I recently learned about a concept/metaphor/expression called the “emotional ecosystem.”
The basic idea is that our minds are full of thoughts that range over a spectrum of positive to negative, grounded in reality to imagined, shameful to loving. Where we are on all these spectrums is the composition of our “emotional ecosystem.”
Our ability to build and create the things we want in our lives are going to stem from the state of this ecosystem.
Healthier relationships come from a healthier sense of self, which comes from a healthy emotional ecosystem.
Having faith in your ability to achieve your goals comes from your sense of self worth, which comes from this emotional ecosystem.
When challenges and bad stuff happens, your ability to bounce back is going to stem from your resilience, which is another product of your emotional ecosystem.
I like this metaphor as a way of explaining mental health because I think we often don’t appreciate how these things take time and the quality of our mental health is dependent on thousands of interactive and symbiotic relationships going on through out our whole mind and body all the time.
Just as ecosystems thrive with diversity, so do our minds and mental health.
Diversity in our emotional ecosystem is a combination of eating right, taking care of our bodies, finding emotional and intellectual stimulation, creating emotional and intellectual downtime, practicing mindfulness, enjoying creativity, finding connection, experiencing love, feeling security, and many other of the myriad aspects that go into a healthy life.
If our emotional ecosystem is damaged, neglected, or in need of recovery, we have to start where we are.
Incorporating whatever practices we can towards our mental health is how we plant the seeds that lead to the first new round of growth.
These plants grow, help to regenerate the soil, attract animals, and become the basis for the next round of growth. The next round of growth has larger, more robust, and more diverse plants and animals interacting with our “ecosystem.”
We’d like to believe we could flick a switch and be happy, just decide, which we can to some extent, but it’s also going to be beholden to what our emotional ecosystem can sustain. The really bountiful harvest might take some time and consistent cultivation.
I know for my own life it took nearly ten years to get from a rock bottom place to where I’m at now. Yet every step of the way was exponentially better than the place I was before. As I keep learning and growing each new day is better still than the last.
What do you think? Does this metaphor work for you? Do you have other metaphors that you prefer to use?
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