What is emotional pain? How do we deal with it?

What is emotional Pain? 

 How can we move beyond the pain?

We all go through different kinds of pain at different moments in our life. Some of that pain is physical, some emotional. 

If you have physical pain, the sensible thing to do is to listen to your body, consult a practitioner and do what needs to be done. Sometimes emotional pain also goes and lodges itself in the body and manifests as physical pain.

Today I will talk more about emotional pain.  What causes this pain? How do we deal with it?

Emotional pain is often misunderstood and mishandled. It is a situation where the heart is aching because of a situation, or an event or maybe a relationship issue.

Emotional pain is the suffering you experience when dealing with difficult feelings. Experiencing grief or loss emotionally is considered emotional pain. Experiencing prolonged anger and frustration can lead to emotional pain.

The mind and the emotions are also intertwined. For example, anxiety can increase the intensity of emotions and the severity of emotional pain. On the other hand, emotional pain may cause more anxiety.

You may feel broken or unable to function  because your heart feels too heavy and the mind refuses to cooperate.

Many a time, emotional pain could be  triggered by a relationship issue. It could be a relationship with a spouse, parent, friend or even the relationship you have with yourself.

Some examples of common situations that might trigger emotional pain could be:

•  My best friend doesn’t talk to me any more.
• My spouse controls me and disrespects me.
• My parents do not understand my perspective.
• My teenage child speaks rudely to me.
• My boss micromanages my work and drives me nuts.
• I am unable to manage my life.

Do you find any of these situations relatable? Do you experience emotional pain as a result of such interactions? Do you feel overwhelmed because of this and do not know how to deal with it?

Emotions are a part of life. But when the distress we experience because of emotions stays longer than necessary, it becomes emotional pain.

Left unattended, emotional pain can start affecting our life and cause a lot of havoc.

So, How do we deal with emotional pain? That's truly an important question.

Awareness is a great first step to moving beyond emotional pain.

Just observing and increasing our awareness of our emotions is a good starting point in emotion management. 

Watch this video where I share the importance of observing.

Coming soon: 10 ways to deal with emotional pain