12 Things You Can Do to Foster Emotional Wellness
- Mar 8
- 3 min read
An AI-Integrated Emotional Wellness™ Perspective
By Mark D. Lerner, Ph.D.
Principal Consultant and Creator, AI-Integrated Emotional Wellness
The National Center defines emotional wellness as an awareness, understanding, and acceptance of our feelings—and the ability to manage effectively through challenge and change. It reflects our uniquely human capacity to channel emotional pain into growth—sublimating adversity into strength so that individuals don't merely survive hardship but ultimately thrive beyond it.
AI-Integrated Emotional Wellness (AIEW) refers to the ethical and responsible interface between the cognitive abilities of artificial intelligence and the depth, uniqueness, and complexity of human emotion. While AI can provide accessible, evidence-based strategies, tools, and support to promote emotional well-being, AIEW recognizes a fundamental truth: authentic, face-to-face human presence remains irreplaceable—and essential—for emotional wellness.
As an AI-Integrated Emotional Wellness consultant, I'm frequently asked if I could provide concrete strategies or tools to foster our own emotional well-being. Following is a concise list of things you can do for yourself. Please share these with your friends and loved ones:
1. Become aware of your feelings and try to label them (e.g., “I’m feeling nervous." “I’m feeling sad.” “I’m feeling frustrated.” "I'm feeling angry," etc.
2. Try to identify your thoughts and how they precipitate your feelings (e.g., “I’ve been thinking about what he said to me—and I’m feeling angry.”) This process will give you back a sense of control. AIEW can help provide accessible, evidence-based strategies to identify patterns in your thinking—and provide direction and meaning.
3. Accept that feelings are not right or wrong; they just are. It's been said that when one denies their feelings, they deny the truth.
4. After labeling a feeling, consciously slow down and think before you act; make goal-directed choices.
5. Realize that you can choose your focus—what you think about. "Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way." —Dr. Viktor E. Frankl
6. If you find yourself thinking repetitively about something that is causing you emotional discomfort (i.e., ruminating), identify the thought and dismiss it (e.g., “Stop it. This is not productive.”)
7. Know that it’s okay not to be okay during challenges and change. Allow yourself to experience normal reactions in the face of an atypical or abnormal event.
8. If you're grappling with uncomfortable thoughts and feelings, change what you're doing. For example, take a walk. Exercise. Listen to music. Read. Watch a documentary. Speak with a friend or loved one, etc.
9. Speak with people with whom you can share your thoughts and feelings—people who listen more than they speak. Rely on genuine interpersonal face-to-face communication. AIEW is grounded in this principle: while AI can inform and support, authentic, face-to-face human presence is irreplaceable—and essential.
10. Have the benefit of speaking with a mental health counselor or therapist.
11. Explore how chatbots and virtual therapists can be a helpful adjunct to mental health care. Consistent with AIEW, AI can provide immediate, accessible, evidence-based support—but it is most effective when integrated with genuine human connection.
12. Strive to become the person you would ideally like to be!