heyliblou

Mental health is just as important as physical health, you have to take care of it at all cost. Here are 5 things you can do to improve it every day.

Taking small steps each day to care for your mind can lead to big changes in your overall well-being. What makes your grateful everyday? Are you aligned with your values and principles?

Yoga — Meditate

Yoga is an amazing method to relax, let go, and focus more on your breath than your mind. Even if you don’t know anything about chakras or yoga’s spiritual roots, you can still meditate for 10–20 minutes a day to reconnect with your mind and body. Yoga has been practiced for over 5,000 years, making it a powerful tool for supporting mental health. Listening to a meditation podcast can also be helpful, improving sleep quality by helping you focus on your breathing and energy centers, such as the chakras.

Practice detachment

Attachment is like jealousy, nothing good can come out of it. Not being attached to people, objects, or feelings can lead to better mental health because your feelings will never get hurt. Attachment is often mistaken for love or care, but in truth, it’s rooted in fear: the fear of loss, of change, of the unknown. And detachment is often mistaken for being cold, with no empathy, devoid of sentiments.

Imagine that person or object leaving, and tell yourself, “I loved [it/her/him], but now [it/she/he] is gone, and I am okay with that.” If you can do that, you’ll probably be on the path to better mental health because freedom comes when you learn to love without clinging.

Reconnect with yourself

It’s not that you’ve lost yourself entirely, but you may feel like a dim lightbulb when you were once incandescent. Sometimes, all it takes is a little effort to get back to the bright shine you once had.

One of the most important tools for reconnecting with ourselves is our hobbies. If you like to paint, just buy a blank canvas and make your art. It might not be a masterpiece, and you might not even like what you make, but the point is to engage in the activity you love. Paint something that sparks joy, something that is representative of a feeling you are having, or just something that is fun.

The same principle applies to hiking in nature. Go on a hike and reconnect with yourself in the forest. Notice the beautiful sights and sounds around you. Notice the texture of the leaves beneath your feet. If you’re not in the mood to hike, maybe just take a walk in your neighborhood or visit a local park.

Another way to reconnect is to take time for a mindful moment. If you’ve never done this before, all you have to do is be still and observe your surroundings for a few minutes each day. You may be surprised by the revelations you discover from just sitting quietly for a few minutes.

Be aware of your feelings and let them show

Feeling overwhelmed? Pause and label what you’re feeling: anxious, frustrated, angry? Whatever it is, a neuropsychology technique suggests that labeling the emotion can help calm your brain’s stress response. You’ll feel more relaxed and become better at paying attention to your mind and body. Don’t hold back. Let those tears flow. Let that anger fly. Practice breathing exercises, and remember: it’s okay not to be okay.

Use the Note technique

Gratitude journaling is a great way to train yourself to appreciate the good things in your life. It’s not necessarily about ignoring bad times, but rather about maintaining a healthy perspective on all of life’s ups and downs.

Open your phone, or a brand new notebook and start a note, name it as you would like. You will have to open it every single day — possibly at the end of the day — and write one thing you were grateful for during that day. I am grateful for this beautiful morning, I am grateful for my dreams that are turning to plans, I am grateful for my amazing friends etc. Having a gratitude journal is helpful in a way that you are actually focusing on what makes you happy rather than today’s bad news.

Xx, Heyliblou.

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