John Maxwell famously said, “People may hear your words, but they feel your attitude.” Turns out, this is scientifically proven.
Matter makes up everything in the universe, including us. When matter is in motion, energy is too. Energy in motion is called radiation. Just as we feel the warmth of the sun’s rays as it radiates down to earth, we can feel the energy (vibe/aura) of a person when they are happy or sad or angry. In fact, the origin of the word “emotion” denotes “physical disturbance and bodily movement.” And the Latin derivative literally means “energy in motion.”
When we label emotions, we typically use the terms positive and negative or good and bad. But we also express them as temperate. “He came off as cold and stand-offish” or “She was warm and inviting.”
Scientists in Finland conducted a study to actually map where we feel emotions in our bodies.
They discovered that our emotional state can change the temperature of parts in our bodies where we feel the sensations associated with emotions. Our brains then process that information based on past experiences and patterns/rhythms of our bodily reactions (e.g., rapid heart beat, sweaty palms). This is why some people react differently to the same stimuli. It’s how their past experiences conditioned their body to respond.
“Every cell in our bodies is bathed in an external and internal environment of fluctuating invisible magnetic forces.” (Which makes sense if everything in the universe is made up of energy in motion.) Newton’s Law states that once an object is in motion, it stays in motion at the same speed and direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. Therefore, any fluctuation in the magnetic fields around us can impact us at varying degrees, like a ripple effect.
The heart envelopes every cell in our body, and it generates pressure waves that travel throughout our bodies to keep us alive. Unimpeded by tissues, its “rhythmic field” extends in every direction around us and can be measured several feet away. The rhythm of our heartbeat can be influenced by different emotional states, because the heart secretes different hormones with each contraction which is encoded in the heart’s electromagnetic fields.
We cannot control the sensations generated by our bodies when they respond to the impacts of electromagnetic fields produced by the environment and people around us. We can control how we respond to those feelings once that emotion has been labeled in the brain. But it’s not like we can immediately stop the feeling once the emotion has been identified.
Negative feelings, such as anger or sadness create a disorderly and incoherent rhythm between our brain and heart frequencies. When our brain receives erratic rhythm information from our heart pattern, it affects our ability to self-regulate. Positive feelings, such as happiness or love create a harmonious rhythm. When there are harmonious interactions within the body’s function, it improves our learning ability, we make better choices, relieves stress, and enhances creativity.
While we may like to believe that feelings don’t belong in farming, dismissing emotions as part of our human function excludes valuable information that we can use to better understand our employees and the culture of our organizations.