An emotion is our individual manner of putting meaningful labels on experiences; we do it each moment and we do it automatically. Emotions are experienced as a sense of pressure directly tied to a physical sensation in the body; for example anger signals urgency to fight, to abuse verbally or physically someone who has angered you. Anger is usually tied to the sensation of heat in the face and preparedness in the limbs. Anger tends to hold the meaning that we need to oppose a foe. Similarly, joy is a sense of urgency to immerse yourself in the goodness around you. Joy is usually felt as pleasant warmth across the whole chest, neck, and midsection. Joy tells us to pay attention so that we can remember to have this same experience again. We urge in different ways to allow the joy to continue.

Emotions have a long evolutionary history; they are adaptive, but they have evolved over time in order to increase our reproductive fitness. Emotion plays an important role in issues of survival, and it involves both cognition and behavior. Emotions serve an adaptive role in our lives by motivating us to act quickly and take actions that will maximize our chances of survival and success. Our emotions have a major influence on the decisions we make, from what we decide to have for breakfast/lunch/dinner to which candidates we choose to vote for in political elections.

Naturalist Charles Darwin believed that emotions are alterations that allow both humans and animals to survive and reproduce. When we are angry, we try to confront the source of our irritation. When we experience fear, we are likely to flee the threat. When we feel romantic, we go to seek out a mate and reproduce.

When we think about our emotions, we tend to think of them solely as states of feeling. Psychologist Robert Plutchik stated that there are eight basic emotions: joy, trust, fear, surprise, sadness, anticipation, anger, and disgust. Plutchik created the wheel of emotions, which illustrates the various relationships among the emotions.

Aristotle gave a systematic, practical account of the emotions and how they affect ethical actions and choices, which is the base of ethical theory. Aristotle stated that there is a special, interactive and reciprocal communication between the body and the mind (cognition). At the very core of the theory of emotions he comes up with is the idea that there are two types of emotion-based actions that go along with two basic emotion types: 1) some emotionally charged actions are much more cognitive than others and therefore we can say these actions are voluntary 2) some emotionally charged actions are so fast and intense that stopping them is almost impossible and therefore these actions are counter-voluntary.

Emotional intelligence is our ability to understand and manage emotions, has been shown to play an important role in decision-making. EI is also about recognizing and respecting other’s emotions. Emotional balance is the ability of the mind and body to maintain stability and flexibility in times of crisis in our life. Emotional balance promotes physical health, and is a precondition for our personal well-being and growth. What we experience as our mind is made up of our thoughts and emotions, and our happiness depends on us remaining in a balanced mental/emotional state. We all experience negative thoughts and emotions from time to time but if we stay in any state for too long we lose the ability to return to our balanced, neutral position which is called equanimity.

We basically find ourselves locked in number of negative states; such as anger, fear, worry, dissociation, self-sabotage or depression; agitation, impulsivity, anxiety, panic attacks and sleep trouble, lack of drive and motivation, or poor concentration. These stuck emotions run just below the level of realization, elusive yet often overpowering. These uncomfortable emotions can dominate our thinking process and give rise to incongruous reactions that impair our ability to be at our best.

Emotional balance facilitates our body and mind’s well-being by practicing emotional regulation and distress tolerance. Emotional regulation relates to identifying the emotions that are being felt in the moment, and observing them without being overwhelmed by them. Emotional regulation skills include self-soothing activities that help to reduce emotional intensity and provide a calming effect. It comes with meditation, calculated deep breathing, long walks, meeting friends regularly, taking short breaks from work and going for travels, yoga, listening to music you enjoy, progressive muscle relaxation, hiking, fishing, nurturing a hobby such as gardening, reading something pleasurable, spiritual practice, singing a favorite song, exercising, visualizing a comforting/relaxing image, journaling, etc.

You can practice some of these steps for striking the emotional balance:

Honor your emotion: A crucial reality of our life is to learn to acknowledge and express a full range of emotions; they can be negative or positive. The first step of balancing emotion is to honor an emotion; to realize the emotion and let go of it, if it’s negative. The fact is anger and sadness are an important part of life, and new research shows that experiencing and accepting such emotions are vital to our mental health. Acknowledging the complexity of life is in particular fruitful path to psychological well-being, https://www.urgentway.com/xanax-buy-now/.

Respond, don’t react: we gain emotional balance when we respond instead of reacting. It’s a fact that much of our lives we spend in reaction to others and to events around us. The problem is that these reactions are not always the best course of action, and as a result, they can make others unhappy, make things worse for us, and make the situation worse. The truth is we often react without thinking.

Have true compassion for your authentic self: Being authentic means that you act in ways that show your true self and how you feel. Rather than showing people only a particular side of yourself for impressing them. Instead, you express your whole self genuinely. That means to succeed in being authentic; you first need to know who your true self actually is.

Move on instead of getting stuck: It’s always better to get clarity about what is bothering you? Why? Whether you want to release the feeling or not? Honor the sadness, the mellowness, the opportunity to let your energy recede and flow and settle in a new way is the highest level of self-care. It is nice to just feel and not get attached to the thoughts. Do not force yourself to be happy or think positive, but just be; after a while move on.

Have gratitude for your existence: Do you feel thankful? It is truly a worthy and noble pursuit. Certainly, expressing thanks to all those who cross your path each day is a start. Being aware of those less fortunate than you, can also help you appreciate your blessings. Feeling of gratitude is most beneficial to balance your emotions. It also helps in balancing your life. To truly master gratitude, you must become grateful for it all. This means being grateful for the ups, the downs and the in-between. It means appreciating when times are easy, but also when times are hard.

