My Top 5 Fav. Mental Health Practices
Today, in the year 2019, mental health is becoming a well-known aspect of health in general. Society is starting to understand that working out and eating healthy are not the ONLY ways to stay healthy. It is also important to note that mental health is not just for people who experience any sort of mental illness, but it is something that everyone should practice in life.
That’s right PRACTICE.
Everything we do in life is a practice. By this I do not mean “don’t worry it’s not the real thing, just a practice round”, because by no means is life a practice round. When I think of the term ‘to practice’ it means I am going to show up and continue to try and try and try again with whatever it is I am practicing. I know I may never be perfect - because let’s be honest we are all human and we are all just learning and trying as we go - but the more I practice something the better I become, or at least that is the idea.
For instance, professional athletes or musicians, outside of performance/game day they need to show up FULL-TIME because it’s their job, and practice to get as near to perfect as they can.
So when I say mental health is a practice, or personal growth is a practice, or even healthy eating is a practice, I am saying we need to show up everyday and be accountable to ourselves to do whatever good we can to improve these areas of our life.
Now you are probably sitting there wondering, “Ok Sydney, but how can we practice mental health?”
Well, I brought this list together just for you. These are some of my tried and true ways to practicing mental health. Remember, these are what work best for me and you may already practice some of these, but I urge you to take what resonates with you and leave the rest. If it doesn’t work for you, then I am sure there are plenty of other strategies that you could use to practice mental health.
Here is my list:
#1 Guided Meditation
#2 Invocations/Manifesting
#3 Connecting to Nature to Process Emotions/Feelings
#4 Mindfulness
#5 Journalling
These are some of the activities I make sure to include in my daily routine in order to connect back to myself, work through any negative emotions or feelings I may have experienced, and create a positive atmosphere and mindset to live in.
So, what is mental health?
As basic as Google dictionary says - a person’s condition with regard to their psychological and emotional well-being.
I believe that we need to be reminded every once and awhile that our minds are NOT in control of us. We can make decisions and actions based off of our gut feeling, our heart, our emotions, our knowledge, and our common sense. This is a mind, body and spirit process and we cannot make the best decision or action for ourselves without checking in to each category. So, in knowing this we can understand that we are the sum of these three categories, not one, not just our minds.
So how do we move forward?
Well, I don’t know about you, but sometimes my mind likes to play tricks on me. I start to doubt myself in whatever it is I am working towards, or I start worrying about the present and the future, or I create any limiting belief about myself and I start to believe it. My mind tries to tell me I am not good enough, my ego comes forward and tries to fool me and bring me down to the bottom making me feel less than. What is ego? Read this blog.
These are the moments that I need to dig deep to remind myself that I am better, I am stronger, I don’t deserve these limiting beliefs because I know if I am thinking more positively I see more positivity in the world around me. If I connect to all the things I am grateful for in life then I see more gratitude. I know this from experience, I feel happy and lighter when I create a positive headspace and environment for myself.
So how?
I believe that we cannot hold onto all those negative emotions and limiting beliefs while reaching out and trying to achieve happiness, joy and peace once again. I need to release and let go of all that holds me back in order to create space to fill with joy. Releasing these emotions can be done a number of ways through my 5 mental health practices.
Once I have released I can then connect back to myself and create all those positive emotions that I want to experience. How do I do this? Again, I connect to those 5 mental health practices. So maybe I will listen to a guided meditation that helps me to release and then connect to divine healing light and seeing myself in that positive light. I will read and invocation that invokes support, healing, guidance or something else that I want help with. I will manifest my dreams and desires for life. There are so many strategies that I use to help process my feelings and emotions and connect back to those positive and uplifting thoughts.
In these daily practices I remind myself that I am stronger than my mind, and although sometimes it plays tricks on me, it also has helped me in many instances so I will continue to feed it positivity, light and all the good things. We are a team and I always want to move forward with my best foot, so if I continue to grow and practice hopefully I will continue to become a better version of myself.
Want to learn more about each individual mental health practice that I listed? More blogs to come diving into each practice and more on personal growth.
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