Last week I wrote about what we can do to keep us healthy on a physical level during the autumn and winter season. Now we are moving on the emotional balance, which is also very important if we want to avoid diseases. The crisis we’re living through tests substantially our ability to regain our inner balance.
We often hear that everything is decided in the mind. There is a lot of truth in this claim because our thoughts call various feelings to life in us. And if a negative feeling dominates us and stays with us for a long time, it influences our physical health as well. Fear and sadness reduce the effectiveness of our immune system significantly. On the other hand, when we are angry, our body secrates poisons that it might intend against our enemies, but that will only turn against itself. So would the solution be to banish every emotion from our lives except for happiness? Not at all. Every emotion teaches us something important, but we need to deal with them correctly.
Fear:
Probably there is no need to introduce anybody to exam nerves or the feeling when our heart beats in our throat when we face an unknown situation. Fear puts us on guard on those occasions. It warns us to be careful under extraordinary and unidentified circumstances. But if fear becomes permanent dread and anxiety, it limits our vitality and ability to take action. After all how could somebody live freely in a state of fear?
Anger:
We often find ourselves in situations where others violate our boundaries – intentionally or unwittingly. Rightful anger can help us to stand up for ourselves. However, if we hang on to old grievances or prejudices, and if our anger turns into permanent hate, it will sooner or later consume us.
Sadness:
As life is a series of changes, we often have to face the pain caused by the end of a precious relationship or a pleasant state. Going through a grieving process and being sad is absolutely natural in such case. But if this emotional state stays with us for a long time, it weakens us and prevents us from turning towards new possibilities with an open heart and the joy of anticipation.
Happiness:
The most popular feeling that a lot of people would like to experience in every minute of their life. But to live happiness in its purest form, we have to know the experience of other feelings. Without their contrast, the feeling considered as the most positive is degraded into oversweet sugar syrup.
Sympathy:
This feeling has an outstanding importance in human relationships. To be able to understand somebody else’s feelings, it is necessary for us to have experienced fear, anger, sadness and happiness.
What can we do to keep our emotional balance?
There are a lot of strategies to drain our overflowing feelings. After a good conversation with friends we can realize that we are not alone and we have supporters to cope with scary situations. A good workout session can channel pent-off anger away. And if we can write out sadness from us, we are already relieved a little.
But we experience the current crisis so heavily on collective level as well, that using the usual tricks isn’t necessarily enough to keep our emotional balance. For this period I have a proper, special method. It is more extreme than the previous ones but it works.
Imagine for an instant, that the worst case scenario of the current situation comes true! What would you do? How would you feel? What would give you the strength to continue? You don’t have to stay among dark fantasies for a long time. Just answer the previous questions for yourself and feel the freedom given by the fact that after losing everything there left nothing to lose.
After you have succeeded, just let these pictures go and focus only on what you want to see coming true in your life and in a collective level in the future! Elaborate the image as much as you can, down until the tiniest details! The direction of your focus is very important because it is the direction you will follow.
The most efficient way to pass on this method is with an example. Imagine that you have to get across a ravine on a thin footbridge! Despite knowing there is the ravine below, you don’t lower your gaze, but fix your gaze on your goal, the other side.
I believe that we will manage to cross the ravine sooner or later. It doesn’t matter how frightening it seems, we will achieve our goal in the end and build a new normal life much better than the previous one.
