Emotional Regulation & Spiritual Growth: Can emotions have a message for us?

by Dr. Ioana Popa

Many kind and compassionate human beings and givers might think that taking the time to focus and care for their emotions is selfish. This might be the case even more, if you are a Christian, as you want to help others selflessly like Christ. 

Some givers might even have the underlying belief that only the loved ones can truly care for their emotional needs - since we are relational beings. This is true, that relationships can be very helpful, but we cannot always rely on others to self-regulate. When we do that, this can bring strain and disappointments in relationships, since no one can be really available to us 100%. 

On the flip side, in our culture, there is so much focus on "me, me, me", that taking care of emotions can feel indulging.  And it is easy to feel that there seems to be no other way and that we are stuck.  

This is one of the Dilemmas of what I call the dilemma of the passionate (but tired) giver, since not caring for our emotions in time, can lead to exhaustion and even burnout. 

What if emotions though do have some important messages that are actually revealing deeper universal human needs? And what if we can become our primary caregivers, so that when we do express our needs to others, we can do it in such a way that there is no edge nor pressure?

Watch this video to know more about this third way of befriending and connecting with our emotions from our True Self and God, using the wisdom of science, psychology, ancient Christian faith, and spiritual care.