3 John 2 Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.
Emotional wellness is directly tied to physical wellness. People who are under constant stress and battle with negative emotions will in most cases develop health problems. Chronic stress and pressure will tamper the “emotional balance”. ‘Emotional Regulation’ relates to our healthy lifestyle which includes our eating habits, exercise routine and entertainment. Rather than healthy unwinding, people resort to comfort food or other habits that affect their physical wellbeing such as smoking, drinking or binge eating.
We will all have ‘bad days’ and ‘emotional fatigue’ which can affect us emotionally but emotional regulation during stressful days will determine our long term emotional wellbeing. Emotional regulation is our coping mechanisms, self awareness facilitator, and support system to overcome our challenges.
The Lord told Moses and the Israelites to be still when the Pharaoh and his army hemmed them between the Red Sea and the desert. The enemy was only minutes away from annihilating them from the face of the earth but Moses said, “The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (Exodus 14:14). The Lord God was regulating their emotions to witness and enjoy the miracle that He was going to do. He was not talking about physical stillness; they were stranded and cornered anyway, He was talking about emotional stillness. Their souls had to be stilled. ‘Stillness of the soul’ means to stop deliberating, stop striving and stop googling! Google has become our ‘go to consultant’. We google about symptoms, scenarios and speculations and invite unwarranted stress. A regulated mind has rules around what it thinks, dwells and ruminates on. When our emotions thrive, our mind and body prospers.
Emotional Regulation and Emotional Wellbeing:
1. Rules: Rules to regulate our emotions is the safety wall for a healthy mind. Our mind is a warzone. We can stimulate a fight in our mind just by entertaining brutal thoughts. Have healthy rules to regulate the thoughts. Capture the unhealthy, ugly and unholy thoughts and nail it to the cross. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). Rule 1 for emotional wellbeing is to capture threatening, demeaning or damaging thoughts and replace it with faith and truth.
2. Relax: We must have winding down time in our busy schedule. Do something that will relax your mind from the hustle and bustle of the day. Read a book, listen to music or go for a walk and stop ruminating on the bad incident(s) of the day.
3. Regulate: Having sound rules do not automatically regulate our emotions. We must take control of our emotions and say no to stinking thinking. Be cautious and watch over what you are thinking about.
If our emotions are not regulated they would be erratic.
Emotional regulation is inevitable to emotional wellbeing.
Psalm 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God”.
Prayer: Dear Holy Spirit, take control of my thoughts and keep my mind under a tight leash to think positively and ruminate over your promises rather than the problems. Amen.
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