Emotions

Up and down, laughing, crying, anger and contentment…

Sometimes it feels like our emotions come on us from some other planet.  Surely, they don’t belong to me! Yet, here we are mopping up the mess that came out of us… out of our own mouth…out of our own heart.

The world believes we are victims of this surge.

I doubt Abraham’s Sarah felt she was a victim of her emotions. She was know for NOT freaking out. Still, it is wrong to deny that we have emotion-causing chemicals and that, more importantly, we are affected by them. It is equally wrong to let them rule our countenance.  We know our flesh is bent toward sin and it is a fight.  How can you live a victorious Christian life, when you are fighting within yourself?

We are created as reproductive beings and hormonal inputs are part of the package.

Step 1 – Understand what is physically happening within your body.

Your lack of ability to see your hormones does not make them non-existent.  Although it is the subject of many jokes, premenstrual  syndrome is a real thing. Premenstrual syndrome, or PMS, a collection of unpleasant symptoms, such as anxiety and bloating, that typically occur one to two weeks before menstruation and might influence behavior throughout the menstrual cycle.

Well over half of women experience at least one symptom of PMS per month.  The truth is that the hormones in a woman’s body can influence her moods and actions throughout the month. If you had a broken leg, would you not choose the ramp instead of three flights of stairs?

Plan ahead and pay attention to how your roller coaster rides each month. 

We can take certain actions in order to lessen hormonal disasters, from taking care of yourself to adjusting your schedule to accommodate. It may not be your friend but it doesn’t have to be your enemy.

Step 2 – Examine your health habits.

Eating, sleeping, and amount of physical activity can affect our emotional state.  Many, many, many woman try to manage their weight by not eating; this is a fallacy on many levels. First, not eating (or not eating enough) causes your body to burn muscle, thus making you have a higher proportion of fat, even if you weigh less. A woman needs some fat to properly produce hormones. If blood sugar drops that can leave you irritable, depressed and quick to snap.

Although we should not excuse this behavior, it’s important to recognize it as a chemical imbalance.

Aren’t sinful attitudes hard enough to mange? Do you really want to make it more difficult? I have personally experienced this and find myself quick to cry and difficult to cheer and if you know me, my default face is a smile. 🙂

Eat! Hollywood figures and shapes are not natural.  Health, not thinness, should be the goal.

Regular and adequate sleep habits are huge.  Your need for sleep will change at different times in your life, but running on empty is dangerous. Tired people don’t think clearly. Do you drive a car or interact with others?  You need to address your fatigue. Ignoring it or just drinking more coffee does not fix anything.

Also, exercise is a major contributor to your health. It builds muscle and let’s face it, unless we have our husbands do everything, we have strenuous work!  It is so much more pleasant to have the strength to complete our work, than to feel failure if our “to do” list is undone.

If you find yourself saying, I am just too tired to clean, cook, interact, discipline the children… you name it, you probably need to address one of the big three areas – eating, sleeping and exercise.

Step 3 – Start taking steps toward health.

Spent a life of wrong choices? Sometimes you can bite off a small step and sometimes you need to stop and change the direction all together. If you need to make major changes, you can do it! Realize there is a learning curve and don’t beat yourself up if you drop a ball. Pick it up and continue.

God so often encourages, commands, and expects us to… give a soft answer… be not afraid with any amazement… think on these things… let the law of kindness come from our mouth…

If we don’t  address physical causes to out emotional downfalls, it can be an uphill climb, littered with failure.   The Lord, a great cloud of witnesses, our families, our brothers and sisters in Christ and even the unsaved dear ones, want and need us to do our part.  They are rooting for us and depending on us! Our flesh is not.

Be strong. Do right. Depend on God. It is not more than you can handle.