In our complex life journey, emotional and mental balance are powerful pathways to holistic healing.
As they wind their way through our emotions, thoughts, experiences, and choices, these pathways shape us in profound ways.
How do we achieve mental and emotional balance?
It begins with self understanding and learning about the mental and emotional polarities.
Ultimately, though, the key to achieving long term balance in both dimensions is the nurturing of positivity and creativity in your life.
Let’s explore further.
Self Understanding & Holistic Healing: The Role of Awareness
Self understanding requires serious awareness of your mind and emotions.
And pursuing it is an opportunity to truthfully examine yourself, acknowledge your imbalances, and shift your focus toward more fulfilling life experiences.
However, while being truthful about yourself may seem like a simple task, it may not be easy to achieve.
In fact it demands profound inner honesty that goes above and beyond casual judgments.
The effort, though, is worth it.
When you successfully recognize and acknowledge your imbalances you empower yourself to take control of your life, master your experiences, and embark on a journey to fulfillment.
Your Mental and Emotional Dimensions
Your thoughts and emotions often mirror life’s complexities with all of its changes.
On any given day, hour or even minute, your life could resemble a pendulum that swings back and forth between your positive and negative experiences (polarities), knocking you off balance.
An email telling you about an unexpected inheritance could be followed by a letter from the IRS about an upcoming audit.
Fortunately, it is possible to remain balanced, even under trying circumstances, when we begin to understand life’s positive and negative polarities.
How to Recognize the Positive Polarity
To remain balanced, start with understanding the positive and negative polarities.
You will recognize the positive polarity as feelings of love, relaxation, gratitude, and ease.
These emotions help you feel connected, inspired, and alive.
Meanwhile, your thoughts focus on growth possibilities as you fully embrace the beauty of existence no matter what life events swirl around you.
How to Recognize the Negative Polarity
At the opposite end of the spectrum lies the negative polarity characterized by sadness, grief, anger, and fear.
It may feel comfortable and familiar as it is (for most people) a default state. It is one we fall into automatically when we judge an experience to be negative.
As such it influences many of our behaviors, reactions, and life experiences.
Awareness of these polarities is the key to finding mental and emotional balance. And, since the negative polarity is our default, we achieve balance by focusing on what is positive.
There are many tools to help you do this. The most powerful is meditation.
Flowing positive emotions or writing and repeating positive affirmations is another.
Visit our Holistic Lifestyle page for a more in-depth understanding.
The Trap of Staying Stuck
Why do we often feel stuck, like our lives have no forward momentum?
In the hustle and bustle of everyday life, it's easy (and definitely convenient) to fall into an unconscious routine.
In that state, your thoughts and emotions go on automatic pilot and the awareness that comes with being in the present moment is gone.
Instead you tend to fall back into your negative default position and old familiar patterns take over.
If you doubt this, stop for a moment and examine your thoughts. Are they about the past? Or are you worrying about the future?
If you aren’t in the present moment, chances are good you are in a negative state.
The way back to the present is awareness.
It is only with greater awareness that you have the power to choose the thoughts and reactions that pave the way to greater balance, harmony and creativity.
Thoughts, Feelings & Manifestation
Your internal world of thoughts and emotions is not separate from what you experience in the world outside of yourself.
In fact they represent a direct connection to how you live and the lifestyle you manifest.
A negative focus creates a life full of fear, anxiety, and insecurity.
A positive focus, on the other hand, produces abundance, caring and gratitude.
Look at your life and ask yourself what it says about your focus.
What’s happening? And how do you feel about it?
Are your thoughts and emotions positive or negative?.
Do you notice recurring patterns? How do past experiences impact your current expectations?
Keep a journal of your answers so you can look back at where you’ve been, observe your patterns and note your progress.
As you begin to see connections, you can make conscious decisions about when and how to shift your outlook from negative to positive.
Your Wellness Journey: Experiencing Life Holistically
Awareness extends beyond the self. It encompasses each dimension of what we refer to as the physical, emotional and mental dimensions or The Primary Trinity of life.
We begin to experience life holistically as awareness and balance increase and we embrace both its positive and negative aspects.
With that we gain an objectivity that allows us to watch and witness the pendulum swinging back and forth without jumping on it and swinging along.
Ultimately, our lives become a coherent, unified whole rather than a set of fragmented and separate parts.
And in that reality, you open the doors to a life that not only inspires creativity but is deeply satisfying and fulfilling.
You can now embrace all facets of existence and recognize they are interconnected.
Your Pathway to Spiritual Growth
Listening to your thoughts and emotions is an ongoing practice and not a one-time task.
It’s a journey without a specific endpoint, a commitment to understand yourself that offers continuous evolution towards a higher and higher potential.
As you achieve mental and emotional balance more consistently, you move towards greater levels of self understanding
Now you can more easily focus on where you are at the moment and plot a course for where you want to be.
Live a Holistic & Inspired Life
Life lived holistically is not an unreachable dream but a reality you can experience every day.
As you become more attuned to your inner world you become more capable of manifesting positivity in your outer world.
The key to a fulfilling life lies within you, waiting to be discovered.
Listen to your thoughts, observe your emotions, and let them guide you towards a richer and more meaningful life.
Adapted from The Meditation Toolbox Book