Emotional Hygiene - A Fresh Start for the New Year
Have you ever thought about the concept of "emotional hygiene"? This idea fascinated me as soon as I heard it in Guy Winch's TED talk, "Why we all need to practice emotional first aid". This talk addresses the importance of maintaining our psychological health and emotional hygiene with the same care that we take of our physical health.
Two things that Winch identified as powerful enemies to our mental hygiene stood out to me:
Rumination - The act of thinking about unpleasant situations or events OVER AND OVER AGAIN. Winch says that this is one of the biggest dangers to our emotional health which can become a costly habit. Spending so much time rehearsing unpleasant ideas, can turn them into thought patterns and even into belief systems, which color the way we view the world.
His suggestion is to actively distract yourself by forcing yourself to focus on something else until the urge to ruminate passes.
Negative self talk - How do you speak to yourself? How harsh and critical are you of yourself? What would your life be like if you treated yourself with the same compassion as a good friend would treat you when you are in emotional pain? Once we become convinced of something, it's very difficult to change our minds.
While Guy Winch didn't offer much as a solution in his TED Talk, I'm sure he has lots of suggestions in his book Emotional First Aid.
Some of my own suggestions:
One thing I have found tremendously helpful when it comes to addressing negative self talk is "The Work" of Byron Katie. You might enjoy looking at her website which has some great free resources for identifying negative talk and challenging some of these beliefs.
Acupuncture can be a powerful tool to help us clear stuck emotions out of our body and settle our nervous system enough that we can consider the world from a fresh perspective.
Rumination is an emotion (or state of mind) that has a negative impact on the health of our Spleen (digestive systems). Symbolically the Spleen regulates how we digest life, and if we keep mulling over the same stuck thought patterns, we are putting a lot of burden on our Spleen. It gets tired and weak and as a result our physical digestion suffers too. The more tired our Spleen becomes, the more easily we fall into ruminating and so a vicious cycle is established. Chinese herbal therapy is a great way to support the Spleen and there are many classical formulas to choose from to match your particular presentation of Spleen weakness.
