
Have you ever noticed that this emotional infiltration can also happen in relationships? Does that mean you have to stop caring or being around certain people? No, it just means that you have to learn how and when to listen to the information.
For example, you may notice that you’re more tired or open at night, so having this information might be best avoided in your evenings. Here are some strategies that you can use to manage emotional infiltration in your daily life.
Think about awareness and identification. Make it a habit to regularly scan your emotional state. Notice any mood swings, and remember to hit the pause button and trace it back to its roots. Was it that intense movie that you watched? Was it a heated chat with a friend whose boundaries are off point? Or maybe just the vibe of a new place that you’re in? Pinpointing the trigger can help you handle the impact.
Create emotionally strong boundaries. Few emotional exchanges deserve your full energy, especially if you’re feeling zapped afterward. Identify those relationships or places that consistently dip your spirits and take charge. Draw a line, or better yet, redraw a line to where it needs to be the most. This is more than just maintenance; it is a form of self-emotional management.
I highly recommend some practices for emotional cleansing. The key thing with these is just regularly having those emotional cleanses and cleansing your emotional palate, as it were. It might be things like yoga, meditation, or journaling. Pick the process that helps you flush out those lingering vibes the best.
You might also like to engage in regular grounding too. Simple things like a barefoot walk in nature can do wonders to refresh your emotional state. Think of your emotional space as a stream of water. A few drops of dirt in there, and the stream will stay relatively clear. Those impurities will just wash away. But if you dump a whole gallon of toxic energy into it, pretty soon the whole stream is going to be contaminated, and it is going to take a lot longer to get back to its naturally clear state. Your emotional state is the same as that. So really think about what you’re bringing in.
A vital part of becoming a high-functioning human is making wiser choices about who and what you let near your emotional stream.
A key part of that is about being conscious of the frequency of the energies and the things that you choose to engage with. This perception can be increased by being present in your body and in tune with the signals that it’s giving you.This is one of the reasons why I’m a huge fan of facial health. It’s so important to me and plays a huge part in all of my programs, such as the Weekend Retreat Kit or Your Intuitive Life. If you’d like to learn more about either of these drop me an email. Someone in the team will reach out to you.
In our next episode, we will go further into how to achieve a balanced awareness of both external and internal emotional landscapes. It will be called Beyond the Surface. Remember, trust your instincts and follow your intuition because the world needs your voice and the magic that it brings to us all.
Jump on my mailing list to stay reminded and connected with your intuition. Plus, some special things that I only share in email. I look forward to chatting with you next time on the High Functioning Human podcast. Take care and talk soon.
As always, I remain a cheerleader for your inner self-worth,
