You Wear Your Heart on Your Face

The heart is an incredibly mysterious organ as it is considered a bridge between the brain and the body and is known as being the carrier of the emotions.

Modern languages around the world are full of references to the heart and this organ is usually described in ways that have little to do with how fast it beats or how well it functions physically! This mysterious and powerful organ is considered the place from where we give and receive the emotions, especially love. There are so many references to the heart in media and in books.

It has even been discovered that a broken heart emotionally can cause physical heart problems. In ancient Chinese Medicine, the heart was called “The Emperor” of the body and was responsible not only for the blood being sent to every part of the body, it was also considered the gatekeeper for the expression of all emotions. So a strong heart gave the ability to express more emotions and feel them more deeply. Likewise, a weaker heart prohibits the expression of emotions and limits the ability to feel any emotion. This state is what modern psychologists call “Anhedonia,” or the in ability to feel joy. Depression is most often the cause this sad state of being. Joy is an emotion that is so important to feel as it gives impetus to projects and goals and adds excitement and fun to life. But it is also true that you can feel and express too many emotions. In this age of reality television, it has become quite common to create emotional drama where it is not really warranted or needed and this encourages viewers to see life as a roller coaster of events that need to be felt deeply and expressed as fully as possible–the competitive nature of the Western world seems to view anything except winning as a tragedy and worth suffering over.

But there is a problem with this way of living. For when emotions are expressed too much, you get wrinkles to show for it! Now some emotions and wrinkles are quite positive. The face is a literal map of how we have felt and what we are likely to feel in the future. Your face shows how happy you have been and how much suffering you have been through or are going through now. Certainly sun exposure, dryness and elasticity of the skin enhance wrinkles, but they are definitely not what cause them.

Most people are simply not aware that they are responsible for creating their own wrinkles or that it is not that difficult to remove some of them naturally! The trick is to understand how wrinkles are formed and what helps release them from the skin.

Everyone gets more wrinkles as they get older, but wrinkles are primarily caused by the constant and repeated use of expressions that we make or from the feelings we hold.. You can see clearly from an aging face, all the emotions that have been felt a lot, expressed or not. In other words, you don’t wear your heart on your sleeve; you really wear it on your face!

So how do you release wrinkles from your face? Well, first it is important to take care of your skin but that is not as critical as paying attention to what you feel and how you express. To work on wrinkles from an emotional level, it is important to recognize what the wrinkles mean– see Figure 1. Now emotions are a necessary part of human interaction. However, there are many emotions that we express toomu

ch and some we express to little. Like Goldilocks, you need to find balance by figuring out how to express just right! Here’s the key: express what you need to express and in the a mount that fits the situation. Then, let that emotion go. If you have repressed emotions, determine whether they still need to be expressed and if so, express them appropriately and if not, let them go too. Letting go of repressed emotions is one of the keys to releasing wrinkles from the face and it is possible.

Grief, in particular is one of the emotions that I see leave the face rather quickly when processed properly. I am and many of my students are living proof that wrinkles can be minimized and even removed naturally!

Most of the emotions that we bury can become toxic like grief, resentment, anger, guilt and shame and often we need therapeutic help to access them. That is one of the great benefits of going through therapy. And, most people are reactive because they are responding from past situations instead of to what is actually occurring in the present .

Reliving your previous traumas may be necessary for a while, but it is essential to find the meaning in your past suffering, appreciate the lessons you learned and use those lessons as fuel and inspiration for your spiritual evolution and your future.

It is hard for people to change their emotional behavior because expressions can actually be a bad habit and being emotional often has a big payoff in getting attention from other people.

Therefore, I teach that emotional management is an important aspect of good health.Emotional management means to express the emotions that are necessary and limit the ones that are unnecessary and to avoid exaggeration. It also means that it is unwise to repress things and it is also not advised to express them all. Instead, emotional management involves an ability to recognize what things, situations and circumstances require an emotional response.

Rather than being reactive, it is better to become proactive emotionally. Decide what is worth responding to and what is not. There is a kind of emotional discernment that can be learned where each situation or circumstance is caught, before the reaction occurs and then evaluated so that the response is measured and appropriate. This is not easy to do and requires much practice. But the end result is wonderful; relationships improve and living like this limits the inflammation that occurs from expressing or repressing emotions too much.

So if you’d like to have less wrinkles, you could start watching and catching your reactions and emotions. Study the emotional map of your face so you can recognize which emotions you use to express or repress and live in the present, not the past as much as you can. Although it may at first feel like you are not as passionate or even as interesting, in reality you will be saving your energy for the more positive emotions–like joy. This emotion creates what is often called “Crow’s Feet,” but they are really some of the best lines on your face. They show that you know how to laugh and smile, which releases the body’s endorphins, minimizing pain. So if you don’t have many, please start making them and if you have some, you can always make some more!