Dr. Frank Wilczek, the physicist and MIT professor, has written about the beauty of science as it relates to life. He reminds us that what we presently refer to as ‘science’, was at first called ‘natural philosophy’. There is a system to how our emotions function that is an example of natural philosophy at its best! Physics is a natural science that concerns itself with energy. Everything in the universe is comprised of energy, including us, and our emotions are an instrumental part of the energy that keeps our bodies functioning. The definition of energy in applied physics is, “that which does work”. Our emotions are energies that do work in our bodies, they keep our mental and physiological systems running well. It is a fact that a good cry triggers a chemical reaction within the body that is associated with stress reduction and that less stress means a stronger immune system. There are more obvious correlations, such as the emotion of love in the form of touch and care that keeps babies alive and growing. It’s been proven that food and shelter alone is not what keep babies alive but the emotion of love demonstrated in the way we care for them. It is the emotion of love that enables babies to develop into healthy, resilient children.
We now have scientific research in the field of neuroscience that validates the effectiveness of therapies that help us to feel our emotions. We now know that what we feel in our bodies greatly affects our minds.
In the following pages, I will explain how our emotions work to heal us by putting our bodies and mind at peace. I will provide clear examples from my life and my work, that give evidence to my belief; that all of our problems come from conflicts that exist between the mind and the body. Nothing that happens in life can destroy us. It is not being able to feel what happened to us, that threatens to destroy our mental and physical health. Conflicts between what the body feels and what the mind thinks, negatively affect our health and our relationships. By denying our emotions, we stay stuck in conflict and false, inner dialogues that prevent us from knowing ourselves and living out our true destiny. Our emotions are the only means we have for knowing our truth. As long as our emotions are not operating freely, we are remaining separate from our truth, and separate from our own true selves. Until our mind/body are in harmony, we will find ourselves in conflicts that need to be resolved. Our internal conflicts will continue to create problems not only in our bodies and our minds, but also in our relationships, our communities and our world. Over the years, I have often thought of the biblical quote, “..and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free”. Nature intended us to keep feeling and processing our emotions so that we could know our truth and live and love better. We need to understand the meaning and purpose of our emotions, so that we can become less afraid of experiencing them. Living in our truth, ends all need for conflict. With a full awareness of our truth, our journey through life becomes unhindered by past unresolved problems. We become more at peace and one with nature. The worlds of science, health and spirituality are merging more and more. There are so many paths, but there is only one truth. Absence of truth will always interfere with science and nature. The truth aligns and harmonizes everything and everyone, and puts us in sync with the universe.
Good therapy should make it possible to understand why things go wrong in our lives and give us tools to set things right. Our emotions coupled with our imaginations are all the tools we will ever need. Nature gave us a way to not only survive, but to resolve everything, so that we might thrive and evolve individually and as a species.
This Emotional Life 