On this edition of Citi FM/Citi TV‘s Effective Living Series, a certified Counseling Psychologist, Dr. Emmanuel K. Hopeson [PhD], walked us through some steps in transforming emotional health.

He explained that the human being is a spirit, having a soul and living in a body. The human person in the inside, is the person’s emotions, mind and will. The person goes through various challenges and difficulties, which define his/her life and environment.

Emotional health issues, he explained define people’s roles, interpret their worlds, how people define others and how they relate with them.

Enumerating some points on understanding emotions with host Bernard Avle, Dr. Hopeson, outlined the following points:

Understand yourself/makeup: People should learn to appreciate their strengths and weaknesses, and interchangeably work out to mitigate the weaknesses and maximise the strengths. People are able to relate with others, impact their lives and that of others in society if they understand themselves. Lacking one’s self-knowledge is the greatest challenge for a person. Don’t underestimate yourself, create peaceful relationships with others.

Understand the formation of others: People get in touch with their emotions right from childhood. Children have a problem of not being able to express the challenges they face. Kids are unable to express their emotions when paranoid, irritated, afraid, anxious or angry.

Know your personality: People are able to put a name and link it to the emotions they go through with their everyday language when growing up. They are able to express their emotions in language and demeanour. Some emotions can be expressed through people’s facials-either sad, angry or happy.

Strengthen interpersonal relationships: Some people are intra-personally prone to anger and thus secrete certain hormones. People already prone to laughter will secrete chemicals and emotions differently. People who usually are unperturbed about certain issues will also secrete different chemicals. People must have emotional maturity to be able to manage their companies, lives, families, and finances amongst others.

Improve yourself and seek help when necessary: People experience emotions through love, how they are appreciated, and the challenges they encounter. Emotions help people to perceive life and interpret people. Don’t try to be who you are not. People need to take responsibility of their lives. Life is a process, don’t be too hard on yourself when things don’t go the right way. Learn to improve yourself, and seek help when issues crop up.

Listen to the full interview below: