In this episode, Kristi explores how unmanaged energy—both physical and vocal—can quietly undermine courtroom authority and juror engagement. She begins by reframing stress through the lens of mindfulness and thought choice, drawing on Ellen Langer’s work to separate circumstance from interpretation.

The episode then shifts into a practical courtroom communication tip, unpacking how frenetic, undirected energy distracts jurors, overloads learning, and erodes trust—and how attorneys can channel energy with breath, pace, and grounded presence to lead the room more effectively.

LISTEN HERE...

In this episode, you’ll learn:

1. The difference between being stressed and being in distress

2. How thoughts—not events—shape emotional and behavioral outcomes

3. Ellen Langer’s two-part approach to reframing stress

4. The CLEAR Framework and how it applies to performance and leadership

5. Why frenetic physical and vocal energy distracts jurors

6. How excess movement and speed impair learning and comprehension

7. The difference between expressive energy and uncontrolled energy

8. Practical ways to ground your body, breath, and voice in court

Key Takeaway:

Authority doesn’t come from intensity—it comes from directed energy. When your breath, body, and voice are grounded and purposeful, jurors can focus, learn, and trust you.

Favorite Moment:

The knee-bouncing analogy—and the realization that unmanaged energy doesn’t just affect the person expressing it, but everyone around them.

Links & Resources:

Ellen Langer excerpt on reframing "stress" - https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1Gd7uEj4Ni/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Full episode https://www.richroll.com/podcast/ellen-langer-892/

CLEAR Framework - https://www.fostervoicestudio.com/CLEAR

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If this episode resonated, share it with a colleague who’s working on courtroom presence and leadership. And be sure to download the CLEAR Framework to start challenging thoughts that may be shaping your results more than you realize.

Until next time, keep fostering your voice.

TRANSCRIPT:

Helloooo!! Hello Foster Fam. Today we're going to talk about When Too Much Energy Undermines Your Authority and how to direct it and harness it to help with your courtroom leadership and presence.

But first, I want to piggyback on something from a couple of weeks ago, when we talked about how to regulate the vibe of the courtroom with breath management, along with how to use breath to regulate your own stress response systems. Go back and listen to Ep. 55 if you want a refresher.

But when it comes to stress, there's an element of mindfulness and mindset that also needs to be examined. For me, I have sometimes made the distinction between being stressed and being in distress. In my rationale, I've determined that "stress" is just a fact. Life is busy, there's a lot to be accomplished in a short amount of time, there's a high requirement for management and task prioritization. We all know this happens, and these conditions create a biological stress response. It doesn't mean i'm in DISTRESS though. I can recognize that the situation is stressful while still knowing that I'm in full control, I have energy and focus for the tasks. I just need to eliminate distractions. i'm not crumbling under pressure. I"m simply stressed, but i'm in no way distressed.

I also really appreciate Ellen Langer's framing of stress that she shared on the Rich Roll Podcast. If you're unfamiliar, Rich Roll is an endurance athlete, wellness advocate, author and acclaimed podcast host.

Ellen Langer, is commonly known as the "Mother of Mindfulness" particularly due to her significant work in positive psychology. She a professor of psychology at Harvard, where she studies the illusion of control, decision-making, aging, and mindfulness theory.

So, I happened upon an excerpt where she was talking about stress. And the reason her work stood out to me here is because she doesn’t treat stress as a thing that happens to us—but as something shaped by how we interpret what’s happening. She described stress as two linked beliefs: first, that something bad is going to happen—and second, that when it does, it’s going to be awful.

She says to "attack it on both fronts." First, she suggests that you give yourself 3-5 reasons why it might not happen — changing you from single-minded "this will definitely happen," to a more open possibility that it might not happen.

Then, to the second point, she says to consider, if it actually does happen, how can that be an advantage?

She reminds us that, "Events don't cause stress. The outcomes of events are a function of our thoughts about them."

Essentially, our thoughts create feelings and those feelings create actions that lead to a particular result. I've created a free guide that might be helpful as you explore this idea. I call it the CLEAR Framework, others call it Think-Feel-Act or Do, and Ellen Langer says the "outcomes of events are a function of our thoughts about them."

In the CLEAR Framework (again, not something I made up, I simply synthesized it into some memorable packaging, but the concepts have been around for ages), CLEAR stands for Circumstance, Lens (these are your thoughts about the circumstance), Emotion (what you feel because of your thoughts), Actions and Results — C L E A R, CLEAR.

