By Michelle Wilson, wellness program manager
The wellness wheel and you: emotional well-being
Last month we shared ideas on taking care of our physical well-being. This month, as we move into late summer and prepare for fall, we will share ideas on ways we can all take care of our emotional well-being.
Emotional well-being comes from understanding and expressing feelings in a healthy, balanced way. It includes our general mood each day and the ways we work with our feelings when things happen in our lives.
Self-care is an important part of emotional wellness.
Try some of these ideas for creating emotional well-being for yourself:
- Reflect: Pay attention to how you feel throughout the day. Allow yourself to feel whatever comes up, and when feelings start to become challenging, consider ways you can take care of yourself and your emotional health.
- Connect: When we are connected with others, we are able to handle the ups and downs of life with more support. Make time to connect with family, friends, co-workers, and others in meaningful ways.
- Express: Expressing our feelings is important for our health, relationships, and well-being. Talk with someone you trust, write in a journal, or do art to express your feelings. They often transform when we are able to express them.
- Re-set: When life feels difficult, or if feelings of sadness or anxiety are surfacing, do at least one thing to re-set your mood. Exercise, eat healthy food, watch a funny movie, or think of the things in your life that bring you joy and peace. Re-set your mood and the course of your day with activities that support your emotional well-being.
- Play: Laughter is great medicine! Spend time every day doing things that increase your feelings of happiness. When we spend time doing things we enjoy, including playing games, participating in sports activities, or interacting in playful ways with those we care about, our bodies produce endorphins which are hormones that increase our emotional well-being. Find time to play every day.
Watch for more blogs this month with tips on staying emotionally healthy, and visit our wellness page for videos, audios, and other resources: www.laclinicahealth.org/wellness.
Tip: To learn more about emotional wellness, look up books and videos on the topic of emotional intelligence. The library has many resources on this topic, and summer is a great time to settle into a new book.