How our Emotions and Organs are Connected

And why emotional health is so important to our vitality

Jean Edelman: Great to be with you this week. This week, I want to talk about our organs, our emotions, and the time of day. My recent visit to the hospital in early January made me very aware of my lungs. The threat of not being able to breathe was very real and a very big learning moment for me. But once I knew I was okay, I started to think about - I know I'm weird, I started to think about my traditional Chinese medicine and the miracle of our body and how it works.

Did you know that our body has its own clock? That clock never falters. There's a chart that we're going to put up. It's a traditional Chinese medicine body clock. It's pretty cool. And these systems, when we're in good health, they keep us alive. But with the onset of a health event they are asking us to pay attention.

Did you know that our emotions also play a role in our health, and the effect of emotions on our organs? There's another chart of how emotions affect our body. Our health and wellness is about having an awareness. And this awareness might be a major key for change and could be our moment to understand change. I want you to take a moment to look at these charts and just think about the miracle of our body. 

And we don't have to think about it. During the day, it's doing its thing. During the night, it's doing its thing. And we're walking and talking and having a grand old time.

So that's our action item for the week. Don't take our good health for granted. Don't take our mobility for granted. And the moment that our body is sending us a message, we need to listen. We need to pay attention also to our emotions. I encourage you to read the other chart about our emotions because our emotions over a long time can absolutely affect our health.

For example, if we're an angry person, that's going to weaken our liver. If we have tremendous grief that can affect our lungs. If we're constantly worrying, that weakens our stomach. And if we're always under stress, that affects our heart and our brain. And if we're very fearful, that affects our kidneys. And so our body is reacting to our emotions. Let's be aware, movement is life and breath is life.

And so I encourage you also to help us deal with our emotions and find qigong or Tai Chi or a yoga class where the practice is slow, with purposeful movement and breath and tune into this amazing miracle that helps us walk around and be who we are each day. Our body is wise, and if we can help it, we are helping ourselves.

And so my word of the week is ORGAN. 

The O is for Oasis, a place of calm in the midst of chaos. And this is what we want to find when life is whirling around us. So close our eyes and focus on our breath. Calm ourselves so we can step forward with clarity and calm. 

The R is for Refresh; to make like new. Our organs are constantly restoring and replenishing themselves. Look at the clock. And so each day we can rebuild and restore our health and we can move in a positive direction. Having that awareness, having that learning is very powerful. 

The G is for Grow; to progress. Naturally. Each day we get to change and grow and learn and become better versions of ourselves inside and out. When we give ourselves good water and food, we're changing our health. We're changing our organs; we're changing the cells in our body. 

The A is for Aware. Having awareness that our body is working every second and every day for our greater health, it makes a world of difference. We just need to help it along with good food and good life choices. 

And the N is for Nourish. We are special. We are needed. We need to nourish our body, our minds, and our soul. This is not a race to see who can be the busiest and the craziest. This is a race to find our inner selves. This is a race to nourish our soul in a positive, mindful, quiet way. In this way, we are nourishing our body. Pay attention, have awareness of how our body is working for us every day. 

Have a great week, everyone. 

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