I’ve taken a number of trips with my family on long flights, airport stopovers and big time zone changes. We work to manage the jet lag and try to sleep on flights. There is no avoiding the moments where we lose patience with one another, and somebody just needs a break.

We all go at different speeds, and I have a reputation for being the one who always wants to go-go-go. We were flying through Munich this year with an eight hour stopover. None of us had been to Germany, and I wanted to get out of the airport and see what we could see. I was acutely aware that when we arrived at 8am local time I might be the only one who wanted to hop a train to the town center and have lunch. So our family came up with a safe word.

We chose the word “cauliflower” as we had just seen the movie Logan Lucky.

Before our trip, I asked everyone to prepare to reflect on how they felt. If they they didn’t have the patience to explore Munich, they could call “cauliflower.” When we landed nobody invoked the safe word, we ate lunch near the market downtown. After lunch, we walked a bit and started feeling “cauliflower.” We headed back to the airport and a nap room.

I shared this story with a client. He loved the idea of having a way to express that feeling when traveling with family and needing a break. He proceeded to use his own safe word on his next family trip.

Telling this story to another client before a meeting, she immediately related a particularly bad travel experience she had earlier in the week. She said “I can totally see how important it is to know and communicate when you just need a break.” I was surprised later in the meeting when a particularly sensitive topic came up, she simply said “cauliflower.” It both lightened the discussion and communicated the heightened emotions around the topic.

We are all human. Our emotions ebb and flow in the workplace around topics and people. We can tend to ignore this variable, and expect everyone will act professionally in a professional environment. This assumption is unrealistic.

There is value in becoming aware of your own emotional state and how it changes your interactions with others. I know, for example, talking to someone on the phone in bad traffic will result in my being less patient. I have become better at recognizing when my emotional state will impact conversations.

As a first step, I encourage you to consider your own emotional state. How does it affect what you want to accomplish? Further, consider whether you are in a position to communicate your emotional state to others. Finally, when you communicate your own emotional state you can create awareness and dialogue with others.