How do you know if your emotional system is broken? What areas serve as indicators? The typical indicators include anxiety, irritability, restlessness, discontentment, anger, and addiction (and there are more). These signal a problem but do not define what’s broken. 

Here are four essential areas that if not changed will hinder a man’s emotional growth.

#1 You live with an internal emotional divide; a wall.

In your youth you divided yourself. All “good” lives on one side. All “bad” lives on the other. People are allowed to see the good you. Living divided stunts emotional growth.

#2 You don’t understand your fears.

We all have fears. Fear drives all bad behaviors. To be healthy you must learn to live with the fears of failure and rejection.

#3 You hate yourself.

You being with you is very uncomfortable. You’d rather be anywhere else. To avoid you, you practice these skills: avoiding, escaping, running away, distracting, etc.

#4 You do not know healthy relationship attachment.

We learn attaching and bonding from mom and dad. If they did not attach to each other or to you, then you had no role models. So, you’re weak at healthy attaching.

Conclusion

Work in these four areas to enhance healthy, emotional growth.

Prayer

Father, help me run my emotional system by your design. Heal me. Grow me. Bless me. In Jesus’ name.

Bible Connection

Everyone who hears my teaching and applies it to his life can be compared to a wise man who built his house on an unshakable foundation. Read Matthew 7:24-27.