25 ways to foster good mental health …
When you hear the word “health,” do you automatically think about physical health?
Chances are, you do.
And chances are, you don’t think much about your mental health, at least, not until it becomes taxed!
Even though we give little focused thought to our mental health, it’s our mental health that influences how we think, feel, and behave in daily life.
“It also affects your ability to cope with stress, overcome challenges, build relationships, and recover from life’s setbacks and hardships,” explains a team of therapists for Helpguide.org. “Mental health refers to your overall psychological well-being. It includes the way you feel about yourself, the quality of your relationships, and your ability to manage your feelings and deal with difficulties. Good mental health isn’t just the absence of mental health problems. Being mentally or emotionally healthy is much more than being free of depression, anxiety, or other psychological issues. Rather than the absence of mental illness, mental health refers to the presence of positive characteristics.”
Those characteristics might include:
Just as we need to be good stewards of our physical health, we need to also purposely foster good mental health. Following are just 25 ways you can build good mental health:
1. Follow Christ. We are, first and foremost, spiritual beings. Being reconciled to God through Jesus Christ makes us whole, spiritually, and allows for the Holy Spirit to transform our minds. The apostle Paul wrote, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline” (2 Tim. 1:7).
2. Properly value yourself. When we have an improper value of ourselves, we’re likely to take on thoughts and behaviors that hinder robust mental health. By following Christ, and maintaining our identity in Him, we can properly value ourselves, which motivates us to wise stewardship, even of our mental health.
3. Build self-awareness. People in the 21st century often just hurtle themselves through life with very little real awareness of self, and that often results in crises and troubles. Building self-awareness enables you to approach life with greater thoughtfulness.
4. Build other-awareness. It’s bad enough most of us lack self-awareness, but even more so we lack an awareness of other people in our lives. Other than a handful of people we’re closest to, many of the people in our lives are more like background characters passing by than people we’re very aware of. This impacts of the quality of our relationships, and the overall content of our lives.
5. Pay attention to your self-talk. We’re always talking to ourselves, but we pay little attention to what we’re saying. We need to change that! That’s because our thoughts create our emotions, and the combination of our thoughts and emotions create our behavior. That makes the content of our self-talk very powerful! Practice being more conscious of what you’re saying to yourself; when you’re aware of your self-talk, you’re able to redirect it as needed. And developing a greater direction over your self-talk will enable you to quiet your mind when needed.
6. Exercise. Research has shown that exercise can be as effective for dealing with stress, anxiety, and even depression (for some) than taking medication. Developing and maintaining a consistent exercise regimen is one of the best things you can do for your mental health. Note: always consult your physician before starting a new exercise program.
7. Sleep. The Mental Health Foundation is adamant about the value of sleep for good mental health: “Sleep is as important to our health as eating, drinking, and breathing. It allows our bodies to repair themselves and our brains to consolidate our memories and process information. Poor sleep is linked to physical problems such as a weakened immune system and mental health problems such as anxiety and depression.”
8. Eat well. Nutrition isn’t just something to take pleasure in, food is fundamentally fuel for our bodies — that includes our brains! Eva Selhub, M.D., writes in Harvard Health Publishing, “Think about it. Your brain is always ‘on.’ It takes care of your thoughts and movements, your breathing and heartbeat, your senses — it works hard 24/7, even while you’re asleep. This means your brain requires a constant supply of fuel. That ‘fuel’ comes from the foods you eat — and what’s in that fuel makes all the difference. Put simply, what you eat directly affects the structure and function of your brain and, ultimately, your mood.”
9. Play. All work and no play not only makes Johnny a dull boy, but also deteriorates his mental health. Human beings NEED time to recreate, rest, and enjoy the life God has given them.
10. Give/serve. Obsession with self fosters irrationality. Learn to look beyond yourself and practice giving to, and serving others.
11. Manage stress. Not all stress is bad, but too many us attempt life with an over-abundance of negative stress. Learning how to manage and reduce stress can literally be life-changing. Fortunately, there’s a plethora of resources that can teach you how to reduce and better your manage your stress. Search out those resources and use them!
