Emotional Well-Being / Emotional Intelligence, Feeling Feelings, Emotions & Yoga, Intuitive Knowing

Emotional Well-Being

Emotional Well-Being in a Nutshell

When you look at a statue of the Buddha or the image of a great yogi with their serene smiles, it’s easy to think that these beings never experienced the same kinds of emotions or thoughts that swirl through your body/mind. But, you’d be wrong. Buddhas, yogis, and sages feel the same emotions & thoughts that you do, including fear, anger, sorrow, doubt, and overwhelm… But, here’s the key:

• They don’t turn or run away from the emotions – they face them.
• They don’t fight the emotions – they embrace them.
• They turn towards them with clarity, compassion, and loving awareness.

Through this process of compassionate facing, embracing, seeing clearly, the sages discovered something remarkable. It’s this: every emotion – no matter how challenging – can be healed, transformed, and expressed as life-giving energy.  – Eric & Devi Klein

We use the term emotional well-being to refer to the subject in general. In various settings, it may be called emotional balance, mental health or emotional intelligence.

• “Emotional balance” is generally synonymous with emotional well-being. Although sometimes used to refer to mental health in general, it may also specifically refer to how we respond to feelings. To be emotionally balanced, we experience feelings without overwhelm or judgment. (Dan Mager MSW)
• “Emotional intelligence” is a term popularized by Daniel Goleman, PhD. It refers to “our capacity to effectively address others and ourselves, to connect with our emotions, to manage them, to self-motivate, to put the brakes on our impulses, to overcome frustrations.” Here in these lessons, we focus on the individual experience of emotions, but a key aspect of emotional intelligence as Goleman teaches it goes beyond self-understanding to the application socially — specifically, feeling empathy and connecting positively and respectfully with others.  (source)

To achieve emotional well-being requires the recognition that emotions are healthy and normal, and the willingness to allow emotional energy to move through without excessive resistance.

A key to further evolving our relationship with emotions is to view them as messengers and to learn from them. However, it’s tricky to recognize that this does not mean analyzing or continually thinking about emotions that have yet to be fully felt. To feel an emotion is not to think about it. Thinking about its message is something that will be much more fruitful after the emotion has been fully felt and the intensity of the energy has subsided.