I really wish I had known earlier, or could go back and tell my younger self, that you don't have to believe every thought you have. Thoughts just pop up unintentionally. That doesn't make them true. And, let me just say, this isn’t about toxic positivity or pretending things aren’t hard. It’s about accuracy and choice. We get to examine them and then decide, if it IS true what do I want to feel about it — knowing that what i feel about it will cause me to act in a certain way which will lead to a particular result. If the thought ISN'T true, then I get to decide what new thought actually DOES represent reality more, or will serve me better in the situation.

I've put the link to the Rich Roll interview in the show notes, but i also encourage you to pick up the free download of the CLEAR Framework and keep challenging your own thinking, especially if you are not getting the results in your life that you know you want.

—BREAK—

Question for you...have you ever sat next to someone (anyone. your spouse, your client, someone on your team), and they bounce their knee? Just bounce it - dit dit dit dit, etc. I'm sure we've ALL been around someone that does this. So the question is, how does it make YOU feel? And before you answer—this has everything to do with courtroom communication.

For me, that type of motion, riles me up. Increases any anxious feelings I might be experiencing, and stresses me out. By all intents and purposes, it really has nothing to do with me. It's an action THEY are doing with THEIR body. What does it have to do with me at all?

It's a fascinating thing that someone ELSE's frenetic energy — energy that's just bubbling over, that doesn't have direction, that's just looking for some place to go — can impact someone else. But that's the truth of it.

If you, as an attorney, bring too much frenetic energy into the courtroom, it can significantly impair a jury’s ability to learn—making information harder to process and the experience more overwhelming than it needs to be. The exact OPPOSITE of what you want for your jurors.

So, first, let's talk about energy in general. We WANT to be energetic in the courtroom. You've heard me talk before about how important it is to be generous with your energy in order to provide sufficient mirroring of expression that gives the jury permission to feel for your client or even just the circumstances of their story. So, i'm not talking about strategic, purposeful, expressive energy. That kind of energy is essential. It’s part of how jurors connect and care.

I'm talking about energy that creates excessive or uncontrolled movement, or hyperactivity. This is that knee bouncing, or that (mouth sound) flicking on & off of a pen, or...what I think mostly goes unchecked...mindlessly shifting your weight back and forth while presenting — either side-to-side or forward-and-back. It's body movement that has no purpose. Most of the time, it’s just excess nervous energy looking for an outlet. It's unbridled energy that is not being directed, so it just IS.

So, what does unbridled frenetic energy do? For most of us, when we experience it in others, we are largely unaware of its effect on us. We're just more agitated "for no apparent reason," or we feel a need to stretch, or walk, or take deep sighs. What we're not able to do is pay attention and stay engaged. This type of energy distracts from the core content, diverting the brain's focus from absorbing information to managing sensory input. 

Let's break this down a bit more and talk about how frenetic energy impacts learning.

First, and probably most obvious, is it's distracting. Constant, erratic movement, swaying, or...we can even extend this to talking too fast...pulls attention away from your words, and forces their brain to work harder to filter out noise.

All that extra noise, creates sensory input. Loud sounds, fast pace, busy gestures...that all overload working memory, making it difficult to process and store new information. You're essentially, creating cognitive overload and your jury is gonna have to just "tap out" at some point.

An overly intense or erratic speaker can create a stressful environment, even for the most neuro-regulated jurors. How much more so for those who struggle with anxiety or have learning difficulties?

And again, it's not just how you use your body, but your voice can be a culprit too. A voice that's too loud or too fast can make words run together. Your clarity of speech decreases and that reduced Intelligibility leads to reduced comprehension. They're not going to track with you because they can't understand you.

And you also run the risk of coming across as overly dramatic, or maybe angry, or even just too much to handle. You don't want the jury having to "handle" you! You want them being able to learn from you, to trust you. So, you've GOT to keep your energy in check and find the balance.

The goal is energetic and engaging, not hyperactive or frantic. Authority lives in regulation, not intensity. Breathe. Keep an overall moderate pace with your speech, being able to vary for strategic expression. And make sure your gestures are controlled, and purposeful. If you find yourself moving around because you just don't know what else to do, pause. breathe. return your body to a grounded posture and return your hands to a neutral at-ready position.

And try bringing your awareness to the space. Read the room. Think about what you do when you're overwhelmed. You probably withdraw, turn your body away from the energy source that's too strong. Your jury will do the same if YOU'RE the source of too much energy or too intense of energy. That’s your cue to ratchet down.

Remember, they're wanting natural, authentic enthusiasm. A presence that seems artificial, or an over-the-top performance not only looks unnatural, but it will be distracting, cause stress, and just make your message harder to process, understand, and retain.

Your job in the courtroom isn’t to flood the room with energy—it’s to channel it. When your energy is grounded, purposeful, and regulated, jurors can think, feel, and decide clearly. That’s how your message lands, and that’s how trust is built.

Until next time, keep fostering your voice.