Do You Have Emotional Hygiene?

Do You Have Emotional Hygiene?

I used to suffer from sever back pain. Throughout my twenties and thirties, my back would go out of commission a couple of times a year, leaving me bedridden and drugged for a week. These episodes would occur out of nowhere, from common everyday movements like sneezing or bending over to tie my shoelaces. 

In my pursuit to recover from this condition, I saw dozens of chiropractic and alternative medicine healers, my doctor ordered an MRI that showed there was nothing wrong with my back, I even committed to a yoga practice and yet, these episodes would still occur like clockwork, every six months or so. 

I call this period of my life “The time I was asleep to myself”. 

This was the time before I began my spiritual journey of understanding myself. A journey that would ultimately teach me how to heal and love myself and how to practice healthy emotional hygiene.  

Before I learned to practice emotional hygiene I was an emotional mess. 

On the outside I played it cool, successful and charming, but on the inside I carried fear, anxiety, self judgment, insecurities and most of all - anger. 

I was afraid of anger. I wouldn’t get near it. I would stuff my anger and put on a happy face for the sake of being nice and keeping a successful image. I would numb anger with my drug of choice - work. I spent most of my youth being a workaholic, thinking that achieving success would make me happy. 

It didn’t. 

Even though I was financially successful, emotionally, I was failing myself. 

It wasn’t until I was ready to face my truth and unpack all the anger, the self doubt and fear I’ve been holding onto that my physical body began to heal.  

It wasn’t until I began to express my anger and my full range of emotions through my creativity that my back pain went away (it’s been 15 years since I’ve had an episode!). 

"ANGER" by from Dustin Woehrmann / 100 Days of Creative High Growth Alumni / Class of 2023

Emotions are a source of creation.

When I learned that emotions are a source of creation, I learned that they inform our perspectives, our decisions, and our interactions with the world around us. 

When we harbor stuck, unwanted emotions, we inadvertently create more of the same experiences on autopilot. However, when we approach our emotional landscape with attention, love, and presence, these feelings can move through us, allowing for new, resourceful perspectives to emerge.

This does not happen overnight. It requires a commitment to self-exploration and the willingness to confront aspects of ourselves that we might rather ignore.

But with each emotional release, we meet ourselves lighter, more at peace, and more aligned with our inner truth. The benefits extend beyond emotional relief; they seep into our creative expressions, our relationships, and our outlook on life, imbuing them with renewed energy, joy, and freedom.

Emotional hygiene, much like its physical counterpart, requires regular and mindful attention. It's the practice of cleansing our emotional self of the negative residues that accumulate from day-to-day experiences. 

Emotional hygiene is the practice of regularly and consciously addressing and managing our emotions to maintain and improve our mental health. 

Emotional hygiene involves recognizing, processing, and expressing emotions in a healthy and creative way to prevent them from negatively impacting our well-being. 

Best way I’ve learned how to do that is through deep self inquiry and creative self expression like writing or intuitive art making which I now teach in my Creative High Growth mentoring program. 

Just like physical hygiene keeps our bodies clean and healthy, emotional hygiene helps in keeping our mind and emotional state in optimal condition, creating a better quality of life, enhancing resilience, and fostering positive relationships.

But how do we embark on this journey of emotional purification? The answer lies in a simple yet profound truth: we need to feel our emotions fully to heal them.

The practice of emotional hygiene opens the door to inner peace and self-love. As we clear our emotional bodies of clutter, we make room for love, joy, extension, and freedom to flourish. Our creative energies, no longer stuck by unresolved emotions, can flow freely, inspiring us to live our lives as a true expression of our soul's potential. 

Feeling our emotions means staying present with them, allowing ourselves to experience their full intensity without judgment or a need to move on. This is easier said than done, as our instinctual response to discomfort is avoidance. Yet, it is only by facing these emotions head-on that we can begin to dissolve the barriers they form.

Our emotions, regardless of their nature, demand to be acknowledged and experienced. The moment we turn our gaze away from these feelings, they begin to crystallize, creating blocks that interfere with our emotional and creative flow.

Emotional hygiene is  about honoring our emotions as the powerful forces of creation they are. With a little bit of attention and a lot of love, we can transform our emotional landscape into one of abundance, creativity, and inner peace. 

So, I invite you to embark on this journey of emotional cleansing, to reconnect with your inner self, and to rediscover the infinite well of creativity and love that resides within you. In your emotional health lies the key to your freedom and your joy.