Zone 5 – Note E – Heart: Self Critical vs. Self Love
Thorax Region: Emotion / Energetic
Self Criticism involves hardness of the heart and its accompanying decreased awareness of emotions. The individual turns these criteria inwardly and outwardly and experiences an inability to trust, feel loved, and to extend love and compassion to other.
An individual may exhibit excess energy in this area when they have not grieved the disappointments and losses of relationships and life experiences. These may be conscious or subconscious, emotional or experiential. As this stress increases, the subconscious attempts to suppress it. In the process, it blocks the capacity for compassion and acceptance, especially toward oneself, resulting in self criticism in an attempt to gain (self) acceptance by focusing on the perceived “bad” or unacceptable aspects of the self with the aim of eliminating or fixing them.
Self criticism may adversely affect the circulatory system including the heart, lungs and arteries, and lead to chronic congestion and chest pain.
Healthy grieving may occur naturally as the person gets in touch with his emotions, and increased compassion results. If the individual has blamed past negative experiences on others, forgiveness becomes an important part of letting go.