12. Develop and maintain close relationships. Not only do positive, close relationships bring joy and richness to our lives, it also provides us with companionship for navigating life. There will be many times when you’ll need the support and encouragement of others, and providing the same gives you the opportunity to love and be loved, to give and receive, to serve and be served.
13. Organize yourself. If you’re always thwarted at anything you do because you have to first organize yourself, then you’re a root source of your own stress and anxiety! Make time to organize yourself so you can navigate life a little more seamlessly. This might include de-cluttering and learning to exercise more self-discipline.
14. Set realistic goals. This doesn’t mean you can’t dream and stretch yourself. It should mean you’re not setting unrealistic and irrational expectations for yourself or others. Trying practicing setting S.M.A.R.T. goals – goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevamt, and Time limited.
15. Don’t stagnate. We’re so comfortable with what we know that we can develop a life of monotony. Break it up! Maybe be a little more spontaneous, take some smart risks, and keep learning!
16. Develop resiliency. Resiliency means being able to adapt to life’s misfortunes and setbacks. The Mayo Clinic reports, “Resilience is the ability to roll with the punches. When stress, adversity, or trauma strikes, you still experience anger, grief, and pain, but you’re able to keep functioning — both physically and psychologically. However, resilience isn’t about toughing it out, being stoic or going it alone. In fact, being able to reach out to others for support is a key component of being resilient.
17. Develop an attitude of gratitude and persistently express it. When we think there’s nothing in our lives to be grateful for, we’re putting ourselves on the fast-track to poor mental health. Foster a pervasive attitude of gratitude, and make sure you’re routinely expressing it.
18. Experiment! If you live in the tiny bubble of only what you’re sure of, you’ll miss out on a lot of life. Experiment! Try different things, you’ll discover new likes and develop new favorites and that fullness of life Jesus spoke of will blossom more broadly for you.
19. Take time to laugh. Humor can calm our thoughts and physically relax our stress-tensed bodies. The Bible has multiple positive references to laughter, here’s one: “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength,” Proverbs 17:22.
20. Go off the grid. It’s a fact that the use of technology can be addictive, and the vast flow of information and constant connectedness can induce stress, anxiety, and even depression. None of us need a constant entanglement with our tech tools, and all of us can relax more, and contribute to better mental health, by regular times of getting off the grid.
21. Forgive. Unresolved conflict can directly impact our mental health. Resolving conflict with others by forgiving them is so important Jesus made it a high priority when He said, “So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God,” Matthew 5:23-24.
22. Dehabituate and rehabituate. Bad habits are fuel for poor mental health. Take time to identify the negative habits in your life, and then identify a positive opposite. Now you’re ready to work at dehabituating from those bad habits and rehabituating yourself with the new, positive habits.
23. Get outside. David Pearson and Tony Craig reported for the National Centers for Biotechnology Information the following: “There is growing evidence to suggest that exposure to natural environments can be associated with mental health benefits. Proximity to greenspace has been associated with lower levels of stress (Thompson et al., 2012) and reduced symptomology for depression and anxiety (Beyer et al., 2014), while interacting with nature can improve cognition for children with attention deficits (Taylor and Kuo, 2009) and individuals with depression (Berman et al., 2012). A recent epidemiological study has shown that people who move to greener urban areas benefit from sustained improvements in their mental health (Alcock et al., 2014).” You may not be able to move to greener pastures, but you can get outdoors!
24. Breathe – deeply! The more stressed and anxious we become, the faster and more shallow our breathing becomes — often like panting — and we’re usually not even aware of it. But shallow breathing patterns results in poor oxygenation of our bodies and can set off physical and mental reactions including triggering panic attacks and even fainting. Pay attention to your breathing and teach yourself to take deeper breathes, breathing out more slowly.
25. Get help when you need it. Sometimes that help is in the form of conversation over coffee with a friend, or consultation with a church leader. But when it comes to your mental health, never hesitate to seek out a competent Christian clinical therapist or counselor if you need to.
These are only some of the things you can do to foster a life of good mental health. Don’t let the volume of possibilities overwhelm you; the key is to pay more attention to your mental health, and be as good a steward of it as you would be with your physical health. The quality of your life depends on it!
Scotty
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