There’s more to heart health than diet and exercise.
It’s not enough to just go through the motions. We need to go through the emotions. This means getting in touch with our feelings.
In our relationships, meeting the emotional needs of others while having our emotional needs met creates a healthy heart. Forgiveness, compassion, gratitude, love, joy, kindness, laughter, and happiness all contribute to heart health.
Mindfulness invites us to be aware in the moment of whatever feelings arise. Sometimes we have feelings about our feelings. We feel some are acceptable while others are not. Practicing mindfulness means we notice feelings as they are without judgment.
As we become more aware of our feelings, we can consciously choose how to handle them.
We can use “I-statements” to reduce stress and resolve conflict.
Here are some examples:
1. I feel frustrated when you keep the television on until midnight because it keeps me from getting enough sleep and I wake up too exhausted to go for my morning walk.
2. I feel angry when you ask me to cook dinners that are high in fat because I’m trying to lose weight and I need your support.
3. I feel sad when you work late every night because we end up having so little family time.
Holding onto negative emotions such as anger, fear, resentment, or guilt drain our energies and impact our mood. It’s important to be sure feelings aren’t repressed because that can lead to stress related diseases and disorders.
We can work with a counselor to manage anger and other negative emotions. And to develop positive ways to release negative emotions.
This contributes greatly to heart health and to our overall state of well-being.
