To halt means to stop or come to a complete stop. For example, you may halt your physical movements, the things you're doing, a process you're working on, or a conversation.
HALT is also an acronym. It is used to identify four crucial risk states in emotional well-being: Hungry, Angry, Lonely, and Tired.
These emotional states are not just fleeting feelings, they can significantly hinder your ability to make sound decisions and deal with circumstances. They can also have a profound impact on your creative capacity, influencing the quality and depth of your work.
As Dr Lisa Feldman Barrett has discovered, emotions that seem to happen to us are actually made by us. They are our brain's best guess of how we should feel in any given circumstance. Apparently, making predictions to keep us alive is the main task of our brain. To make predictions, our brain combines three "ingredients": our body, surroundings and past experience. So, our body sensations play a vital role in the making of our emotions. So, as you can imagine, if you are hungry, angry, lonely or tired, your brain will immediately leap into "survival mode", making you more reactive and less prone to open up, be vulnerable and take risks, not the best setup to approach circumstances creatively.
Today, I woke up feeling quite tired and a bit hungry. Recognizing these HALT states, I realized I may need to wait a moment before I dive into anything that requires the presence of my best creative self. It's a small example of how these states can affect us in our daily lives.
I love that. I woke up and your post wasn’t there as normal. I trusted that it would come and it did when you were ready to give it. Allowing things to emerge when they are ready feels like a gift