Emotionally fit

“When driving on the highway, all the way to the Kruger National Park, you will pass numerous trees along your way. Since they get water from the rain, heat from the sun, and nutrients from the ground, these trees grow every day.

No human being tends to these trees specifically, and still they grow, right? 

Now when these trees, those found along the highway, are compared to the trees in my garden, a very apparent difference is noted.  The ones in my garden are greener, they are bigger… Man, they even grow quicker. All this for the mere reason that they receive something additional to the water from the rain, the heat from the sun and the nutrients from the ground. The trees in my garden get something extra called compost. And this compost gives these trees a boost.

The point is, the trees next to the highway grows fine, however the trees in my garden grows tremendously.“

A very wise woman once shared this profound analogy about the value of seeing a psychologist. And doesn’t it resonate with such truth?

Without attending to the tree, its full potential cannot be reached, and without attending to our emotional growth and wellbeing our full potential cannot be fulfilled.

It is the difference between surviving and thriving.

Surviving means that we feel we live only a half lived life – that we feel things we cannot explain, that we experience things we cannot deal with, that we behave in ways we do not understand.

Thriving means that we are authentically joyful in our life – knowing how to verbalize what we are feeling, having the skills to handle whatever comes our way, managing our actions towards others and our world.

Going to a psychologist in attendance to your emotional wellbeing means to get to know your own heart. Knowing your own heart allows you to navigate easier in this sometimes confusing world. Knowing your heart gives you a glimpse into why you feel what you feel, why you think what your think and then ultimately why you do what you do. It allows you to respond responsibly to your environment since you are now able to know yourself and others better.

For a moment I invite you to ponder the following words:

To keep our minds fit, we read.
To keep or bodies fit, we exercise.
But what do we do to keep our hearts fit?
Going to a psychologist to train your heart, is like going to school to train your mind, or to the gym to train your body.

Stay emotionally fit by giving your heart the chance to develop.