Reviewed Content on May 30, 2024.
When you hear about the Science of HOPE, what do you think of? Additional workload? A burden? Are you like us and you get uneasy when things are changed?
For us, it was very easy to understand the Science of HOPE and alleviate that fear once we realized that we have been including HOPE-centered principles in our work already! That is exactly what this article series is highlighting, we are already using HOPE in our work, including you, you just did not know it!
According to the CSQuest article What is Wellness? emotional wellness involves being aware of our emotions – positive and negative – and understanding how to manage our emotions, as well as our sense of autonomy and our decision making skills. When we are nurturing our emotional wellness we practice self-care, relaxation, stress reduction, and develop inner strength.
According to this article, accepting how we feel is an important part of emotional wellness. As we accept our emotions, we explore reasons for our feelings and then can make a decision about how we want to be and/or how we want to act in response to the identified feelings. Knowing how we feel and how to manage our emotions leads to supportive and interdependent relationships with others. This is crucial in the Science of HOPE because without supportive relationships we cannot share the social gift of HOPE as effectively.
Ways to boost emotional wellness include, among others, to seek or accept help and support from others when needed, be aware of gratitude to strengthen our relationships, and accept and learn from our mistakes.
The CSQuest article, Creating a Healthier Life mentions the importance of balance among the domains of wellness. An illustration is presented of how life balance is an aspect of our lives that we should be working toward and shows that our emotional wellness is impacted by an imbalance in any domain of wellness. Knowing that we are planning to set a goal, or that we are working toward a goal is affected by things going on around us and these things have an effect on our emotional wellness. For example, an illness (physical domain) can lead to missing work (occupational domain) which can put a strain on our income (financial domain) and all these can lead to stress and/or anxiety (emotional domain).
In order to stay on track with our planned goals, we have to find balance in the domains of wellness. We can do that by identifying areas that we need to work on, which in the end will affect our emotional wellness and how we feel about our work, our lives, and our selves. The Science of HOPE touches on the interplay of the domains of wellness, stating that when we are having a difficulty, this can have an effect on our attitude, and our motivation to work toward and achieve our goals. Balance can be restored, and in the emotional domain this can be accomplished by having emotional support through getting help to work through problems, or talking with someone trustworthy about the issues.
Reasons why Smiling and Laughing are Beneficial to Your Health is a CSQuest article that describes the benefits of smiling and laughing. When we smile it releases hormones that improve our mood and boosts the immune system. The article continues to say it makes us more approachable to others and helps us develop and maintain positivity and creativity.
According to this article, laughing has many benefits associated with emotional health. Laughing boosts the immune system to keep us healthier, but it also helps us bond with others, forestalls depression, and relieves pain. If you haven’t laughed in a while, maybe its time to watch a funny movie, read a list of dad jokes, or get together with friends and amuse each other.
How Emotionally Intelligent Are You-Boosting your people skills describes how emotional intelligence is connected to emotional wellness. This article is full of information and advice to increase your emotional intelligence and improve your interactions with others. This also connects directly to the two guiding principles of HOPE mentioned above. Improving our people skills will allow us to more easily and effectively share the gift of HOPE.
Emotional wellness is an asset in the Science of HOPE by having a good grounding in knowing what our feelings are (giving them a name) and the tools to protect and improve our emotional wellness, which in turn protects our willpower. Staying emotionally healthy also helps keep inter-connected domains of wellness in balance so that we maintain our willpower, follow pathways, and work toward our goals. Take a look at one or two of the articles discussed in this overview of emotional wellness on CSQuest, and remember that the Science of HOPE is not new, but that HOPE is All Around Us.
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The accuracy of this CS Quest Article is up to date as of May 30, 2024.