What is emotional well-being in psychology?

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October is Emotional Wellness Month and emotional wellness is critical to our well-being and health. Mental health is one of today’s major health challenges, as approximately one in five individuals suffers from a mental health episode each year.

Emotional wellness is a term often used in spiritual circles, and it can often serve to fend off mental challenges, but what is it, and what does it really mean to be emotionally well?

According to the National Center for Emotional Wellness, the term refers to an awareness, understanding, and acceptance of your emotions, and your ability to manage effectively through challenges and change. When you’re tuned into your feelings, then you can more easily become aware of your bodily sensations. The more you act on your feelings and emotions, the more reliable they become. Remaining in the present moment and adhering to a sense of mindfulness, without looking back too much into the past or the future, is also very important for your emotional well-being.

Being emotionally well encourages you to slow down and fosters the practice of mindfulness. Being emotionally well doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re happy all the time, but rather, that you’re self-aware and able to shift as a way to feel better. Being emotionally well leads to a happier and more blissful life, and also allows you the opportunity to attain your full potential.

For the most part, being human means having challenges and problems; however, it’s all about how you deal or cope with those issues that determines your emotional wellness. It’s also about embracing all the goodness in your life and looking at your glass as half-full rather than half-empty.

Here are some questions to help you ascertain if you’re maintaining a sense of emotional wellness:

1. How do you treat others in your life, both personally and professionally? Those who are emotionally well tend to be more sensitive and compassionate about the needs of others, and in general, are more spiritually generous.
2. Are you grateful? Emotionally healthy people feel gratitude for their lives and for all the goodness they experience. They’re appreciative of what they do have rather than bemoaning what they do not have. They usually count all their life’s blessings, and this does not always pertain to money or material objects, but rather, relates to more spiritual aspects of their lives.
3. Are you happy with the person you are? Those who are emotionally healthy are usually content with themselves. They might feel as if they’re living the lives they’ve always wanted to live. They also take care of themselves physically and psychologically by doing what is beneficial for them. And, they’re rarely complainers, but instead, might be seekers who are often trying to become better people and help those around them do the same. They might also engage in positive self-talk.
4. Are you open-minded and flexible? This means that you’re self-aware and listen to the thoughts and musings of yourself and others. Also, you do not feel attached to any particular dogma or philosophy but are willing to hear the viewpoints and musings of others.
5. Do you have a life purpose? Those who do generally have a well-developed sense of well-being because they have a reason to wake up in the morning. They also have a tendency to see life’s bigger picture. They tend to know their core values, what’s most important to them, and how to focus on those values. Their purpose gives life meaning, whether it’s professional, family oriented, or community oriented.
6. Do you have ways to manage your stress? Those who are emotionally stable have their own ways of navigating the stressors in their lives, whether it’s meditation, exercise, talk therapy, or creative pursuits such as art, music, or writing. They’re able to maintain a balance between work and play.

In general, maintaining a sense of well-being in our everyday lives can relate to both the positive and negative activities in our daily routines (Garling, Gamble, Fors, Hjerm, 2014). Positive well-being leads to happiness, whereas negative well-being tends to lead to depression and mental challenges. If we all try to maintain a good sense of emotional wellness, then this world will definitely be a better place, but it takes a group effort, and there’s no time like the present to begin!

References

Fiorcco, A, and S. Mallya. (2014). “The Importance of Cultivating Mindfulness for Cognitive and Emotional Well-Being in Late Life.” Journal of Evidence-Based Internal Medicine.

Garling, G., Gamble, A, Fl Fors & M. Hjerm. (2014). “Emotional Well-Being Related to Time Pressure, Impediment to Goal Progress and Stress-Related Symptoms. Journal of Happiness Studies. 7(15), pp. 2789–1799.

Lerner, M. (2019). The Center for Emotional Wellness, Inc.

Vaughan, F. (1998). Mental, Emotional and Body-Based Intuition. In Inner Knowing by H. Palmer, Ed. New York, NY: Jeremy P. Tarcher, pp. 185–194.

Emotional wellness, which is also known as emotional health or emotional wellbeing, is a person's ability to handle their emotions and the varied experiences they encounter in life. The National Center For Emotional Wellness defines emotional wellness as "an awareness, understanding and acceptance of our feelings, and our ability to manage effectively through challenges and change."

The concept of wellness at large came into the foreground of public consciousness in the 1950s, according to the Global Wellness Institute. Ancient forms of wellness, such as Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine, have been around for thousands of years, but Western cultures didn't think as proactively about wellness until more modern times.

