The Second Book The 85th Chapter - Choices and Health

Dec 13/17

When is the last time you have checked your emotional and mental health?  What is your current gauge of how you feel?  Can you still feel a wide range of emotions or do you find yourself in a place where you don't feel anymore?

When I was a young boy growing up on a farm, I often would spend warm summer afternoons exploring the country side.  One day I decided I could fly like Superman and with that thought I scampered up to the top of a 15 foot cliff.  As I looked down I was filled with excitement of what the feeling will be like to experience flight.  I launched myself of the cliff thinking I would have a nice gradual glide and fall to the ground.  As I struck the ground with my left arm first, I heard a loud snap followed at the same moment extreme pain in my left arm.

Off to the hospital I went and shortly after an ex-ray a cast was created to set my broken bone.  In our current modern times it is quite easy to see and repair basic physical wounds like these.  Yet when it comes to our general mental health it is not as easy to repair our past hurts and damages.  Not only is it difficult to identity our hurt but once that brokenness is identified, it is also difficult for us to put in the effort for that repair to occur.

Unlike physical bones that usually our body will repair automatically our emotional wounds will not heal by themselves.  I have heard the phrase time heals all emotional wounds and I don't agree.  If we don't spend the same amount of energy on the impact of those wounds to reverse the damage, no amount of time will heal. 

Always the first step to recovery is the acknowledgement that something is wrong.  That same pattern occurred to me when I broke my arm.  Healing always starts with addressing the source of our pain.  Its easier to identify physical pain as it hurts immediately once it occurs at a higher level than our emotional pain.  Yet if our emotional damage isn't treated, eventually that pain will become so strong we won't be able to feel the wide range of emotions we were intended to experience.

Our foundation of all health is based on our daily choices, which applies to our emotional health. Today in our society it is common to spend hours in a week perfecting our physical body in both exercise and diet.  Yet during that same week how much time are you spending on creating a mental mindset of health?

There has been some increased awareness of mental health lately yet the focus is still low compared to our physical health.  If you have found yourself feeling your in your abyss of emotional existence.  First start by being honest with yourself and acknowledge your emotional brokenness and start your work required to heal.  Make this day your first day of going to your mental and emotional health gym.