We are living in a world, which is complex and forever changing.
As such, our personality is also a complex and changing component of who we are and how we cope with our problems.
For thousands of years, the Chinese have believed that the human body is dominated by the presence of "qi", which is internal life energy.
Based on the concept of balance between "yin" and "yang", the Chinese also believe that energy imbalance or imbalance of internal life energy can be attributed to different negative emotions experienced in life.
If a person experiences negative emotions of guilt, the energy imbalance may change the personality, making that person become manipulative or prone to blaming others.
Energy imbalance due to negative emotions of grief and sorrow over an extended period of time may cause a person to become depressed or to resign to the perception of failure in life.
Traumatic life experiences, such as sexual abuse, or even physical imperfections, can lead to energy imbalance that can cause negative emotions of shame and low self-esteem with devastating effects, such as difficulties in self-acceptance or self-sabotaging behaviors, such as drug abuse or alcoholism.
Fear, due to energy imbalance, is more often than not a negative emotion that can be debilitating.
For one thing, it can limit the growth of personality; for another, it can lead to negative emotions, including jealousy, stress, or even fear of success.
The only positive effect of fear is that it may help avoiding danger; however, fear can also lead to anxiety and paranoia, which are negative emotions.
Obsessive desire for fame, power, or money can deplete internal life energy, leading to energy imbalance, which results in addictions.
Desire can never be satisfied: having one desire achieved is often followed by another replacing it.
Anger is another negative emotion that drains one's internal life energy, causing energy imbalance.
Anger nurtures resentment and revenge, which are negative emotions or destructive outcomes of energy imbalance.
Pride is more of a negative than a positive emotion.
Although pride can give one an incentive in life, pride often leads to inflated ego, which may become vulnerable.
Pride may also cause shame when one's projected accomplishments fail to materialize.
Pride can cause energy imbalance.
Positive emotions, on the other hand, can supply more internal life energy to deal with life's problems.
Courage, for example, is positive emotion in that it gives you confidence to accept new challenges in life, to embrace the opportunities of life, and to confront fear as well as to overcome obstacles.
Acceptance is a positive emotion in that it enables one to accept success as well as failure, to know that there are ups and downs in life, and to recognize that there are neither simple answers nor rigid solutions to life's problems.
More importantly, acceptance means happiness is within oneself, and that love comes from within -- not something that can be given or taken away by someone.
Life is complex, and so are human emotions.
Just remember that emotions, positive or negative, have a positive or negative impact on your internal life energy, and that energy imbalance due to negative emotions is the major cause of disease and distress in life.
Manage your energy system to manage your health and wellness.
Copyright (c) 2010 Stephen Lau