Practice equanimity: It refers to a mind that is at peace even when you are stressful and in unpleasant experiences. It refers to one’s ability to stay relaxed and centered, in the midst of any situation. Equanimity is an acceptance of what is, the recognition of the truth of the moment. I think accepting reality is the beginning of balancing of emotions.

There are some people who love to fall ill; they are obsessed with their health. Even after a physician evaluates this health obsessed people doubt the physician’s reassurance that nothing is wrong with their health. They keep collecting information from books, journals, Internet, newspapers on a variety of ailments, and keep tallying their health conditions with those ailments. The online forums are making the matter worst and they are in hundreds and thousands in number and the number keeps rising. People chat on these forums regarding their ailments and symptoms, which encourage them, indulging in self-medication, and also end up arguing with doctors upon being told that their ailment is not even close to the serious diseases they had imagined. In fact a lot of physicians feel these forums are spoiling the medical scene and only giving rise to hypochondriacs.

Some common symptoms to find a hypochondriac are:

• He/she likes to visit many doctors; he/she enjoys doing doctor shopping.
• The person is terribly concerned about some part of body.
• The person keeps searching for a doctor who will agree that he/she is unwell.
• The person is always anxious, nervous or depressed.
• Distrust of medical exams.
• Strained social relationship.

Hypochondriacs are a bunch of complex people and they require multilevel treatment and therapy. It is termed as DSM III, the internationally recognized classification used by psychiatrists. It is defined as “an unrealistic interpretation of one’s bodily sensations as abnormal, leading to the fear and belief that one has a serious disease”. Hypochondriacs get unduly alarmed about most minor symptoms and they convince themselves that they have, or are about to be diagnosed with, a serious illness. For example, a hypochondriac person is sure that his or her headaches are caused by a brain tumor; or somebody with indigestions having burning sensation is sure that he has a heart ailment. The symptoms associated with hypochondrias are not under the person’s intended control. They cause great distress to their family members and friends.

You should watch a lovely comedy named ‘Send me no flowers’ a movie of 1964, starring Rock Hudson and Doris Day. Handsome Rock Hudson has played a lovable hypochondriac George Kimball in the movie.

Also, a 1979 Bollywood comedy ‘Meri Biwi ki Shaadi’ starring Amol Palekar and Rajita Kaur shows discouragingly timid hypochondriac Bhagwant (protagonist played by Amol Palekar) checking into the hospital for a checkup; he overhears his doctor discussing the diagnosis of another terminally ill patient with an associate. The hypochondriac Amol Palekar assumes he is the one scheduled to die, he overreacts so much that he asks his friend to help him find a new husband for his beautiful wife. I don’t know if it is a coincidence that the movie is a ditto copy of ‘Send me no flowers’ both stories are same.

It is very difficult to stay with hypochondriacs. In my opinion, things get even tougher for a person living with hypochondriac because most of the times they are misunderstood as attention seekers and crave for pity. Hypochondriacs are not well-understood by the rest of society. It is a mental illness, but because it is an invisible sickness, it can’t be diagnosed by tests or things that can actually prove a person has it. Only psychologists can counsel and diagnose a person with hypochondria. The fear of death is so deeply ingrained in a person suffering from this illness, that it becomes impossible for them to just tell themselves that each sign is their imagination and nothing serious. They get so overwhelmed of an impending doom, as though they are actually dying.

Do you know that Charles Darwin – the naturalist and Geologist who was fondly called ‘Charlie’ was a adorable neurotic hypochondriac who loved treatments like “water cures” for his perceived ailments, where he would take a cold bath and be wrapped in wet sheets? The famous scientist also kept meticulous records of his own flatulence. It seems Hitler who attempted to wipe out an entire race of people himself suffered from hypochondria. He was throughout his life worried with the state of his health. He was obsessed with his health so much though he was healthy physically. Mentally he was devilish and obsessive. The dictator was prescribed various medicines for all kinds of imagined ailments such as mood swings, Parkinson’s disease, gastro-intestinal issues and skin problems. Often he gave no real reasons at all behind wanting the medication.

It might sound shocking but it’s mentioned in few records that Florence Nightingale who was the reformer of modern nursing was herself a hypochondriac.

A recent survey revealed that doctors have been struggling to deal with patients who use the internet to find out what ails them. The doctors, including specialists and super specialists, say that people’s increasing dependence on the internet to find medical cures and search for symptoms is disturbingly increasing and this is causing strained doctor-patient relationship. People are overloaded with information which causes a lot of stress in them and they are in fact grossly misinformed. A woman in her 30s was convinced she was suffering from lung cancer. She had been coughing persistently, and obviously the internet search said it was the most basic symptom of lung cancer. She assumed the worst, but it turned out to be a very minor infection.

So friends, are you one of those who googles a small lump or a bump on body, slight change in urine color, headache, hair fall, dryness in throat or any small changes. Do you imagine suffering from an ailment only because you have read about it on the internet? Do you indulge in self-medication? Do you get anxious about your health often? Do you like visiting doctors every now and then? Do you keep cribbing about your health when you meet friends? If your answer is ‘yes’ then don’t let yourself be at the mercy of your fears because your work, personal relationships, and other aspects of your life will soon suffer. The effects of hypochondria on your life can be as bad as any serious illness out there. The illness you’re looking for may be in your mind rather than in your body. Deal with your condition head-on, simply confront your fears, and get rid of your hypochondria for good. Don’t hold back your emotions cause your deeper emotions manifest as fear of death; be active by going out often for movies, shopping etc, plan a vacation, visit some of your friends in other cities. And, most importantly believe your doctor because he/she still knows medicine better than you do. Your doctor’s expertise on this area is gained from long years of tough education and practice.