What are healthy boundaries?

Boundaries help define your inner self by identifying your feelings, thoughts, beliefs, and dreams. In addition, boundaries can assist in communicating your wants and needs, experiences, decisions, and intuition.

Why do we need boundaries?

1. To help keep us safe
2. To help identify who is safe and who is not
3. To help us communicate
4. To clarify expectations
5. To help us develop meaningful relationships that work for us

What do boundaries look like?

1. A line
2. A limit
3. A protected place or area
4. A line that outlines property or space
5. A rule or guideline
6. Knowing or seeing where one person ends and another begins

Physical boundaries

• Include physical closeness, touch, noise, food, and eye contact.
• When creating physical boundaries, it is important to consider what you need for personal space, your comfort level with touch, and your physical needs, like needing to rest, eat food, and drink water.
• Physical boundary violations feel like receiving inappropriate or unwanted touch and being denied your physical needs. This can vary on a spectrum from mild to severe.
• The most severe violations result in serious physical abuse or neglect.

Emotional boundaries

• Include feelings, needs, and intuition.
• Emotional boundaries help communicate to others how to show respect and honor your feelings and energy.
• Setting emotional boundaries means recognizing how much emotional energy you can take in, knowing when to share and when not to share, and limiting emotional sharing with people who respond poorly.
• By supporting emotional boundaries, you show that you are validating the feelings of others and making sure you respect their ability to take in emotional information.

Mental boundaries

• Refer to your thoughts, ideas, and curiosity.
• Healthy mental boundaries include respect for the ideas of other people.
• Violations occur when your thoughts and curiosity are shut down, dismissed, or belittled.
• Respectfulness and willingness to dialogue and understand are important here.

Spiritual boundaries

• Protect your right to believe in what you want, worship as you wish, and practice your spiritual or religious beliefs.
• Include your beliefs, morals, and values.
• Help you feel connected to your spiritual practices and offers a way to respect someone else’s beliefs.

Ready to explore and strengthen your boundaries for a healthier and happier life? Don’t hesitate to reach out to us for therapy and guidance. Our experienced therapists at Optimum Joy are here to support you on your journey to understanding and setting healthy boundaries.

Take the first step today and contact us to schedule an appointment. Your well-being matters, and we’re here to help you thrive.