Are you Emotionally Healthy?

[New Beginnings]

Do you find yourself eating, drinking, doing drugs, shopping or giving your body to someone to be accepted, to take away the pain you are feeling,  in an effort to deal with your emotional feelings or when things seem out of control in your life?

What is emotional health to you?

The definition taken from Stormie Omartian's book "Lord, I Want To Be Whole" reads like this:

Emotional health is having total peace about who you are, what you're doing, and where you are going, both individually and in relationship to those around you.  In other words, it's feeling totally at peace about the past, present and future of your life.  It's knowing that you're in line with God's ultimate purpose for you and being fulfilled in that.  When you have that kind of peace and you no longer live in emotional agony, then you are a success.  Emotional health is just as practical and attainable as physical health.

We want to encourage you to seek the total peace that is described in Stormie's book.  First recognize that it cannot come from another person, food or another substance.    Your total peace cannot come from outside of you.  If you allow your peace to be dependent upon another person or anything outside of  you it can be disturbed any time something happens.  He is not as attentive as he once was.  The flowers you grew to love are no longer being supplied.  He is focused on work or something else and now you feel left out.  Someone else is paying attention to him or her and you are not secure in the relationship. 

There is a problem in the relationship and now the person begins to eat, indulge in drugs, alcohol or whatever their drug of choice is to medicate the situation.  We want to encourage  you to seek peace that comes from the inside out, this  is not based on what happens.  A lot of things will happen to us in life, but we have to be able to retain our peace no matter what happens.

If you after reading Stormie's definition determine that you are not emotionally healthy, you have been depending on someone else for your emotional well being we want to encourage you to join us in reading Stormie's book together over the next several weeks.  You can order he book through Amazon.com or pick it up at your favorite book store. 

We will be posting our comments and reading any comments you post.  Remember your comments can be anonymous, because no one knows who you are. 

It's time to get healthy from the inside out so join us in reading this book or if you can't read it join in the discussion on the website.  You can even post  your prayer requests on the prayer request forum.

We look forward to seeing you becoming emotionally healthy from the inside out.

[Angela]

March 2008 Feature Article-Emotional Eating

By Angela Willingham

Have you ever found yourself eating for no reason?  You weren’t hungry, it was not meal or snack time.  If you are honest you just finished dinner, but there is something in you that is unsatisfied.  If you find yourself in this place again, I want you to take the time to assess your situation.  Take the time to try to figure out what is really going on.  Why are you eating?
 
You can eat and eat and eat and never resolve the issue if you don’t first determine what the issue is.  That cake, cookies, pie or chips will taste good or maybe you won’t taste them at all because all you are really doing is eating to make yourself feel better. 
(Go the the March 2008 Monthly Newsletter to see the rest of the article)

[Angela]

In studying my Marriage Counselling Course from AACC (American Association of Christian Counselors), one of the things I learned was that the marriage can only be as healthy as the least healthy participant.  The tip the instructor gave was "Get Emotionally Healthy, before you Get Married!" 

I think our emotional health actually affects every relationship that we have, not just our marital ones.  You know what I am talking about if you have ever had a friendship with someone that was jealous of the time you spent with other friends.  Someone who wants to be your favorite and your best friend over everyone else.  A friend who gives you attitude if you spend time with someone else.  Asking questions about other friends in a way that makes it seem like they care when in actuality they are trying to feel  you out.  Insecurities wear out our friends and mates.  They spend so much time trying to help us and meet our needs that we miss out on enjoying time together.

If you are struggling with insecurities, jealousy or some other emotional issue, I encourage  you to seek God and to seek a good Christian Counsellor if it is necessary.  Do not be afraid or ashamed to get the help you need, you will be the better for it and so will your relationships, including home, school, work and every place else that you have relationships.

Take some time and start working on you.  Get the help you need to do it.

[Angela]

If you are still yelling and screaming or throwing things when stuff does not go your way, that is probably a sign that you are not emotionally healthy.  Take some time to deal with you.  Take some time to get to the root of what is causing you to behave the way that you do.  Take some time to know yourself, to value yourself and to let some stuff, old, dead stuff go.