Now that you have taken inventory on the physical and mental levels of your health, it is time to look at the emotional level of your health. I have always been an emotionally sensitive individual so this is an important level in me to keep balanced. It is useful to evaluate what emotion in you is the predominant one? Most people have an emotional set point- an emotion which they default to when they are feeling out of balance or under more stress. Is might be anger, sadness, hysteria or it might even register as indifference or apathy which is almost a lack of emotion. Get clear on what emotion you default to.

There are a few schools of thought of how to handle overwhelming emotional states. The first one is to feel what you are feeling in the moment and express your emotions. If you feel sadness, allow your tears to flow. Release your emotions and get rid of them so your emotional state can feel neutral once again. If you feel angry, punch a pillow or take a boxing class. Physical exercise can really channel emotions and help them be released. Emotional states can be changed by accessing your creativity. Express your feelings on a canvas letting the paint tell your story. Journal-ling your feeling state can be incredibly cathartic. If you dump your thoughts and feelings onto the page, you can walk away feeling much lighter.

At this time in our evolution we are ascending in our consciousness, so emotional states can feel heightened. The trick is to not react to how we are feeling; it can be helpful to witness the emotional state like a dispassionate observer. Be mindful of your emotional state but do not be consumed by it. One mantra I use repeatedly is ‘this too shall pass’. No emotional state ever stays the same. Finding your center in the midst of emotional chaos can be a challenge but it is not impossible.

My favorite technique to deal with negative emotions is Emotional Freedom Technique. This is a tapping technique that works on Chinese meridians to balance emotional states. Tapping on specific meridians sends a soothing signal to the hind brain (the primitive brain). Tapping helps decrease the stress response. Chinese medicine talks about emotions being linked to different organs- anger is linked to the liver, sadness is linked to the lungs (for example). This tapping technique runs through a sequence of points that are accessed while reciting affirmations; it pairs western  psychology with eastern medicine to bring you to a state of emotional contentedness. EFT is my best soul oriented counseling technique. For more information on balancing emotional health, please book in for an Emotional freedom technique session at Parallel Wellness in downtown Calgary.

As stated in the last post, the end of the year is a time when we naturally reflect on the state of our life with an intention to improve it in some way. Last time, I focused on the physical level of health, so today I will focus on the mental level of your health. When I talk about the mental level, this is evaluating the way you think about things.

I am talking firstly about mental attitudes- do you dwell on the positive or do you too often default to the negative side of things? Could you stand to improve in terms of your attitudes? What could stand to improve with regards to your attitudes? Could you dwell on joy and look where you might spot joy and witness it more in your daily life? Look to nature to witness little acts of joy. It is winter right now and although there are less hours of daylight with more cooler temperatures (that would be a negative way to look at this time of year), can you spot a chickadee in your daily walk? That is certainly a cheerful little bird. Birds are almost always happy even when it is cold out, they still sing a beautiful song.  Can you observe people and look for their joy? See how their joy emerges in the moment? Children are often more prone to spontaneity and ‘play’ in the moment.  Can you make a point of looking for these moments of joy? It is setting the intention of seeing joy in your daily life and then witnessing it; acknowledging it.

Acknowledging what you feel grateful for is another way of changing your mental attitude. The more you can feel gratitude and the more frequently you can acknowledge what you are grateful for, the better you will begin to feel in terms of your attitude. It is changing the stream of your thoughts to more naturally gravitate to the positive. Can you start and end your day thinking of five things you are grateful for? Taking these conscious moments to acknowledge good things in your life will allow you to attract more good things into your life moving forward.

Looking at your belief systems is so important to reflect on your mental state of health. Belief systems are your attitudes about life and they can change to fit a more evolved and conscious you. Because I am in the health care field, you might want to evaluate your belief systems about health. Do you believe that you can be in optimal health and are empowered enough to achieve optimal health. Take an inventory of the beliefs you have about your life and ask yourself if they are consciously serving you. Look at beliefs about relationships, work, family, religion or spirituality, fitness, self care, your future. Taking an inventory of your beliefs is a major part of evaluating your mental level of healing. Decide what you can shift and change to better support your health moving forward.

Until next time, may your mental level of healing flourish…

December is a good month to evaluate where you are at, in terms of your health. A Christmas break allows you a little time to reflect on the four levels of your health and how they feel: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual levels of your health. Take a health inventory. These four levels offer a more comprehensive evaluation.

In North American culture, the most emphasis is generally put on the physical state of health so I will start there. Your energy ( scale of 1 to 10 on average) and how much productivity you can offer in terms of a contribution are one example of your physical side of health. Where does your energy lie on average and how much physical stamina do you have? How is your energy for your working life? Do you engage in regular cardiovascular exercise? How often and for how long? Do you work on strength? What do you do to build your strength up? Some people like to lift weights, others like to do yoga or pilates to build strength. Are you balanced in terms of your cardio vs strength? What feels right to you?

Evaluate your sleep- do you sleep well and for how long in hours? How often do you wake? What wakes you up? Do you wake well rested or do you have to hit snooze five times? If you could sleep in on weekends, how long would you sleep for? Do you have more energy after exercise or less?

How is your digestive health? How often do you have a bowel movement (now it is getting more personal!) You can make your health inventory as detailed or as minimal as you want. Take some time to think about it. Write a few notes down. A detailed health inventory at the end of the year will then assist you to create health goals on all these levels of healing when the new year begins.

How is your immune system? Did you get sick more or less than last year? Did you get colds or flus? Did you have to take antibiotics?

What area of your physical health needs the most attention? What does your intuition say? You can go through each area of your body and ask yourself how is this area feeling? Are you getting any aches or pains anywhere? Go through every area of you body and check in with it- how does this area feel? How is it functioning?

How well do you take care of your physical health, in terms, of nutrition? Do you eat mainly a whole foods diet or do you eat on the run and rely on processed foods? Do you take time to lovingly prepare nutritious food for yourself or your family? Are you aware of the foods that are most compatible for you and your health needs? Have you been tested for food allergies?

Diet is the foundation of health. Eating a whole foods diet requires more time than most people want to admit but is a must if you are looking to improve your physical health. It is good to start there as most people do not eat a perfect diet and could stand to improve on their diet.

An appointment with a naturopathic doctor goes into a detailed health inventory of your health. I am just touching on a few questions to ask yourself about your physical health at the end of the year to keep your dialogue alive about your physical health. To make an appointment with me, please call Parallel Wellness at 4032321283…I will touch on the other levels of your health inventory in another post…