Today, October 10th, is World Mental Health Day
As important as building biceps, triceps and other muscles for physical health is the strengthening of another set of muscles that are crucial but not visible externally – the mental muscles for good mental health.
Mental health involves 3 words – think, feel and behave.
1. How we think and What we think
2. How we feel about life, ourselves & others, and
3. How we behave.
According to the WHO, 1 in 8 people around the world live with poor mental health. This has a great impact on the person’s well-being affecting their physical health, connections/relationships with other people as well as their livelihoods. When a person is not mentally healthy, it negatively impacts all the members of that family.
A mentally healthy person is engaged with life in positive, enjoyable ways, is interested in all that goes on in it, understands her/his capabilities, can cope with the demands of everyday life, and works productively.
This does not mean that we must feel good all the time!
As humans, it is perfectly normal to feel and display a variety of feelings & emotions that lie on the opposite spectrum of happiness – sorrow, anger, frustration, anxiety, worry, fear, stress, and confusion. The moot point here is the manner in which we cope with our emotions in testing situations involving unpleasantness, losses, uncertainties and difficulties.
Are we able to get back to normalcy and cheer in a reasonable amount of time or do we feel overwhelmed, helpless, miserable and struggle to enjoy anything at all? Are we able to find calm, peace and joy going through our days? Do we have big smiles and laughter on our faces often enough?
While mental health is connected to what goes on in our minds, poor mental health could be due to many reasons including physiological, biochemical, socio-economic and situational.
Indicators of poor mental health.
Negativity, feeling low often, feeling stressed, overwhelmed, unable to cope with every day issues, high anxiety, constant worry, loss of purpose, unreasonable anger, aggression, feelings of loneliness, constant sadness, indifference to one’s hygiene and physical appearance, withdrawal, persistent exhaustion – all these are indicators of poor mental health.
Signs of good mental health
Cheerfulness, optimism, feeling good about oneself, being engaged with the world and the people in it, feeling energetic, being self-aware of thoughts, emotions and able to manage them well, being adaptable & accepting of the situations and people around us are some indicators of good mental health.
Life is a blessing
We are meant to live joyfully, smilingly…savouring our moments on this beautiful planet. We are blessed if we can do this. However, it is alright if we cannot be this way on our own and need help to get some perspective, balance, and joy into our lives.
There are many simple practises we can follow and good habits we can develop to make us mentally stronger and capable of being calm and centered.
Here are some suggestions to boost mental well-being.
It is a personal journey, hence you, me, everyone… needs to find our own ways and learn to:
Take it easy & quieten the mind
Develop self-love and value ourselves
Take care of our bodies/ physical health
Build and nurture social connections/ have nice relationships, and be close with friends and family.
Grab opportunities to smile and laugh
Talk to people, share emotions and concerns openly
Understand, accept and manage our feelings
Work on reaction vs response and build awareness of unhelpful thoughts
Make oneself a priority and believe strongly that we deserve to live our best
Practice coping mechanisms to deal with stress
Be content and grateful
Show respect to our body by eating healthy
Cultivate and enjoy hobbies
Sleep deeply and adequately
Develop new skills through curiosity
Practise kindness, be of service and give in any way
Be mindful and present
Accept all that cannot be changed and move on
Letting go and break the thoughts that imprison us
Seek professional help unhesitatingly sooner rather than later.
In these times of war, turmoil, suffering and tension between people, countries, states and communities, it is even more important that friends and families understand, support and help one another.
I know for sure that positive actions like having a kind word, a smile, a compliment, being caring, giving and just sharing thoughts can make a lot of difference to the well—being and mental state of people around us!
Do share your thoughts on this post !
What is your top bounce-back tip to recover from feeling low, anxious or stressed? Write in the comments below!
10 comments
Follow a 90-10 rule, For eveey 90minutes of stressful activity, take 10 minutes to energize. An awesome article as usual Roopa. Keep going. Looking forward to more
90-10 rule !That is a good tip Bharathi ! Thanks for sharing this ! Your kind words mean a lot !
Growing Fruits and/or vegetables either in backyard or roof-top.
This works really well for me as well Rafiq! 🙂 Growing plants is a soothing, healing activity.
Wounder ful knowledge have been shared, it’s motivation and have described clearly about life how to live. Thank you for sharing such a wonderful script.
Rajesh, your words mean a lot. Thanks so much 🙂
Nicely explained about physical, emotional and psychological aspects of Mental Health.
Thanks a lot Hari 🙂 !!
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