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Emotional, Spiritual, and Physical Boundaries

ByEdge-admin

Emotional, Spiritual, and Physical Boundaries:

In the book Boundaries, Dr. Townshed and Cloud remind us there are physical boundaries, mental boundaries, and emotional boundaries.

PHYSICAL BOUNDARIES

“Physical boundaries help us decide who can touch us, how they can touch us and under what circumstances.” We have learned we begin and end at the tip of ou nose, and the end of our fist. We get to decide who can be in our personal space, and we don’t get to touch someone with our fist. 

MENTAL BOUNDARIES

Mental boundaries allow us to have our own autonomy. Our own thoughts, opinions, likes and dislikes. As one grows in wholeness work they begin to have opinions, wants and dislikes. For some of us it takes a lot of soul searching to even figure out where we want to go for lunch if asked. Do they want Taco’s or Spaghetti. This can be a big deal when they’ve lived most of our lives simply doing as others wished. They also learn the importance of sharing their opinion, and developing their own autonomy. Not that they need to get their own way, and they learn they have a voice, and it matters.

EMOTIONAL BOUNDARIES

Emotional boundaries allow us to have our very own emotional experiences. I can feel what I feel. I don’t have to be happy because you’re happy. My emotions aren’t dependent upon whether my spouse is having a good day or not. Or what kind of mood my kids are in when they wake up.

If I’m waiting for my husband to walk through the front door to see the expression on his face to decide what mood we are in today, I have an emotional boundary issue/ enmeshment issue. A codependency issue. 

Read next months blog to learn more about Co-dependency.

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