We all live in an emotionally chaotic world. Relationships seem to be more complicated, work is more stressful, social issues are ever-present, and our habitat is under constant threat of environmental destruction. It is easy to feel overwhelmed and tempted to cave in and break down. It’s no wonder that mental health issues are constantly on the rise, and people seek ways such as counseling, therapy, or the emotional freedom technique to help themselves cope.
People’s emotions play a huge part in how they think and act. In a way, it has the power to affect every person’s entire life and even society at large. Being emotionally free allows you to ride through the tides of your circumstances while maintaining your emotional health. How do you know if you are emotionally free? What does it mean to be emotionally free? Here are the signs.
Being aware of how you feel
At the heart of emotional freedom is self-awareness. Some people, in the height of emotions, are not really aware of what they are feeling. That is the reason why some people make bad decisions and rushed actions. It is later on that people realize that they acted out because of how intensely they felt. However, acting out of emotion usually has consequences, primarily if it stems from pain or anger. It causes you to hurt others or yourself, and the repercussions can sometimes echo on for a very long time.
When you are consciously aware of your feelings, you acknowledge that you are experiencing powerful emotions. You are also aware that these emotions are often temporary, no matter how badly they want you to act out right there and then. This means that you can catch yourself before you do something that you might later regret.
Centering yourself before reacting
This is the part that comes after acknowledging your emotions. This activity takes a lot of conscious effort and will power because apart from recognizing your feelings, you also have to assess the situation. You need to be able to do this from a detached and objective standpoint to determine which kind of reaction is appropriate and leads to long-term gain.
Centering yourself can take a lot of work, especially if you are so used to reacting off of your emotions, but it’s worth it. You can save yourself from a lot of pain during situations that you cannot control if you have the ability to control yourself, your emotions, and your response.
Being gentle yourself whenever you experience doubt or fear
Stressful situations are excellent breeding grounds for fear and self-doubt. When we experience such emotions, it feels like an attack on oneself. Most people who are not as self-aware can have the tendency to panic. The panic sends them into a frenzy of coping mechanisms that are neither good nor healthy—alcoholism, drug use, overworking, aggression towards others, and self-harm.
Emotional freedom means being capable of self-love during tough times. Accept your limitations, acknowledge that there is nothing you can do about the situation, and forgive yourself for it. It means caring for your physical self, too, eating healthy, and maintaining your fitness.
Gratitude for the good things instead of despair over the bad
One of the things you will notice about yourself when you practice the emotional freedom technique is that you become more grateful. Emotional freedom allows a person to not just acknowledge the bad things. More importantly, it will enable a person to take into account and focus more on the good things within a situation and within themselves.
At the end of the day, an emotionally free person counts his blessings instead of beating himself up for a small mistake. Being emotionally free means that you accept that not everything or every day needs to be perfect and flawless. What matters is that you see and appreciate the good things that you were able to accomplish.
Empathizing without getting emotionally affected
When we see and interact with someone who is suffering from physical or emotional pain, we tend to get affected too. It’s like there is a transference of negative emotional energy going on during the exchange. Does this mean that you have to avoid everyone who is ill or has problems? Not really.
Being emotionally free means that you can freely interact with people. At the same time, you can empathize with their problems and struggles without becoming emotionally affected. Imagine a conversation with a friend who just experienced a bad breakup if you can’t picture it out for yourself. They may be crying and experiencing emotional pain, but you remain calm and understanding so you can comfort them and become their source of strength and stability.
Alternately, you can also imagine an interaction between a service provider and an irate customer. The customer may be fuming and frustrated about a complaint. However, an emotionally free service provider can remain calm and professional. This allows the service provider to consider the customer’s problem objectively and find ways to solve it, rather than be carried away by the customer’s anger and start a hurtful and unprofessional debate.
Patience when things do not go as scheduled
There are usually two types of people in a traffic jam. One person honks and curses loudly, while the other one resolves to meditate, play a mobile game, or watch a short clip while waiting for the time to pass. Both of them will remain trapped in traffic for the same amount of time, and both of them will probably be late for work. However, one person becomes emotionally exhausted while the other one is relaxed. Which person would you rather be?
Sometimes, things do not go as planned, and schedules are thrown out of the window. These things are usually beyond our control. We can’t change them no matter how much we want to. The more we try to force things to go our way, the more we exhaust ourselves and become frustrated because we achieve nothing in the end after having spent all of that emotional or physical energy. Emotional freedom allows us to redirect this energy to do something productive or pleasurable instead.
One effective way to keep yourself balanced and emotionally healthy is by practicing the emotional freedom technique. This revolutionary method frees you from physical and emotional pain with the use of specialized techniques. The emotional freedom technique has been scientifically proven effective in improving symptoms of psychological trauma.
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