Today is Medical Monday and it is Emotional Wellness Month at Aortic Hope!
❓What exactly is Emotional Wellness?
According to the National Wellness Institute, Wellness is defined as: "An active process through which people become aware of, and make choices toward, a more successful existence".
👉They further define six dimensions of wellness:
~Occupational Wellness
~Physical Wellness
~Social Wellness
~Intellectual Wellness
~Spiritual Wellness
~Emotional Wellness
Emotional Wellness is defined as “Emotional Wellness is an awareness, understanding, and acceptance of our feelings and our ability to effectively manage our emotions through challenges and change.”.
In Evolve, writer Angus White shares the Top Seven Tips for Improving Emotional Wellness:
1. Identify Your Emotions
Learn to recognize, define, and describe your emotions. This is truly the first step. You need to be able to identify what you feel in order to manage and process those feelings in a healthy and productive way.
2. Express Your Emotions
Once you learn to name your emotions, the next step is expressing them in a healthy and productive manner. This means that if you’re happy about something or someone, share that emotion. And if you’re unhappy about someone or something, share that, too – but of course, do it in a kind, compassionate, and respectful manner.
3. Manage Stress
Stress can lead to negative emotions. In order to manage stress, it’s important to cover the basics: eat healthy food, get adequate sleep, and move your body or exercise daily. These three habits are the foundation of both physical and emotional wellness.
4. Learn Mindfulness
Meditation, yoga, and tai chi are what most people think of when they hear the word mindfulness. But did you know that mindfulness is a state of awareness, rather than a set of esoteric practices? Mindfulness means slowing down and paying attention to your internal and external life as it is in the moment without judgment. This means that mindfulness can happen anywhere, and any time. You can take a mindful walk. You can cook and eat mindfully. If you are mindful while doing it, then that activity counts as a mindfulness activity.
5. Find Balance
If your work stresses you out, find a way to get more personal time or family time. And if your family stresses you out, find a way to get more alone time or time engaging in hobbies. If anything you do threatens to overwhelm your emotions and take control of your thoughts, then find a simple, actionable way to address it – and restore balance to your life.
6. Find Purpose
You may find meaning or purpose in your work, your family, your hobbies, or your passions. Your meaning or purpose may be spiritual, or it may be secular. It may be neither, or it may be both. Whatever form it takes, experts on wellness say that having a reason to get up in the morning improves emotional wellness.
7. Seek Connection and Support
Human beings are social creatures. In general, we thrive in communities where we feel loved and supported. For millennia, we lived in small family groups or groups of families that provided this support. We still do, although in the modern world many people live alone. Whether you live alone or with family, it’s possible to feel lonely and disconnected. When that happens, our emotional wellness suffers. To maintain your emotional wellness – yes, even if you’re a hermit-type – we recommend seeking groups of people where you feel accepted, loved, and supported.
♥If you feel you are struggling with your emotional wellness, never hesitate reaching out to your physician or to a therapist.
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