On the November 26th podcast Armchair Expert, Dax Shepard interviews Susan David, PhD about emotional agility, a process approach to understanding a person’s thoughts and emotions in a productive and meaningful direction and taking action steps based on the emotions that align with our values.
From Dr. David’s Ted Talk,
Because how we deal with our inner world drives everything. Every aspect of how we love, how we live, how we parent and how we lead. The conventional view of emotions as good or bad, positive or negative, is rigid. And rigidity in the face of complexity is toxic. We need greater levels of emotional agility for true resilience and thriving.
According to Dr. David, our culture values positivity and positivity can be considered a rigid response to our emotions. Acceptance of our emotions is the foundation of resilience.
So what is emotional agility and how does it fit in the adult education classroom? Emotional agility is grounded in the correct labeling of emotions so that concrete action steps can be developed to move from negative steps to productive actions. This begins with developing an appropriate vocabulary beyond stressed, sad, or happy. Emotional agility means we understand that our emotions are data, not directives. We can recognize our emotions and not let the emotions drive our actions.
What is the difference between emotional intelligence and emotional agility? Emotional intelligence is awareness and emotional agility is action oriented.
Source: https://www.slideshare.net/vineetpatni31/urmila-naidu-pune-agile-unconference-2017-scale-up-consultants
Action Steps for the Adult Education Classroom:
Teach journaling in the classroom and build vocabulary. As a classroom activity, help students understand synonyms and antonyms for the following words:
- Angry
- Sad
- Anxious
- Hurt
- Embarrassed
- Happy
The first step to emotional agility is the ability to correctly label your emotions.
I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Kathy Tracey
@Kathy_Tracey
Comments
Adults who face basic-skills related challenges often need to not only develop one or more of the broad range of "basic skills" (see Equipped for the Future for a good summary of those skills) but various types of technical (or background) knowledge, credentials, support systems, and attitudes they need to accomplish meaningful work, family, civic, or academic goals. "Attitudes" (sometimes referred to as the "affective domain") covers a lot of territory. "Self-efficacy belief" (ERIC-ACVE has several articles about this, including: https://www.ericdigests.org/1999-4/self.htm ). The belief that one can achieve something rewarding through effort is central to the positive attitudes we all need to move forward in life.
Which brings me to the topic of "emotional agility." It seems to me that such agility is vital for anyone to be able to understand and deal with emotional stresses and is therefore also central to "self-efficacy." Individuals who have criminal records face particularly large and complex challenges in this area, given the negative experiences that they have prior to conviction, during incarceration, and after release.
In sum: Adult educators (and partners they might work with) need to be able to help learners (through instruction, counseling/mentoring, and other supports) to develop not just "basic skills" and "educational credentials" but a broader range of the assets referred to above. "Resilience," "self-efficacy," and "emotional agility" (and "critical thinking") are interwoven "attitudinal" or "affective" strengths that all of us need. I guess a question for this group is "What are promising strategies for helping adult learners develop emotional agility (and related affective/attitudinal strengths)?
Paul Jurmo (www.pauljurmo.info)