According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), when these emotions go over the threshold, they become harmful pathogenic factors. These factors can upset the normal flow of energy within the body as well as the normal metabolic functioning of organs, and upset the harmonisation of the body’s environment.
Achieve balance of emotion
Management of emotion is crucial important for strengthening living energy (or vital Qi). In ancient Chinese medicine, human emotions are categorised into five types — joy, worry, sadness, fear and anger. These emotions are matched with the five organ systems in TCM. When these emotions is excessive, they become harmful pathogenic factors that can upset our energy and the harmonisation of the body’s environment. Modern studies have also shown that different emotions will trigger the release of different hormones, such as endorphins, adrenaline and cortisol. These hormone will affect the body, the metabolism, the mood,.. in many different ways.
According to TCM, excessive emotions would harm the following organs:
Emotion in excessive form | Affected Organs |
Joy | Heart |
Sadness | Lungs |
Angry | Liver |
Worry | Spleen |
Fear | Kidneys |
Positive emotions from social relationship
In a study on the correlation between relationships, happiness and health, a group of Harvard researchers tracked the life of 724 men over 80 years. They obtained an important finding that “good relationships keep a person happier and healthier” (1). The above examples clearly demonstrate that having positive emotion by having good relationships is essential for a healthy life, or vital Qi.
Nowadays, forming good interpersonal relationships is becoming a challenge. In this regard, one could adopt the basic principle of treating others the way you would treat yourself, in order to avoid conflicts. An idiom from Confucian analects states that “Don’t do to others what you don’t want for yourself”. The Golden Rule in the Bible also says “Treat others as you would like to be treated”. It is clear that when people treat eachother with compassion and thoughtfulness, good relationships and positive emotions will result accordingly.
In summary, acknowleging the type and scale of emotion help maintain the vital Qi, or the healthy function of the organs and the whole body.
Reference
(2) https://www.thinkchina.sg/tcm-way-staying-healthy-amid-pandemic