How to improve your emotional and mental health
by Aiden W
Do you realize that your life is governed by your thoughts and emotions? It first starts with a thought which then creates emotion. Whether it's positive or negative, and how intense the emotion is, depends on the thought - how strong and how important it is. Your emotion will in turn drive you to take action. Again, the kind of action and whether or not you actually take it, depends on how strong the emotion is.
Another important thing to remember is that whatever you focus on expands, and it becomes true for YOU. It may not be true for everyone else or it may not even be factual, but to YOU it's absolutely true.
For instance, if you focus on someone's negative qualities/attributes, you will soon believe that he/she is a bad person and begin to hate them. They may or may not actually be a bad person, and to their family and close friends they may be a loving and caring individual. But to YOU, they're definitely not a likable person. Depending on how often you interact with this person, your hatred could grow over time. This will eat you up inside, and can even drive you to harm this person. Can you see how all this is driven by your emotion?
Another example is when you're faced with a challenging situation. You may think the situation is really bad, and even too much for you to handle. You begin to despair and loose hope. You don't believe it will ever change for the better. You feed these thoughts to yourself day in and day out. If you watch TV, read the news or social media, it may become even worse as many other people also focus on the negative. Before you know it, you become depressed and may need professional help. You can see how a negative thought has contaminated the way you perceive the reality around you.
Now imagine the opposite. You think the situation is less than favorable but not unmanageable. You have it within you to find the solution or ask for outside help when necessary. You believe the resources are at your disposal. Every day you focus on positive things, you do the things you love, and you surround yourself with positive and supportive people. Eventually you find that the situation improves.
From these examples you can see how your thoughts and emotions determine the outcome of many things in your life. What good would it do to have plenty of money if you can't enjoy the simple pleasures life has to offer? Therefore, positive emotions should be a lifelong goal.
Let's face it. Stresses in life can burden you emotionally/mentally and physically. To be in good health, you need to unburden yourself on a regular basis. Your physical body gets dirty throughout the day. That's why you take a shower or bath at the end of the day to clean yourself. You need to do something similar for your mind.
One way to accomplish this is to find a safe place to relax your mind. A place for you to unload your mental/emotional burden. This can be an actual location or an imaginary one. Let it be your "secret garden" where you can be a kid again and totally loose yourself in it, allowing your mind to drift away from the negative thoughts that has dominated you for hours or days. You will then find a new, more positive way to deal with things in your life.
Your safe haven can take many forms. It can be your favorite uplifting song or movie, a person you love and/or trust, or even a pet. It can also be a certain activity such as visualization, meditation, or prayer if you're religious. The important thing is to immerse yourself in whatever you do and take your mind away from negative thoughts.
Of course, you can't be in this secret garden forever. At some point you need to return to reality. However, you will have experienced some sort of a renewal. Perhaps equivalent to taking a cold shower at the end of a long hot day. You feel invigorated, calmer, and have more confidence in yourself. You feel better about life. Practice this often, and your emotional health and life in general will improve.
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