They’re totally doable and you can start right now

Published: October 31, 2016 | Updated: May 9, 2019

When we think about wellness we automatically think of our bodies and physical wellness:  exercising, eating healthfully, getting enough sleep.

We might even think about spiritual wellness: having a discipline like prayer or reading scripture, meditation or worship.

But how often do we think about our emotional wellness? How do we pay attention to that?

Our emotions are one of the key ways we respond to what is happening in our lives. What we feel has an impact on our actions and can even impact our physical health, so paying attention to emotional health is vital for overall wellness.

Each of our paths to wellness is unique, but here are three you can help your journey on that path:

1. Be honest. To have emotional health, we need to be honest with ourselves about what we are actually feeling so that we can most effectively handle the situation that has brought about the emotions in the first place.For example, if I am crying about a situation it helps to ask, “Am I sad and that is what my tears are saying, or am I actually mad about something? Or am I lashing out in an angry way toward someone or something? Am I really angry or am I perhaps afraid?”

   It is only when we are honest with ourselves, and those around us, about what we are actually feeling that we can engage the situation with integrity.

2. Forgive. Most of us have something we are carrying that we say we will never be able to forgive someone for. We have been hurt so badly that we cannot let it go. But often forgiveness is not about the other person who caused the harm, but it is about us — releasing us from the burden of that anger, bitterness and hatred. Forgiveness does not mean we have to be in relationship with that person or that they do not need to be held accountable. But it can mean that they will no longer hold that power over us.
3. Give thanks. Someone once wrote that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratitude that makes us happy. When we live in gratitude we are able to see all the many blessings, big and small, around us and it changes our perspective on life. By spending a few minutes each day saying out loud or writing down three things we are grateful for, we will make great strides along the path of emotional wellness.