Emotional balance. This is my favorite topic when it comes to Young Living essential oils. After having our son, I often felt anxious, cranky, and overwhelmed, mainly due to hormonal changes and LIFE CHANGING!

At first, I thought it must just be what motherhood feels like when you're tired and trying to juggle work and kids and school, so I didn't make a thing of it. Isn't that typical of moms, though? To minimize our own struggles? To put ourselves last? It was always something I'd just go and breathe-out or cry-out in my room, careful not to share what I was going through with my husband or child. I didn't want to worry them plus I thought this is just how moms feel after a long day. What an isolated world but it doesn't have to be! So, stop carrying the world on your shoulders, mommas. Start taking your needs more seriously and prioritize YOU! 

What a difference a year makes. I now feel very empowered. After spending as much free time as possible gathering with other women and sharing in our joy of essential oils, what I've come to learn is that I am far from alone! So many women face these issues, particularly after having children and moving into their forties. And even if you're a younger woman, consider this advance notice that you may experience overwhelming feelings after you start a family and when you get older too. Just knowing that and being proactive in preparing for kids and hormonal changes, etc., will serve as an edge, and I'm glad to pass that down!

I've also found that many men and  kids and teens face similar issues, just for different reasons such as puberty, social pressures, work related stress, teens and men always feeling like they have to be strong all the time. But, now that we moms have taken our power back, it's easier to see it in other family members and help them too. We've become more educated and savvy at supporting the emotional health of our spouses and children because we know more now and we are finally prioritizing ourselves, and helping each other figure it out. It's like the oxygen mask theory...parents go first then we can be there for everyone else!

One of the tools in my tool box of awesome: essential oils. I love Young Living because the oils are as pure as they come and the company is so committed to wild-crafting it's products and controlling the entire process from Seed to Seal.

I never knew that EO's could be used to promote healthy emotional balance. When I first got my starter kit, I thought it was an air-freshener, so I come from the unique perspective of having no expectations then being bowled over by the immediate results gained from diffusing daily. Within a week, I was carrying that diffuser around my house wherever I went and my husband and our son were actually complaining when I'd take it away from where they were! When they'd ask incredulously, hey, why are you taking that, my response would be to ask hey, why do you care? Why do you like them so much too? I really wanted to know because I was having a wonderful experience with this little diffuser thing too. 

This experience prompted me to start reading about oils and I went to any gathering within 10 miles of my house. I wanted to learn as much as I could and what I came to find is that aromatherapy with therapeutic grade EO's are powerful in supporting emotional balance, diffusing in particular.

As mentioned below in the blue graphic How Aromatic Molecules Influence The Emotional Center of the Brain, when fragrance is inhaled, the odor molecules travel up the nose where they are trapped by the olfactory membranes that are well protected by the lining inside the nose. When stimulated by odor molecules, this lining of nerve cells triggers electrical impulses to the olfactory bulb in the brain. And as the graphic notes, because he limbic system is directly connected to those parts of the brain that heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, memory, stress levels and hormone balance, aromatherapy can have profound physiological and psychological effects. 

Along with that background information on the emotional center of the brain, you will also find on this page many wonderful diffuser recipes and roller blends for topical use that support emotional balance. EnJOY!