Feeling my feelings

The unexamined life is not worth living.

~ Socrates

Sometimes we create physical pain to numb emotional pain.

Old wounds may resurface, and we cannot bear to confront them.

One morning, I woke up feeling unbearable grief and sorrow. I could not bear it.

I pride myself on not ever succumbing to states of depression or anxiety, but that morning, I did not have the will to get up.

Long story short, shortly thereafter, I ended up with a diagnosis of double lung pneumonia.

The primary emotions associated with the lungs in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) are grief and sadness.

Strong negative emotions (sadness, grief, anger, stress, anxiety) can physically affect breathing patterns — e.g., holding the breath in sadness, rapid/shallow breathing in anxiety/stress, or chest tightness in grief.

Research has linked emotional states, such as grief or sadness, to reduced lung function (e.g., in asthma or overall pulmonary health), demonstrating a bidirectional mind-body connection through stress responses and inflammation.

I share this story to inspire others to address all realms of healing.

Lesson learned. Unless I address the emotional underlying cause of a suppressed immune system, I remain vulnerable to infection and other diseases.