Five Keys to Emotional Well-being

by Patricia Wagner

This might surprise you, but what you're thinking impacts your health. "It's not what you're eating. It's what's eating you!" That's a well-known saying that reminds us of the importance of guarding our thoughts.

Scientific research has shown that what you think not only affects your physical health, but your emotional health as well. Wrong thinking can lead to ulcers, indigestion, nervousness, high blood pressure and many other diseases too.

Thoughts can heal or hurt you.

Want an effective tool to help yourself to better emotional and physical health? Then just read this article.

Here are five tips for enhanced emotional well-being:

1. Guard your thoughts with great care since emotions follow closely behind what you're thinking.

Your emotions can't tell if what's happening to you is real or just in your head. Remember when you watched a scary scene on television or in the movies? You felt real fear even though you knew it was only an image on a screen. Isn't that right?

It's a surprising fact but it's true -- corresponding emotions follow about ten minutes after you've started dwelling on something.

What your mind is feasting on is going to affect your emotional health, just like what you put into your stomach will affect your physical health. So pay attention to what you're feeding your mind.

Check out how you're feeling and then ask yourself, "What have I been feeding my mind lately?

If you have put garbage into your mental art gallery, the world will begin to look like garbage.

2. Choose to develop the habit of having a cheerful attitude toward life.

You can think of a glass as either half empty or half full. Your attitude can make all the difference. Try to behave in a cheerful way instead of whining. This can become a life-changing habit. We are creatures of habit, so choose your habits carefully -- including the habit of being cheerful as much as possible.

3. Seize the opportunity to deal with stress as an opportunity to grow.

It's true that stress can kill, but some people deal with stress much better than others. Stress often makes you more prone to catching colds and other diseases, but some people thrive on stress. How you deal with stress is crucial.

4. Choose your friends carefully.

What your friends are like will rub off on you, so choose friends with character traits you admire. If you surround yourself with friends who view themselves as victims who deal with life by constantly whining and complaining, that's going to influence you. So it's better for you if most of your friends are cheerful instead of depressed.

5. Choose as your guide the world's greatest book.

"A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones" (Proverbs 17:22 NIV).

"All the days of the afflicted are bad, but a cheerful heart has a continual feast." (Proverbs 15:15 NASV).