Emotional well-being

Emotional well-being and self-awareness

(Estimated Reading Time: 3 min, 24 sec)

Q: How do we achieve emotional well-being by consciously working on ourselves?

The human body is constantly moving in its environment, searching for the most comfortable position and the greatest possible well-being.

Something not conscious, something instinctive, makes us choose the destination of our trip or the table at the restaurant. It makes us even decide how to put our foot on the ground to stay in balance or to find the least painful position if we have calluses on our feet.

This instinctive part of us “knows” what is good for us presently; if we listen to ourselves, we live better and healthier lives.

But it seldom happens; since childhood, we have learned to submit the instinct to rationality.

The latter does not tolerate limitations, even if they come from physiological and emotional needs.

The control over the body prevails over its actual needs, and it is difficult to find a balance, which allows you to stop before it is too late and pushes you to excess; so, you get to the point of imperfection or, even worse, disease.

Why does this happen?

The physical body connects with emotionality

Emotionality — made of more subtle energy — remodels and almost “sculpts” the physical body, which is heavier and denser.

If we observe a small child, in which emotionality develops fast and free, we notice the elasticity and softness of its tissues. If we look at an old man, he, while suffering the wear and tear of time, too often suffers from ailments that have another origin. Emotions (and, above all, emotional blocks) transform the physical body, for the better or for the worse; since it is the machine we need to live on this level, the better it works, the better we live.

We seek, without realizing it, the emotional environment that we like the most — or reassures us the most — and we try to live in it as long as possible, even at the expense of our inner well-being.

Emotional malaise

We can notice that, when we like to meet some people, it is their energy that we wish to connect with — while we avoid others with incompatible energies; but how do we react to the emotions that move within us? The ones that cause discomfort, or well-being? We can separate from people or environments we don’t like, but not from ourselves.

We protect ourselves by denying emotional discomfort, by distracting, by oversimplifying;

but ignored emotional energy accumulates and damages the physical body as well.

Psychophysical well-being and introspection

Physical body’s problems may lead us back to emotional distress.

There are schools that teach how to “read” posture and signs on the physical body as an open book; Chinese medicine itself links the body with the emotional state.

It is possible, with physical exercises, manipulations, and treatments — caring for the physical body — to bring relief and restore balance.

However, if you do not do a conscious work on emotions — the cause of malaise — the malaise will come back.

We should manage emotions. If we set them free, they promote well-being. If we block them instead, they explode like bombs. We live in a continuous emotional turmoil, trying to avoid annoying emotions, such as fear and dissatisfaction. We divert them to others that are more reassuring, but that too often take out of the emotional reality in which we should live.

Simply put, we behave self unconsciously, like desperate alcoholics who tell themselves that when they want to, they’ll stop drinking.

But the emotional reality commands, and by ignoring it, we pay the consequences.

You can lose energy by exhausting your body — through sports or hectic work. This helps to vent the balloon just enough to keep it from bursting. However, you are always at risk because — as soon as an accident or something else forces you into inactivity — the emotion comes back.

You can take alcohol and drugs, but they weaken you.

 

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