“If your body does not express, your mind suffers in silence…”

Human emotions are one of the most beautiful creations. Emotional articulation is an art and is an essential part of our lives. Emotions tend to add meaning and form to our feelings. Without them we would be like zombies or robots. The way you feel and express your emotions play a vital role in maintaining your physical and mental health. Emotional ventilation is the backbone of a healthy body, mind and spirit.

Do you tend to cocoon your emotions or allow a space for the ventilation of your emotions? If you are emotionally expressive then you are on the right track. But, if you tend to seclude your emotions, hide them away and do not feel comfortable in expressing them…then its high time your should express them. 16-year-old X (name changed) suffered from depression and anxiety attacks. He used to remain cocooned in his own world and never expressed his emotions. His peers called him “a dumb fellow” while his teachers were fed up with his emotional silence. No matter how hard he was provoked to express his emotions and feelings, he seldom brought his emotions to surface. Gradually, his grades started decreasing, he was despised and his peers left him. He remained closed in his own room for hours and days together. “Plastic Puzzle”, this is what Y (name changed) is called in her social circle. She is a 35 yeas old professional who lacks socialization skills. Though she is a wonderful human being and very talented. But, due to lack of emotional expression no one likes her in the group. Most of them consider her as being dumb and cranky.

Though many reasons pull a person back from ventilating his emotions, however, emotional shrouding has a lot of ill effects. Emotions are meant to be ventilated. That is why your eyes can cry with tears, your mouth can utter words; you can hear soothing words of concern with your ears.

Many factors refrain one from emotional ventilation. Some of them are:

  • Ineffective coping with emotional turmoil
  • Faulty parenting
  • Emotional instability
  • Cultural and group norms
  • Depression and apathy
  • Some clinical mental ailments
  • Physiological or neurological illnesses
  • Social causes
  • Considering emotional expression as a sign of weakness and so on

As I wrote in the starting lines of this blog, lack of emotional ventilation silently hurts you in many ways. The pent up emotions pile up and finally explode one day in the form of physiological and mental ailments like ulcers, migraine and headache, blood pressure problems, heart problems, depression, anxiety, stress, sometimes clinical mental illnesses like bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, delusional disorders etc. Therefore, in order to be physically healthy and mentally sound, you should ventilate and express your emotions.

Emotional expression is a sign of good health and strength rather than weakness. There are numerous ways in which you can express your emotions in adaptive ways:

  • Accept and understand your emotions. Do not avoid them. Just take a deep breathe and feel them.
  • Talk to your friend or anyone whom you trust about the way you feel in different life situations.
  • Keep an emotion diary with you. Write about how you feel and what you learned from a given emotional situation.
  • Recognizing your emotion and listening to a music track related to the mood of the emotion also helps in ventilating it.
  • Paint your way to emotional expression. This will help in releasing pent up emotions and will boost creativity too.
  • If you are angry or aggressive try running on the beach, brisk walking or walking on the sand. This will help release the negative flow of impulsive energies.
  • Stay away from self-harm or negative thinking
  • Learn to adopt adaptive ways of emotional ventilation

Cry like a child, roll on the floor laughing, yell your lungs out and express yourself. There is no other relief and beauty than emotionally expressing yourself. Emotions make you feel lively and fresh.

“Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways.” – Sigmund Freud

Best wishes,

Sareeta