Psychological Nutrition is not a concept that most women have ever really contemplated. We don’t consider our emotions and reactions within the context of nourishment. Consequently, we unthinkingly consume a diet of negative emotions and thereby allow no room for positive emotions. This mindset is particularly true for those of us who are in middle-age or older and who have that “hyper-responsible” gene. The concepts that we introduce -- emotional anorexia, binge emotions, emotional jelly belly, and psychological malnourishment -- will ring an intuitive bell.

 

Psychological malnutrition has a profoundly harmful effect. It keeps us in the same emotionally unsatisfying loop -- one that is fed by a false sense of obligation. It keeps us unsatisfied with our lives, our work, and our relationships; it keeps us closing doors to opportunities. Ultimately, it can destroy our marriages, our friendships, and our family relationships through martyrdom, insincere niceness, and doing for others with resentment rather than love.