The concept of cleansing is familiar to us. We are aware that toxins can accumulate in our bodies and, over the years, can even cause damage to organs or cells, affecting their functioning. That is why we are increasingly concerned about what we eat and we are informed about the added substances that foods may contain.
However, toxicity is not a phenomenon limited to the physical plane, there is also mental toxicity. When we accumulate tension and stress every day, when we maintain negative coping styles, when we feed unfounded worries and when we wallow in negative emotional states, we are generating and maintaining toxic relational and thought patterns, which will end up taking their toll on us. Therefore, it is also important that we resort to emotional cleansing from time to time.
The 5 most toxic emotions that we accumulate day after day
First of all, it is important to be aware that emotions are not positive or negative in themselves. Emotions are simply a reaction and, as such, they tell us something. The problem arises when we are not able to manage them and they become permanent emotional states. They then have a cumulative effect that becomes highly toxic to our mental health.
1. Anger. Anger has a positive side, as it is an emotion that gives us the strength we need to protect ourselves and survive. However, it is particularly negative when it becomes our habitual way of reacting. In fact, did you know that anger increases the risk of suffering a heart attack by up to 75%? Anger is an emotion that keeps our body in constant turmoil, preventing us from finding the peace and tranquility we need.
2. Resentment. Resentment is the inability to forgive, to move on. When we experience resentment, we remain tied to an event from the past, to which we give such importance that it continues to determine our present behavior and continues to cause emotional pain. If we feed that resentment with recriminatory thoughts, it will grow until it takes away our peace completely, we will become bitter people and permanently angry with the world.
3. Guilt. Guilt is one of the most negative emotions that exists because it does not allow us to move forward but rather plunges us into a vicious circle of regrets and self-reproaches. When we give free rein to negative thoughts about our capabilities, when we feel sorry for ourselves or when we draw conclusions completely out of context, which make us the only ones to blame, we are feeding emotions that can lead us to the point of a nervous breakdown.
4. Dissatisfaction. A certain degree of dissatisfaction can be positive, as it pushes us to change and improve. However, when dissatisfaction becomes a chronic state, when we find no pleasure in anything and nothing satisfies us, we lose the ability to enjoy life. At that point, hopelessness can take over. When a person always focuses on what they lack, they lose the ability to enjoy the present and, therefore, life slips through their fingers.
5. Fear. Fear is an emotion that alerts us to danger and keeps us safe. However, when it becomes a common response to the most diverse situations, it becomes an obstacle that prevents us from moving forward and limits our potential. There are people who are afraid of life, who do not dare to take a step for fear of failure. In these cases, fear becomes a limitation that prevents us from fully enjoying ourselves and keeps us in a perpetual state of anxiety.
The process of emotional cleansing
The emotional cleansing process is very simple. It is not about delving into the past and it is not even necessary to look for the causes or triggers of certain emotions because the objective is to find a state of inner peace by letting go of the emotions that have accumulated for various reasons. In the emotional cleansing process you simply become a conscious observer of the emotions you experience.
– Become aware of your emotions. Everyday life is so hectic that we often just accumulate emotions without realizing it. Obviously, there are some that do more harm than others, which become entrenched in the unconscious. Therefore, the first step in emotional cleansing is to detect these emotions. To do this, it is not necessary to adopt a special posture or be in a quiet place; you simply have to pay attention to your reactions. Do you tend to react angrily to most situations? Do you feel permanently dissatisfied? Do you experience guilt or resentment?
If it helps, you can even keep a therapeutic diary, a notebook in which you write down the emotions you have experienced throughout the day and also indicate their intensity. You will be amazed to discover how many negative emotions you experience on a daily basis. The interesting thing is that this process of searching for and labelling emotions is already therapeutic in itself, since by looking inside yourself and reflecting on what you are feeling, you reduce the impact of the emotion.
– Experiencing emotions. Our society has not taught us to manage emotions, but rather to hide and deny them. However, emotional cleansing involves experiencing the emotions that are harming us. In this way, we learn not to fear them, to feel relatively comfortable with them, to accept them as our own, and, as a result, we reduce some of their impact.
In this step, it is advisable to concentrate on one emotion at a time, using the “leaves of the river” visualization technique, thanks to which you will not only learn to experience the emotion but also to let it go. In this sense, a particularly interesting study carried out at Harvard University revealed that when we experience painful experiences that we have not assumed, areas such as the amygdala, the nucleus of fear, and the visual cortex are activated. However, when people have processed the experience, greater activation occurs in Broca’s area, which means that the experience has been transformed into a narrative experience that no longer causes pain and suffering.
Therefore, experiencing emotions and labeling them helps us to accept them and reduce their negative impact. Ideally, we should do this process of inner searching once a day, or at least once a week. Remember that an “emotional” diet is as important as a food diet because negative emotions, when they accumulate, can cause a lot of damage, both psychologically and physically.
References:
Rauch, S. L. et. Al. (1996) A symptom provocation study of posttraumatic stress disorder using positron emission tomography and script-driven imagery. Arch Gen Psychiatry; 53(5): 380-387.
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