Four Ways To Nurture Emotional Health

I love what Governor Cuomo said about the holidays.
He said to focus on the “healthy” in the Happy and Healthy Holiday greeting this year. (Maybe I’m partial because i’m originally from New York.) But in any case, this has been a year that has certainly shown us the value of our health while also taking it’s toll on our emotional well being.
Whether we started baking, cooking, exercising more or even less, meditating, chanting, breathing more deeply, bundling up on some good supplements and herbs, our emotional health probably still needs some care and healing. And just what does it mean to “heal”? To make healthy, whole, or sound.

The following four things are some ways I’ve discovered  that reach our deepest self and nurture emotional health:

1. “Be Yourself, everyone else is already taken”- a quote by Oscar Wilde. Your feelings, desires, dreams, aspirations and gifts are unique to You. I sometimes forget this when I’m on social media thinking from a comparative sense. I then ease up my screen time to return to myself and my inner experience and intuitive mind.
 Setting boundaries, asking for what you want, standing up for your own beliefs and opinions, saying what you want to say and not playing small or accommodating are just a  few ways to be yourself. Dressing in your own style, wearing the shoes you love, arranging a bouquet of flowers or putting on a red lipstick for the fun of it are different ways of self expression. What are yours?

2.What is the true healer? It’s love. We must allow ourselves to love and BE loved. We need to honor our self worth and self acceptance. How? with compassion, self acceptance and self knowing. Studies show that when we feel happier and love more we live longer. Who doesn’t want that? Finding gratitude in lieu of what’s happening on the outside is one of the best supplements you can give yourself. Giving from that place is a deposit in your emotional health.

3. Nothing causes more emotional distress than the thoughts we think, the stories we play out in our minds and the things we tell ourselves. One of the fruits of a meditation practice is the witnessing of thoughts and feelings with a sense of detachment and space. Ruminating over the same thoughts again and again produce the same feelings again and again. At some point we must decide whether they are useful or not, uplifting or not. Esther Hicks, an author and speaker on the Law Of Attraction calls them “upstream” or “downstream” thoughts. Actually the “downstream” thoughts are what goes with the flow; the “upstream” thoughts goes against the flow. In other words, thoughts that bring us good feeling and joy are obviously better for us and our health. Once you get that it’s your choice you regain the power of your own happiness. In other words do something good for yourself so you feel good!

4. The past has a way of creeping into our minds only to cause grief, sadness and even blame. Nothing wrong in understanding the dynamics of conditioning, the people who raised you but ultimately it’s you that has to march forward and be who you are. While it’s important not to filter out negative emotions to a Pollyanna state of being.. quite the opposite, when understanding and shedding light on our negative feelings we can move forward and become more present.
The Books ” The Power of Now”, by Eckhart Tolle “Be Here Now” by Ram Dass describe this state of being well. It’s a practice.

I wish you all a very happy and “healthy” holiday this year.
I love what a friend posted on IG  ” this year doesn’t count- I didn’t use it”. However you used the challenges of 2020 is Ok .
As Dominque Sanchez, a TV new anchor says ” Be Bold, Be Blessed”.

Be the light you are meant to be.