Emotional Harmony - Getting to Know Yourself Better
Nowadays, who can manage any harmony in life? In our current society, the number of tasks we have to carry out on a daily basis is such that it can be difficult to find emotional balance. Anxiety, stress, and rage overpower our present, our “here and now” without us even taking notice.
This way, we enter a vicious cycle. We get more and more upset, and it gets harder to keep our calm and serenity. What can we do to try to not become so upset? Keep reading if you want to achieve a greater degree of harmony in your life!
“Always take the shortest path. The shortest path is the one which is in harmoy with nature. Therefore, act and talk at all times in the healthiest way, since a similar purpose liberates you from the worries and the fight, from any kind of concern and ostentation.”
-Marco Aurelio-
In order to increase your harmony get to know yourself!
Like with any other skill you want to acquire or improve, in order to increase your harmony you’ll need to perform a set of exercises. Thus, you’ll find a greater emotional balance and, consequently, your general well-being will increase. But this is not an easy task. At times, you are so angry or nervous that you become blocked off. It becomes impossible to manage those emotions.
So, what should you do then? If you find a pattern where you have felt upset or worried you can label this with a name. This way you’ll gain awareness of the problem and will be able to see it as an element that is external to yourself. Plus, you’ll be able to decide if you want to continue in this state. Or if you’d like to do something to improve your current mood.
You’re your own worst critic
For example, maybe you often find yourself thinking about all of the things you should have done but which you had no time to accomplish. Then, anxiety and anger come into play. You can’t stop thinking about how much of a mess you are, and you criticize yourself more and more. This is when you have to learn to identify and label the situation in order to not become stuck.
Maybe this reminds you of a friend who this happens to a lot. Every time they tell you about it, you tell them they are being too hard on themselves. You tell them that they need to learn how to delegate certain tasks to others. When you begin to give yourself the same kind of advice, you’ll call to mind the term “self-demanding.” This will warn you that you are entering a potentially harmful dynamic. You’ll now have the chance to think about what to do in order to regulate these feelings and definitely increase your emotional harmony.
“When you feel forced to become upset due to the things around you, return to yourself quickly. Don’t stray from this rhythm more than what’s strictly necessary. Because you’ll be the owner of
greater harmony the more often you return to it.”
-Marco Aurelio-
Harmony goes hand-in-hand with a contemplative attitude
Even if you learn to be more aware of how you react to certain situations. Even if you try to manage your negative emotions, sometimes you might find it extremely difficult. Learning to distance yourself emotionally from conflicts is not as easy as it seems.
“The main thing is to understand that the problem oftentimes emerges from our way of viewing the external world as a potential source of suffering, anguish, tension, stress… When this happens, we can keep in mind that it can also be a source of harmony.”
-Raúl de la Rosa-
An ability that might help you with the task of problem-solving is to put things into perspective. And even more so if the situation has no short-term solution. In order to achieve this, you can think about whatever is causing your unease and ask yourself the following question. What would I say to a friend who had the same problem? This way, you realize how you would react if this situation was happening to someone else, not yourself.
The harmony of a tree
Furthermore, you can perform a visualization exercise. In it you’ll imagine yourself as a tree, you mentally go over your whole body and associate it with the different parts of a tree. You identify your feet as the roots, and your legs and torso as the trunk. Also, the arms are the branches and the fingers and head are the leaves. Then, you introduce the wind into this mental picture.
That gust of air which rattles and shakes you with greater or lesser force represents your problems. What you’re going to do is visualize how this tree that is yourself sways with the wind. Without breaking, the tree sways in the wind the same way your problems influence your life without overtaking you. Thus, if you practice this often, you will encourage your own emotional flexibility and distancing.
Lastly, at times you might have to reach some sort of agreement at work, with your family or in your neighborhood community. This will be much easier when you include emotional balance in your life. Because you’ll be able to set into motion strategies for the resolution of interpersonal conflicts. You’ll be trying to mediate problems which require negotiation. This way, you’ll be giving feedback to your harmony and be acquiring a greater sense of well-being.
