It is hard for most moms to gain control of their lives what with juggling jobs, housework and a handful of kids. Who has time to take care of herself?
'How are you feeling?' can be a loaded question, especially if you are sick.
Emotions like laughter and joy can be uplifting and healing, while emotions like fear or bitterness can be toxic and destructive. When you get angry or depressed it affects the nervous system and weakens the immune system.
Ancient healing practices suggest that there are certain emotions that make their home in certain organs in the body. This is an integral part of Chinese medicine.
The theory is that energy travels through specific pathways beneath the skin surface called meridians. When negative emotions are experienced, there is either an overabundance of energy, a depletion of energy, or it gets blocked altogether. This causes illness.
Here is breakdown of the equivalences emotions and organs from ancient Chinese practices:
Emotion Organ
Worry Lung, stomach
Fear Kidneys, bladder
Anger Gall bladder, liver
Grief Heart, lungs
Lack of acceptance Pancreas, spleen, colon lungs
Sadness Heart, small intestine
Guilt Stomach, heart
Financial burden Upper back lungs
Lack of support Lower back
Problems usually manifest emotionally before they do physically and once physical problems appear it is an indication that we are in real trouble.
According to traditional Chinese medicine, all health issues are due to an energy imbalance. Chronic problems come from decades of repression and irregular energy control.
Symptoms that our lives and particularly stress might be getting too much for us include fatigue, weakness, headaches and constipation. These tell us that the flow of energy is being blocked in our body.
It is also really true that sorrow can cause a broken heart! Strong emotions such as grief and heartbreak can actually cause death. You can die from unrequited love.
Deep feelings such as sorrow, pain and loss can actually put a physical strain on the heart. They can also cause stress and weaken the immune system. The heart functions abnormally and creates the physical sensation of pain in the chest. Too much of this continued stress can prompt a heart attack.
It also helps to realize that we might manifest everything that we think. In the film –The Secret –one of the guest speakers in the film, Mike Dooley, says it best, “thoughts become things.”
How we spend our time thinking about life is how we are going to feel about life from moment to moment. This in turn has an immediate effect on the inner functions of the body like the nervous system, respiratory system, chemistry and energy.