Emotions are essential nutrients. Just like water or minerals, our body needs certain emotional nutrients to thrive. When these nutrients are lacking, imbalance in our system starts to occur. Our body functions just like nature. For instance, when nature doesn’t receive water when it needs it, a slight imbalance occurs. In response, nature uses its reserve water to sustain itself. Over time though, if there is no water, reserves run dry, and drought occurs, leading to erosion, plant death, and ecosystem deterioration. Similarly, if essential emotions aren’t present for long periods of time in our body, chronic illness, depression, anxiety, etc. occurs as our system starts to deteriorate as well.
Gay Hendricks proposed that genius is a nutrient in his book The Big Leap. He stated that genius is not present in our life, we start to become unwell. As I’ve expounded on this idea and morphed it into all emotions are nutrients, I’ve had a major shift in life. It’s been a missing piece to my constant internal question: How can I be more present and in total love of life on a consistent basis?
From this perspective, so much of my reaction (as opposed to response) to life has been because certain essential emotional nutrients are not consistently and DEEPLY present (embodied on all levels). When they are present, I feel invincible, full of life, and deeply in the flow. When they are not, I feel unstable, unsure, reactive and not my best self.
I would love to share my train of thought with this concept in the hope that it might trigger a similar sense of vitality, knowing, and simplicity to life that I have gained through playing with this idea. To do that, here are some big questions I have asked myself and some simple explanation for some of the questions.
Here we go!
- What are the 3-5 main feelings/emotions I feel on a daily basis?
- How does each of these emotional nutrients impact my life? Do they help me thrive, keep me even keeled, sustain me, drain me, etc.?
Once I asked myself these two questions, I then looked at the next 3 questions:
- What 3 emotions were most constant/accepted in my life growing up? How often do I feel these 3 emotions on a daily basis? How much do I enjoy these three emotions?
- What 3 emotions were most lacking or unaccepted in my life growing up? How often do I feel these 3 emotions on a daily basis? How much do I enjoy these three emotions?
- What 3 emotions do I wish had been really present growing up?How often do I feel these 3 emotions on a daily basis? How much do I enjoy these three emotions?
These three questions helped me understand how I am constantly (STILL!) living out the programming of my past. Like many people, anger, perseverance (pushing through things/getting things done) and even keeled emotions were accepted (I like to call this numbness). Vulnerability, curiosity, and exuberance for life (adventure/deep presence) were lacking. I wish my life had had much more deep connection, passion, and play. No surprise, if passion, deep connection and play are missing in my life, I then tend to get angry, push to get things done, and lock down on my emotions. If they are present, I tend to be more vulnerable, curious, and exuberant about life. I am therefore always in search of and chasing after (a reaction state) play, passion and deep connection because these 3 emotions are not in deep reserve inside my body.
Next questions:
- If I were stuck on a desert island, what three essential emotions could I easily live and thrive on for the rest of my life?
- How much are these essential nutrients present in my life? 10% of your day, 50%, etc…
- What activities or experiences connect me to these essential emotions?
- What movements embody these essential emotions? For instance, play actions are all over the place for me, reaching, moving my feet in odd patterns, dancing and twisting. It’s total exploration in my body with no destination in mind.
- What percentage of my day has these movements that embody my essential emotional nutrients?
To wander further done this rabbit hole, I then ask you:
- How have I been complicit in creating the environment that facilitates the emotional nutrients that I claim to not want? Or another way of asking this is what benefits do I receive from staying in an environment that brings out unwanted emotional nutrients? Or what benefits do I gain from creating emotional nutrients that don’t support my vitality?
I love this question because when I asked it, it really got me to see how I am constantly falling back into my programmed emotions of anger, getting things done and topical feelings when something is not the way I want it. This reaction then keeps me plugged into a vicious cycle of feelings and emotions creating my reality…. A reality that mirrors the same emotions that were most accepted and present in my youth. I’ve been complicit in creating that environment because it is what is deeply known by me. I crave the other emotions of passion, play and deep connection, but because those emotions are missing on a deep level, I keep reverting back to the emotions I have a deep reserve of from my youth (anger, perseverance, and topical feelings).
So how do we shift this? How do we be with our deep reserve of emotional nutrients that don’t quite sustain us while being with the ones that do? Another way of saying this is how do we be with the reality that is in the physical and based off of some old programming while being present with the new reality that has expansion and amazingness (the emotional nutrients that we so crave) that is not yet physical?
Simple!
Start to focus on the main essential nutrients that you so crave deep in your body. Give those emotions 100% of your awareness. Get to know these emotions like they are new family members. Feel their structure, their constitution, their flow pattern, their vibration, their rhythm. Sink that feeling deep inside your body. Feel your blood with that emotional nutrient; feel your bones with that emotional nutrient; feel your breath with that emotional nutrient. Anchor it in your body so that it becomes a staple structure and nutrient from the inside out. Once it is deeply there, I guarantee you will start to feel more excited about your day, you will feel more rested, in your flow and joyful. You will feel like you can take on anything because all of your vital emotional nutrients are there to support, stabilize and help you thrive in any situation!