EMOTIONAL DETOXING

EVERYONE NEEDS TO CLEAN OUT SOME BAGGAGE EVERY NOW AND THEN TO KEEP OUR MENTAL STATE STABLE

There seems to be a lot of articles and information available these days about detoxing. It’s generally referring to a physical, internal cleansing after a period of indulgence, excess, ill health or drug treatment and can certainly promote a sense of general wellbeing both mentally and physically by allowing our mind and body to gently repair and restore.

And I suggest that regular emotional detoxing is also worth considering.

Emotions arise as a result of something we are thinking, they don’t exist outside us, they are something we are choosing to add.

Our mind and body are intricately linked with a complex communication system thanks primarily to our complex nervous system and chemical messengers called neurotransmitters.

When a thought pops up and you have an emotional response as a result, every cell in your body has the same response almost instantaneously.

That’s all well and good if the thought is positive and we are emotionally happy or content but when we have a thought that drives say anger, guilt, resentment, hurt, shame or some other ‘negative’ response then our whole body will carry it.

While emotions are neither positive or negative as such, just there for us to learn from, if a negative mindset or dwelling on past hurt tends to be your default, the complex cascade of emotions that follows can create ongoing and long-lasting problems and illness.

There has been much research demonstrating that our physical health is directly related to our mental and emotional state and it can take some time to unravel the combination and uncover the root cause.

Hence my suggestion that an emotional detox should be part of everyone’s health routine.

The question is how? The answer lies in finding a safe way to release the stored emotion.

But we’re not taught a way to do that and often we have been burying our emotions for so long that we just don’t know where to start.

Or sometimes we are fearful of what may happen if we take the lid off, like an emotional Pandora’s Box.

There are a variety of techniques that can help us work through and release emotional load and there will be one out there to suit you.

The first step, as with so many things, is to recognise when you are emotionally triggered and note what or who it was that triggered you.

It could be a word, a look, a passing comment, a conversation, an email, a situation or something else; write down what it was, when it was and how you reacted and add to the list each time it happens.

Doing this can offer insight into patterns and offer a solution to change the result.

The solution may be as simple as recognising when we are about to react and instead choosing to observe the situation which allows us to respond instead.

In this context responding means to interact with the person or situation without emotion.

Our ability to demonstrate and recognise emotion is part of what makes us human but holding on to those that don’t serve us is setting us up for future ill health and indicating that there is something we need to pay attention to and let go of.

Is it time for an emotional detox?