Your answers to these seven questions can determine if you are emotionally tied up:
1. Are you perpetually unhappy and don’t know why?
2. Do you say ‘yes’ when you mean ‘no’?
3. Do you constantly experience failed relationships in your personal, work, or church life?
4. Do you frequently experience anger, bitterness, or frustration?
5. Are you tired of setting goals and never seem to achieve them?
6. Are you tired of earning money, but always living in poverty?
7. Do you seem to attract people into your life who are spiritually, emotionally, or financially unhealthy and think this is the best thing to do?
If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions, you are experiencing emotional bondage. Now go back and review your answers, and write down why you answered yes to that particular question. Don’t be discouraged. You can break this bondage out of your life.
First, let’s look at the definition of emotional attachment: Emotional attachment occurs when:
1. You constantly make decisions that bring hurt and pain into your life
2. you have thoughts that are almost always negative or frightening
3. you are not enjoying the life you are living.
Do thoughts come to you and you wonder why that thought appeared in your mind? Do your emotions sometimes get the better of you? Do you get tired of crying with every drop from the hat? Do you wonder why you behave the way you do with certain people or in certain situations? When one is emotionally tied up, there is a great attack on something called ‘your soul’.
WHAT IS YOUR SOUL?
Your soul is your mind, will and emotions. Your mind houses your thoughts. Your will houses your behavior. Your emotions dictate your feelings. While your soul is invisible to the outside world. We allow emotional slavery to dictate that it is more important to take care of our outer selves than our inner selves.
THE INNER SELF VS THE OUTER SELF
When you’re emotionally tied up, you spend more time dressing up your outer self than healing your inner self, healing your emotional wounds. For example, let’s take the couple who is always dressed to the nines. The hubby wears Stacey Adams shoes, Pierre Cardin suits, and splashes of Kenneth Cole cologne. His wife from him? She wears her red-bottomed Louboutin shoes, off-the-shoulder dresses by Donna Karan, a touch of Fendi and carries a Gucci bag. They are the image of success and happiness. What about the family that attends church regularly? Every time the church doors open, they are present. Or, what about the older couple, both in their 70s, always smiling and holding hands?
Looking at any of these individuals, one could never tell whether or not they are entangled in emotional ties. You may not be wearing Stacey Adams or carrying a Gucci bag, but still, the intention is to cover up the pain, to disguise it so no one will notice that you’re dying inside. There are professional people who are willing to help you deal with your internal problem of being emotionally tied up. Therapists, doctors, and pastors are professional people trained to help people with emotional problems break free so they can live a life of emotional freedom. I was once emotionally bound and now I am free.
