With everything that’s going on in our lives, from work, environment, family, friends, social life, chores… it is no wonder that we sometimes feel overwhelmed and our emotions can run wild. However, whatever and whoever you are trying to blame for your emotional turmoil the truth is that your emotions are your own and it’s up to you to keep them in balance.
Being out of balance emotionally directly affects our feelings, thoughts, mood and behavior as well as our relationships and most importantly our physical well-being. Emotions play a very important role in our life and have the power to transform nothing into something and something into nothing. If we are in charge of our emotions, we can use them as a catalyst for change and a powerful force to manifest whatever it is we wish for.
When our emotions are out of balance, they can wreak havoc in our bodies and also in the people around us. It’s even possible for emotions that are out of control to cause illness, pain and disease. It is detrimental to keep our emotions balanced, clear out negative emotions and get stuck energy moving again.
Here are our TOP 10 tips to achieve and maintain emotional balance.
#1 Change Your Viewpoint
If we are stuck in the middle of an intense emotional outburst, it is impossible to see clearly and it’s natural to react from our past patterns that are deeply engrained in our subconscious programming. The answer is to act instead of reacting. Consciously choose your actions from a place of clarity rather than just simply reacting to a painful situation or running towards something pleasurable. As soon as you notice that your emotions start to get out of balance, take a breath and literally change your view. Step away for a moment and for example go to the bathroom and splash some water in your face, if you are a yogi, do your favorite inversion and literally change your perspective, so that you can create an emotional distance to the situation and keep your objectivity.
#2 Fill Your Mind with Positivity
We are so busy all day long and get easily distracted by the constant flood of information that we are bombarded with that it’s easy to lose our ability to focus and our attention goes down the drain. Who has the keys to your mind? Be a gatekeeper and be very aware what messages you are allowing to enter your mind. Filter out the negative and place your attention on positive, uplifting messages. When you feel that negativity is about to threaten your emotional balance, make sure you fill your mind with positivity and think about something that you are grateful for.
#3 Generate Energy
Emotions are energy in motion, so in order to be able to maintain emotional balance, we need to create flowing energy in our body. Especially if you have a job that has you sitting at your desk all day long remember to take every chance you get to walk around and stretch and move your body. Even little bursts of physical movement can make your body feel better and your mind more focused. You don’t have to train for the Olympics to be energized, sometimes it can be as simple as walking around the block. If you don’t have the time to go outside, take a few minutes every hour to get up and stretch while you still continue to do what you are doing. Even these small amounts of physical activity can be of tremendous help.
#4 Reflect
Every day take a few moments to reflect on the good things about your day and see the lessons from negative experiences. Take stock of the emotions that came up throughout the day without judgment and evaluate the situations and circumstances that brought about an emotional outburst. Could you have interpreted a situation differently to get a different emotional outcome?
#5 Dream
Allow yourself to daydream. Don’t fill every single moment of your day with work, social media, emails, texts and phone calls. Take the time to relax and let your mind wander. Close your eyes and let your mind be free to go wherever it wants to go. It’s like a mini vacation and that refreshing daydream can help your mind to relax and recuperate.
#6 Breathe
The simplest way to get an insight into what emotions are on the rise is to watch your breath. Are you holding your breath? Is your breath erratic? Is your breath short and shallow? Is your breath smooth, long, rhythmic and relaxed? If your breath is not smooth and relaxed, consciously take ten deep, slow breaths and focus on nothing but your inhales and exhales. Breathe in for the count of six, hold the breath for the count of six, breathe out for the count of six and stay empty for the count of six. It doesn’t really matter what number you choose, you just want to stay consistent. If it’s possible, lie down for this and close your eyes to give yourself a mini retreat, which allows you to find and maintain your emotional balance.
#7 Take Responsibility for Your Emotions
To achieve emotional health it is essential to take responsibility for your emotions. The thing is, you are in control of your emotions. You can interpret circumstances, events, words and interactions with others in a variety of different ways. Forget judgment, preconceived notions and ideas about how things should be. Look at the facts and stay objective, most of the time our negative emotions are based on assumptions and perceptions rather than confirmed facts. Even if your emotions are completely justified they are still yours and you are in charge and have control over them. So whatever emotion is coming up in your body, take ownership and once you own your emotions they have the tendency to dissipate. All emotions are part of our human experience, so allow them to be your internal compass to let you know if you are going in the right direction, but don’t allow them to take over your life.
#8 Practice Gratitude
Make it a point throughout the day to pause and consciously find something that you are grateful for. Even if you are in the most stressful situation, there is one thing that you can find to be thankful for. But it has to be real in order for this to work. Don’t fool yourself, only a true attitude of gratitude that you can connect with has the power to change your emotional state. No matter how small the thing may seem, consciously choosing positivity will help you to maintain emotional balance.
#9 Express Yourself
We all have emotions every single second of every single day, the energy in motion is always present, the question is do we have the awareness of them or not. It is important to express your emotions and even if you are uncomfortable to let your emotional state be seen, know that someone else may be in the exact same boat and can relate to you and can be a huge help in dealing with your emotions. Whether you have a friend or family member or look for a skilled life coach or therapist, we all need each other and nobody’s perfect. Accept your imperfections, let go of your ego and ask for help.
#10 Deal with Your Emotions
Trying to ignore our emotions and feelings is impossible. They will bother us until we pay attention to them so it is a much better idea to deal with our emotions and feelings right as they come up. Identify the emotion and observe where you can feel your emotions in your body. Figure out what and why you are reacting the way you are and if a similar situation has happened to you before. Is is possible to react differently? The important thing in dealing with emotions is that you don’t judge yourself and accept whatever emotion is present right now. Once you’ve identified the physical manifestation in your body, start by taking a few deep, slow, smooth breaths to calm yourself down and notice how your body slowly releases tension and you can go back to your emotional balance.
Just like we need to process and digest every meal we eat to stay healthy, it is as important to process and digest our emotions. If we don’t process our emotions properly, they accumulate as toxins in our body and create cellular instability that can lead to serious illnesses. Emotional toxins manifest as anger, depression, anxiety, rage, sadness, hopelessness, guilt, shame and impatience. If we don’t clear out our emotions on a regular basis, we risk our physical, mental and emotional well-being, so make maintaining emotional balance part of your daily routine.
KEEP YOUR EMOTIONS IN CHECK
Joschi & Monika
#BoldNaked