No one person is credited with having come up with the idea of emotional wellness. The understanding that it's impossible to have a healthy and fulfilling life if one isn't feeling well emotionally has grown over recent decades, and it's now a focal point of the overall wellness movement. October is Emotional Wellness Month, which denotes how important this concept is now considered to many.

You might not realize how many different areas of life your emotional wellness, or lack thereof, is involved in. Let's look at how your ability to handle, understand, and manage your emotions impacts your life.

When we interact with others, it's important that we understand our own perspectives about different issues. Sometimes we disagree with other people, and to keep relationships happy and healthy, we need to be able to have disagreements in a calm and appropriate manner.

If you aren't able to deal with your emotions well, it's difficult to deal with those of others. The state of emotional wellness impacts our relationships whether they are personal or professional. In order to best connect with and relate to others, the more emotionally healthy we are, the more support and care we can offer those we love and respect.

Whether you're decades into your chosen career or still deciding what you want to do in your life, your ability to handle situations as they arise is vital to your success. Knowing how you feel, dealing with your emotions, and being able to move forward from challenges with a positive mindset all lead to better outcomes in your scholastic and professional life.

This may seem obvious, but your emotional health is a big part of your overall mental health and wellness. While that fact is true for everyone, for those who face mental health challenges and conditions it can be even more impactful. As you learn about how to deal with your own mental health challenges, you'll be most successful in navigating them if you are in touch with, and able to deal with, your feelings and emotions.

There are many ways that not being able to work through life in a positive emotional state can lead to worse outcomes, particularly because a negative emotional state is a stressful one. Here are some examples:

• Lower immunity: stress weakens the immune system.
• Hypertension: long-term stress worsens blood pressure.
• Increased illness: stress worsens everything from heart issues to psychiatric problems.
• Relationship issues
• Difficulties at work
• Trouble concentrating

As much as poor emotional health can make for major problems in your life, having strong emotional wellness can help you thrive. These are some of the many benefits of having good emotional wellbeing:

• Your relationships with others can be at their best.
• Reducing stress reduces illness and increases immunity.
• Positivity promotes productivity, helping you accomplish more in life.
  

Now that you understand how important emotional wellness is to a healthy life, you're probably wondering if there is anything specific you can do so that your own emotional health is at its best. Luckily, there is no shortage of activities that can promote emotional wellbeing. Read on to learn how you can enhance and improve your state of mind.

Mindfulness is about being present in the moment. Rather than living on autopilot, mindfulness encourages us to really take part in our lives, and it can improve both physical and emotional wellbeing. You can practice mindfulness doing everything from running to eating.

There's no need to go through this journey alone! Emotional wellness is about being connected to and able to deal with your own emotions, but so much of our emotional lives are lived with those we know and love.

Make a point of intentionally talking about your feelings with others, which can lead to you understanding them. Ask others about their feelings, so that you have the opportunity to experience different perspectives.

Try connecting with people outside your own demographics so that you have a better sense of life experiences besides your own. There are countless benefits to connecting and communicating with others, with increased emotional health being just one.

Managing stress is key to staying emotionally and physically healthy. When starting a stress management practice, try different activities to see which fit you best and make you feel happier. You can do a simple meditation with the help of a YouTube video or an app, go for a walk, take a bath, or practice deep breathing.

We often think of our physical and emotional selves separately, but as you have seen here, the two are highly connected. By improving your physical wellness, you'll see benefits emotionally, too.

Performing activities that increase your endorphins, which are one of the feel-good chemicals our bodies produce, is an easy way to increase your emotional wellness. Endorphins can be increased through everything from dancing to laughing.

Work-life balance is something we talk about a lot as a society. That's because people started noticing that when they worked too much, they didn't have time for personal relationships, relaxation, or fun.

In order to be at your best emotionally, you'll want to cultivate a balance between work and play. Setting aside designated time to do recreational activities and creating firm boundaries around work hours are two simple ways to help improve this balance.

Your sleep habits and behaviors are known as sleep hygiene. The better you sleep, the better your chances of feeling good when you're awake. Improve your sleep hygiene through practices such as a designated bedtime, limiting caffeine later in the day, and not overeating before bed.

Each of these changes may seem like an insignificant step alone, but when put all together you may find yourself noticing big improvements. Emotional wellness is important to a healthy life, and using one or more of these easy tools can set you on a path to improving yours.