What Is The Importance Of Expressing Our Emotions?

Did you know that expressing your emotions helps you free yourself from a psychological weight similar to carrying a load on your shoulders? Failure to do so can affect your physical health

Have you ever wondered what is the importance of expressing our emotions? If retaining emotions is good or bad?

The vast majority of human actions are based on some feeling or emotion. Thus, we must always deal with what we carry inside in one way or another. On the other hand, when expressing what we feel (as well as what we think), we must not only take into account the benefits of “letting it out”, but we must also become aware of the context and feelings of other people. This is when assertiveness comes into play.

In this article we will reflect on the importance of expressing our emotions and we will give you the keys to develop emotional intelligence and take advantage of it to gain well-being.

Express our emotions and feelings: necessary and healthy

Without a doubt, expressing our feelings and emotions is an intrinsic need of the human being, since they form a fundamental part of our life. It is a big mistake to think that we should repress them or try to make them stop existing inside us all of a sudden. Instead, the ideal is to learn to manage them correctly to learn from them, experience personal growth and move on.

Part of what it takes to learn to manage feelings and emotions has to do with assertiveness. This means that, in addition to learning to live with them, we must learn to externalize them according to the context, to establish and maintain healthy relationships.

Like other mental health experts, the psychologist Fátima Servián Franco affirms that it is not advisable to repress emotions and feelings (neither positive nor negative) because this can later translate into physical discomfort:

Most frequent derived problems

In addition to those already mentioned, among the most common problems involved in repressing feelings and emotions we can find:

• An improper or incoherent reaction to a certain moment lived.
• A meaningless response to the moment lived.
• Limited emotions not according to what is lived.

Suppressing emotions can affect the function of some organs. For example, the worsening of stomach and liver conditions, such as ulcers, can be associated with poor management of sustained emotional stress over time.

In the popular sphere it is said that:

• Accumulating sad feelings can affect the lungs.
• For its part, the excessive fear that accumulates, can affect the kidneys and bladder.
• Suppressing emotions is like putting a lot of weight on your shoulders. On the other hand, the stomach contracts, the intestines twist, or severe headaches occur.

• In addition, you can start to suffer from insomnia, fall into depression, etc.

From everything we have talked about, it is clear the true importance of expressing our emotions and feelings. By doing it properly, it is not just our mind that benefits, but the entire body.

Emotional intelligence, empathy and assertiveness: key pieces in the puzzle

Knowing how to channel and express what we carry in our inner world is not something that can be achieved at a specific moment just because we propose it. While this helps, it is actually a continuous learning process that deserves our attention, as well as some effort. Therefore, it can be said that we always have the possibility to improve and grow, wherever we are or go.

Each person, situation and moment can give us the opportunity to work on emotional intelligence, as well as empathy and assertiveness, which are key pieces in the puzzle that makes up our inner world. By taking advantage of them, we will not only experience satisfaction with what we have learned, but we could obtain some relief (physical and mental), in addition to increasing our well-being. Something like an equivalent to the physical relief that comes from taking a large heavy load off your shoulders.

The importance of assertiveness

We can understand assertiveness as the ability to express our ideas, concerns or convictions, in a clear, frank, respectful and serene way. Without the need to attack others, without our emotions overflowing.

• Developing this capacity is very important for our physical and mental health.
• Being assertive allows you to express emotions the moment they arise as well as  express them in their proper measure, without attacking or yelling, even if they are of negative valence.

• It allows you to save many future ailments and avoid accumulating both physical and mental tension.

In learning to say what we think and feel, without harming those around us or ourselves is the secret and the importance of expressing our emotions in order to enjoy well-being and healthy relationships.