Emotional health is defined as a lack of mental disorders, but it also includes positive emotional characteristics, like resilience, self-efficacy, and vitality. Given how many different aspects of mental and emotional health there are, there are actually lots of different things we can do to improve our emotional health. Here are a few things you can do.

It's human nature to fight for things that matter to us. We might long for the past, wish that someone we love hadn't left us, or hold onto anger from the times that we were treated unfairly. But holding onto things and people that we can no longer have isn't good for us. It keeps us stuck in memories of our past and prevents us from noticing and appreciating what we have now. So, let’s talk about how to let go of all the things that we tend to cling to—the past, anger, love, fear, and more.​

Self-worth is essential to well-being. Why? Because your views of yourself not only affect how you feel; they also affect your thoughts and behaviors. When we feel bad about ourselves, we unconsciously act in ways that end up confirming our beliefs. For example, if we feel like we are not worthy of a good relationship, a good job, or financial stability, we stop pursuing these goals with the intensity required to reach them, or we sabotage ourselves along the way.

We all have a general sense of what it means to “accept” something. There are many aspects of life that we could simply “accept” - financial circumstances, unhealthy relationships, unfulfilling jobs, etc. However, in psychology, acceptance means “taking a stance of non-judgmental awareness and actively embracing the experience of thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations as they occur” (Hayes et al., 2004).

Shame is a self-conscious emotion that arises from the sense that something is fundamentally wrong with us. When we have shame, we often feel inadequate and full of self-doubt, but these experiences may be outside of our conscious awareness. That makes shame hard to identify and deal with.

Self-criticism or the act of shaming, belittling, or otherwise mentally mistreating ourselves is such a prevalent experience that we often fail to see how problematic it truly is. That's because we believe the hype that self-criticism is accomplishing something. But it isn't doing what we think it's doing. In this article, I describe multiple problems with self-criticism and why we should give it up.

Being authentic means that you act in ways that show your true self and how you feel. Rather than showing people only a particular side of yourself, you express your whole self genuinely. That means to succeed in being authentic, you first have to know who your true self actually is. And this requires self-awareness, mindfulness, and self-acceptance.

We are currently living through a loneliness epidemic. And it was going on long before Covid required us to isolate and socially distance even further. That’s bad news because loneliness contributes to poor mental and physical health. That’s why it’s more important than ever to implement some creative tools in our lives to fend off loneliness and protect our mental and physical health.

Our daily lives consist of trying to live up to unrealistic expectations, from the media, social media, and even our loved ones. We’re just trying to fit in, be liked, and be accepted by other human beings. No one would possibly like us for who we really are, right? Well no. So how do we get past self-deprecation and learn how to just be ourselves?

Emotions are a key ingredient in well-being. It's hard to imagine well-being without happiness. And emotions like sadness and anxiety can make well-being more difficult to achieve.

What are positive emotions? What are the theories behind positive emotions? And what are some examples of positive emotions? Learn all about positive emotions here.

Explore various ways that we can improve our resilience. Resilience is the set of personal qualities that enable us to thrive in the face of adversity (Connor & Davidson, 2003). It may involve being calm in difficult situations, implementing effective coping mechanisms, and handling criticism well.

You need challenges in your life to develop resilience. You must get knocked down in order to learn how to pick yourself back up. Over time, being knocked down can even make you stronger.

When uncertainty stresses us out, making us wonder which path to take, what decision to make, or whether to respond at all, it can be crippling for some of us if we have not developed emotional resilience.

High self-awareness is a solid predictor of success in life, perhaps because a self-aware person knows what they want so they can more easily take the steps that get them there.

The answer to why we engage in a particular behavior or have a specific thought or feeling can be found by tapping into our unconscious mind. Self-reflection is one way we can tap into our unconscious minds.