Emotions are great servants, but tyrannical masters. Here are three keys to emotional health.
1. You need to be emotionally self aware.
Don’t allow a “bad mood” to take over your whole day. Ask yourself, why do I feel this way to try to get to the root cause. Get to know your own emotions, own them and manage them. Don’t pretend that they don’t exist. Don’t accept an emotion that you do not want!
Recently, I had an “opportunity”, to get emotionally off balance due to some terrible words that struck me to my core. In the past I would have pretended that “those words can’t hurt me”. I would have stayed in resentment and pretended everything was fine.
But in this balanced living journey, I cried and was upset, owned my emotions, talked with a couple of trusted people; forgave and released the person. The next morning, I checked to see how I was feeling. I prayed, meditated, read my Bible, found strength. I refused to internalize those words. We have to be self aware.
2. How you feel does not have to be how you act:
When you get angry do you overreact? Or when you are sad? Or even happy! People make impulsive decisions when they are happy too! I get a promotion at work with a small raise. Before I even get the new salary I run to the car dealership and “sign and drive” a car that I can barely afford. Just learn to step outside yourself and thoughtfully process your emotions…
Remember, good servants and bad masters.
3. Be happy:
Go out of your way to find/do/see/read things that make you happy (as long as they are not immoral, illegal or unethical). It is not your spouse’s job to supply you with an unending infusion of happiness. They should not be a source of unending unhappiness either, but that’s another story. Your children do not exist to make you happy (they exist to make you broke, LOL).
The Bible says the joy of the Lord is my strength. Be happy NOW not WHEN…. IF you cannot be happy now, you will never be happy when.
Destination addiction is when we keep telling ourselves, I will be happy when I get this, or when I do that. Learn to deal with things at the root and don’t allow upset in one area to spill over into other areas.
I would love to hear from you! What other keys to emotional health and balanced living can you share?
