One of the most powerful breakthroughs our program participants experience is discovering that emotions and feelings are not the same. At first, many feel quite skeptical. In this post, we will explain why living in your emotions differs from being guided by feelings or values. Join me to explore this further.
What Are Emotions?
Before we explore why emotions and feelings are different, let us define emotions. First, we must understand that living in emotion means living in the mind. The mind acts as a judge, an ego, and a persona.
Emotions are energy movements fully conditioned by our ideas, expectations, and thoughts. These are thoughts about ourselves, others, plans, or anything else. Thought and emotion are so deeply linked that we can say emotion is the heart of the mind.
We cannot stop emotions because we cannot stop thoughts. However, we can become aware of them. We can recognize their impact on our physical, mental, and social well-being. We can also observe the atmosphere we create around us and the relationships we build. Their physical impact is unquestionable. The constant flow of thoughts triggers rapid biochemical reactions in our bodies. These occur far too quickly for our conscious mind to track.
Thoughts are useful; otherwise, they would not exist. They help us organize, plan, study, and pack a suitcase. They support our natural progress. However, we must not let thoughts rule our lives. We cannot let ourselves get swept away by the accompanying emotionality.
To change our behavior and achieve new results, we must first learn to pause, then shift our perspective. Finally, we must step back and, with confidence, take the leap!
Another Way to Live: Meaning
Let us continue exploring emotions and feelings. The good news is that we can live and work from another space. This space connects us with meaning. Meaning arises spontaneously, driven by deep feeling. It is an inner certainty, invisible to physical eyes or the ego, yet completely real and authentic.
Have you discovered this yet? To live with meaning in what we do, we must be free from fear. This includes the fear of not fitting in, not surviving, or not knowing. Fear of… anything!
Meaning is the heart of the soul. We can only experience true meaning through authenticity. We must shed the social mask that forces us to act as expected in every situation. Are you ready to take the leap and learn how to stop falling for the mind’s tricks?
Emotions and Feelings in Organizations: We Need to Mature
As you can see, emotions and feelings are not the same. We must pay attention to this to maintain our mental well-being. Specifically, organizations need to mature and transform. They must undergo internal growth, not just external expansion. This brings human warmth and maturity, allowing us to show our authenticity and lead with meaning. Here, we view organizations as ecosystems shaped by the individual state of every member.
By maturing as individuals, we realize we do not have to love every single day. However, we can learn to live from the heart. True happiness comes from giving ourselves fully. We can learn to open up, accept, and embrace whatever happens from a place of freedom. J. Krishnamurti showed us that freedom is found ‘at the beginning,’ before the ego-centered mind pollutes life by confusing it with mere existence. As Viktor Frankl beautifully wrote, ‘It is this spiritual freedom—which cannot be taken away—that makes life meaningful and purposeful.’
How Can the Salutogénesis Model Help Bring Maturity to Your Organization and Reduce Absenteeism?
We hear it directly from you: you have tried everything, yet organizational stress remains high and absenteeism keeps rising. We know that absenteeism rarely has a purely physical cause. Instead of absenteeism, we might call it ‘quiet quitting’ or ‘resignation of spirit.’ This ratio measures the professionals who have given up on learning, renewing themselves, and reconnecting with their passion. They have stopped striving to feel alive and transformed.
The Salutogénesis health model focuses on factors that help people stay healthy despite unfavorable or highly negative conditions. As far as I know, Salutogénesis is the only health discipline that integrates all dimensions of the human being. Therefore, it views and addresses health in terms of human development, systemic awareness, and multidimensional existence, including spirituality.
The struggle to find and develop talent, combined with current productivity gaps, highlights the need to value everyone. We must ensure that every employee feels like a vital part of what we are building. This means playing in a new league with new rules. We need leaders who act from core values and inner maturity. These leaders show they value you because they know when you need a break, a challenge, a reward, or a supportive gesture.
We must not abandon this human and spiritual greatness when leading teams and organizations. If we do, we will struggle and fail to achieve the new results we desire.
That is why Salutogénesis, when properly guided, can help us find meaning. It helps us escape anxiety and distress, restoring our passion for life and connection with others. Through this model and its dedicated pathway, the LifeCourse Journey, organizations can identify and spread what enhances well-being. This empowers individuals to become conscious leaders of their own abilities, learn to handle normal life stressors, work productively, and contribute to their community and organization.
