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When people think about emotional health, they often assume the goal is to feel less. Less sadness. Less anxiety. Less anger. Less fear. But after more than twenty-five years of working with clients, I have come to believe that the problem is rarely emotion itself. The problem is what happens when our systems are overwhelmed by emotion. When stress is chronic, emotional experience becomes too intense, too confusing, or too costly to stay connected to. Instead of using emotion

In the study of life systems, it is widely accepted that life and challenge are intertwined. Deer must adapt to the elements in order to survive the winter. Plants use every available resource to push toward sunlight. The act of living requires organisms to continuously manage stress and adapt to their environment. Human beings are no different. Our resources may look different, but the process is the same. When we face the stress and challenges of living, our systems must ad