Emotional Balance

#CourseCompanionBlog - Emotional Balance___________________

Ranganath Iyengar | Vidya Yedavalli | #tattvaqlifelabs, #elearning

Emotions and Emotional Content

A human being is not complete without emotional content. In addition to logic, human beings are guided instinctively and intuitively by their emotions. As we all know, emotions have a key role to play in the memories we retain or choose to let go. Emotions and Memory are dealt with by the Limbic system in our brains.

A logical decision is taken by a person based on facts and figures and perhaps some rational thinking and reflection. This is a ‘Head only’ action as it is cold and harsh. An instinctive decision involves some level of emotion as both the ‘Head’ and ‘Heart’ come into play – an example is what a mother would do if her child is hungry or hurt. Instincts and their responses are usually coded into our DNA. The mother connects to the child through her emotion and heart while her actions of comforting the child or feeding the child would be more logical.

An intuitive decision coming purely from within (some might call it gut feel) and in this case only the heart calls the shots as the energy, drive, passion, and commitment are pure emotional content and often can be perceived as impulsive, risky, and irrational (no thought…all heart!)

Medical science tells us that emotionally high situations often involve a heady mix of our limbic brain and hormones which can be quite a cocktail! An adrenaline rush makes us hyperactive in the moment but also drains us out later.

Emotional Balance and Wellness

How does all this connect to ‘Emotional Balance’ and ‘Wellness’? One can, in simplistic terms, think of emotional content as a ‘wellness catalyst’. Let us consider a few examples to understand this.

#1 - When a mother goes through pregnancy, her main motivation is her deep emotional bond with the child she is carrying. While she is enduring all the hardships of an expectant mother, what keeps her emotions in ‘balance’ is her intense motivation to care for and nurture the child.

#2 - Many of us have pets as ‘stress busters’ – however if you look a little deeper at the benefit, real benefit comes from the emotional bond we form with the pet and fulfil a need – that of loving someone and being loved back unconditionally – out pets don’t speak the same language we do…and we do not get angry the same way we would at another person! Hence the emotional bond forms quickly and preserves.

#3 - Caregivers have a stressful job – being kind and compassionate and very patient with a person who is sick or otherwise challenged and additionally using logic and discipline for the treatment protocol itself. In this case as well, the emotional content is equally important to keep the patient healthy and this can require the caregiver to empathize and be available to the patient emotionally as well.

#4 - Let us also consider normal human relationships – a couple in love, a family, siblings – all examples of everyday relationships. Whilst all these individuals have their own lives and activities, they are also interdependent sharing resources, space, conversations. Without an emotional bond, it would be almost impossible to co-exist. The social boundaries often define the structural and role aspects of the relationships, and it comes together only with emotions.

In summary

Having established the importance of emotional content in our lives, let us dive a bit into the ‘balance’ aspect of it. Emotions are the resultant of behaviours through verbal and non-verbal communications, how we bond or relate to another person. Emotional stress can be caused by various factors or stimuli either within us our external to us – the personality of the person, the environment, the situation, life event etc.

When we experience such stress we can either choose to de-stress or move to a place of 'Eustress' (beneficial stress) through various action choices - reaching out to others, talking about the situation with a friend or with a counselor, change of place or activity, change of pace, talking about our feelings etc. The more open we are to accept the situation, the faster we can take steps to restore our emotional balance. Prolonged periods or stress can impact our physical and mental health. We all have our favourite stress buster activities and those are good to pursue to restore Emotional Balance.

Happy Learning ! Team Tattva-Q