E-Motions

Today's Word is Emotions

…Emotions encouraged (they) perfume life; discouraged, (they) poison it.” Joseph Collins

Letter E brings us to the word that has the power to unlock your happiness, success and physical health: Emotions. Insert classic mental health professional image here – leather couch, notepad, a reclining patient and the famous question, “Tell me, how does that make you feel?” As a life coach my intention when exploring the emotional landscape, is to source the clues contained within. Emotions are what you want to develop self-awareness around, they are informed by your beliefs and subsequently thoughts you have (or have had) about a situation or experience. Understanding them, allowing them and engaging in emotional intelligence is the secret to living a life of purpose, health and balance. Emotions are the tools by which you navigate your life, make decisions, communicate with others and experience enjoyment. Your emotional and mental health is your physical health and the body’s response to your internal dialogue is fascinating and profound.

There is much discussion over the distinction between an emotion and a feeling and for the most part there is not a definitive consensus. What follows here is my interpretation and personal experience. Simply said, you “feel” or sense an emotion. Another way to think about the two is the length of time you choose to hold onto it. Feelings move through the body quickly and are somewhat fleeting, whereas an emotion is a feeling held in the body for longer. For example, somebody cuts in front of you in a line and you instantly “feel” frustrated or irritated. The emotion develops after you repetitively play the event over in your mind, sustaining the initial sensation and labeling the experience as anger, for instance. Emotions include anger, sadness, love, happiness and joy and so on. E-motion is energy in motion. Emotions are energy moving throughout the body and when allowed to flow unimpeded, they are simply a way to understand yourself in your environment. Holding onto them causes a disruption in the energy system of the body. When you recognize an emotion whether it is comfortable or uncomfortable, simply let it be. It is feedback and it is only a “feeling.” It is the action you take in response to this sensation that is important.

Unfortunately, society has created numerous distractions and vices to keep you disengaged from what you are truly feeling and which allow you to disassociate from the “bad” and temporarily return to the “good”. Whenever humans have a feeling that makes us uncomfortable, the first instinct is to make it go away and push towards a feel good state. Your childhood programming says, “Feel something and suppress it.” Most habits (smoking, drinking, and watching too much TV etc.) are an attempt to experience happiness and a feeling of calm and to block out what is uncomfortable. When you shut out emotions, you turn off your guidance system and create a buildup of “feeling” residue that can lead to dis-ease and dysfunction in your life and your body.

“There is a mind in the body and a body in the mind.” Candace Pert

How are your thoughts and emotions impacting your health? Well, your cells are literally bathing in your emotions. For a long time, the belief was that maintaining and restoring health could be understood and accomplished by focusing solely on the physical and mechanical workings of the body. Little credence was given to emotional and/or mental factors as important contributors to either health or disease. That is no longer true, as new science and research has shown that the interplay between beliefs, thoughts and emotions is fundamentally creating your health and experience of life itself. Your biological system is constantly listening to your thoughts and the subsequent emotional response to such.

Candace Pert, a well known neuroscientist and psychopharmacologist, discovered the “neuropeptide” opiate receptor site on cells. This discovery confirmed what many healers, spiritualists, therapists and shamans have known for centuries; that mental, emotional and physical are not exempt from the other – that man is truly holistic. Neuropeptides (nerve proteins) are biochemicals that regulate almost all life processes on a cellular level and thereby link all body systems. Produced and exchanged in every tissue of the body, although primarily the brain, neuropeptides are messenger molecules. Pert was the first to call them the ‘molecules of emotions’ because they relayed emotions (in the form of chemical messages) directly onto the cell membrane and into the very nucleus of the cell itself! She discovered that all emotions seem to have their own peptide, which can create varied responses on a physical and emotional level. As she describes in her book, Molecules of Emotions, “It is like a “lock and key” mechanism where the neuropeptide is the “key” that opens the “lock” on the cell membrane to cause complex and fundamental changes in the cells they lock onto.” At one time scientists placed emotions within the limbic system of the brain; however the understanding of neuropeptides has shown that emotions are “flowing” throughout the body. Simply put, Pert’s discovery is significant because it shows that the body-mind is in sync and in constant communication. Your cells and mind “feel” each other.

For example, you engage in a great conversation with a person you like very much. You are laughing and feeling the sensation of happiness. In response, the specific feel-good peptide is released (e.g. serotonin), binding to specific receptors on the cell membrane. This sends a ‘feel-good’ message to the inside of the cell, right into the nucleus. Every function that this cell is responsible for is now being impacted by this peptide. The more happiness, the more feel good peptide. Several research studies have shown that just thinking compassion elevates the immune system, whereby thinking anger depresses it. Stress and depression can suppress the activity of lymphocytes, the white blood cells that are the body’s first line of defense against cancer and invading organisms. Cells in the immune system are responsive to all ninety neuropeptides, which are triggered by your thoughts and emotions.

So, what happens then if you suppress or hang onto or exponentially grow emotions of anger, rage, sadness or resentment? What happens to your cells and overall quality of life when this is the message your cells receive for long period of time? What would happen if every day you found ways to smile, laugh and be grateful for what you have? What if you began to embrace your emotions?

This a vast and exciting topic and I could write for days! My hope is that you become aware of your own emotional landscape and the information, potential and healing that exists when what you “feel” is explored. You are not your emotions; they are an experience you are having. You are not a sad or angry or even joyful person, you are a person who is feeling those things, as a result of your interpretation and response to the events around you. Once you see emotions as separate from you, you will not fear or covet them, you will allow them to flow. Within them exists the messages, connection, inspiration and fuel to move you to change, connect you to others and to create meaning in chaos. You will welcome the richness of their words, the vastness of their messages and the brilliance of the colors – for this is the landscape of your life.

Today Ask Yourself:

1 Why do I feel this way? What am I feeling?
2 I’m feeling mad, angry, sad, disappointed, discouraged, etc.
3 Is there a legitimate reason I should feel this way? Why would I want to hold onto it? Can I let it go?

Emotional Freedom Technique and Mind Detox are two ways in which I help clients resolve and let go of the energy disruptions created by emotional residue. Quick, painless and effective! We work together to discover the messages and to create a harmonious emotional landscape. If you would like more information please visit my website, http://www.onpurposelifecoach.com/.

The book listed under source is excellent, but many authors have written about this very topic. Two others I recommend are:

'The Language of Emotions: What Your Feelings Are Trying To Tell You', by Karla McLaren
'Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing', by Caroline Myss

Source:
Pert, Candace, (1997) ‘Molecules of Emotion: the Science Behind Mind-Body Medicine’, Simon&Shuster