Postive Intelligence
Postive Intelligence
Mar 03, 2026
By Michelle Peticolas
Have you ever been emotionally hijacked right before something important?
It happened to me before a 7:00 a.m. Toastmasters speech on Positive Intelligence. I left early, confident and prepared — only to arrive at a boarded-up building.
Wrong address. After correcting it, my GPS stopped giving verbal directions. I missed turns. Streets didn’t connect. The clock was ticking. My stress skyrocketed.
I was officially hijacked.
Frustrated and rattled, I finally reached the location — a maze of parking levels and elevators — with barely a moment to spare before speaking.
No time to rehearse. No time to regroup. Or so it seemed.
I began doing PQ reps — a simple grounding technique from Positive Intelligence. I rubbed two fingers together to anchor myself in the present moment. I slowed my breathing. I felt my body settle.
From stressed… to sage.
When I stood up to speak, I connected with the audience and delivered my message with clarity and confidence. Not perfect — but strong.
Afterward, my evaluator said he had witnessed Positive Intelligence in action. He watched someone shift from stress to calm in real time.
That’s the power of mental fitness.
Life will always throw curveballs — wrong addresses, tech failures, unexpected chaos. The question isn’t whether you’ll get emotionally hijacked.
The question is: how quickly can you recover?
With practice, you can train your brain to pause, breathe, and reset. The more you strengthen that muscle, the faster you return to clarity.
The next time stress spikes, remember: you don’t have to stay hijacked.
Pause.
Breathe.
Shift.
You can move from stressed… to sage.
Dr. Michelle Peticolas is an international speaker, Distinguished Toastmaster, Select Distinguished Area Director, Speechcraft Executive Director, Co-Chair for 2025 District 57 Speech Contests and a successful club coach. She is also the VP of Education for Heart2Heart Toastmasters.
Founder of Secrets of Life and Death, she helps high-achieving mid-life women thrown off track by a major loss to heal their grief, make peace with their past, and reclaim their life, motivation and authentic vision.
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