Photo Courtesy: Yahor Urbanovich on UnSplash
October 10 is commemorated the world over, as World Mental Health Day. This day helps bring awareness to the fact that just like our physical health, our mental health should be nurtured and cultivated. Our constantly busy lives make it difficult to find the time to listen to our overthinking minds and this day brings us a chance to observe our minds.
We urge you, to bring awareness to the wonders of slowing down, albeit a few minutes everyday, to improve our memory, cognition and in turn our productivity, be it at work or at home.
Here are 5 mindful ideas that can help you take an extra minute, slow down and enjoy the possibilities of the moment!
1. Take a walk, a mindful walk: As we pace our steps, walking towards no hard-pressed destination, pay attention to the way the body moves, while changing positions. They way your feet move, the pace of the breath and the physical location of any discomfort, as it may be. Allow these to show up and move through the pain, all along trying to keep your awareness on your breath.
2. Have a conversation with a Stranger: The biggest underlying emotion predicting depression, is the feeling of loneliness. Loneliness is seen to prevalent in people with families, not just those without support.
Our devices and that lure of compromising, disappointing or unfulfilling life experiences, with an overdose of dopamine, through social media and games, make us more addicted to devices. However, like in the old times, if we can spend a few minutes talking to a stranger, it helps us all feel like we belong and matter, which might just make somebody's grumpy day, a bit better! Read more here - https://neurosciencenews.com/stranger-conversation-19396/
3. Carry out an act of Intentional Kindness: Pick up somebody's fallen book or help an old lady get on the train or just don't rush to take that seat before the other person in the cafeteria, let them take it. While these acts of kindness may not be easily visible to anyone (or maybe they are!), watch how they make you feel. Again, you may not make this a habit, but do it a couple times a day, to help you feel more grateful and giving. Acts of kindness and gratitude are shown to change the way our brains work. That mindset of "what we can give rather than what we can get" is super enabling, making us feel less, like a victim and more abundant. Don't believe me? Try it out for yourself!
4. Spend some time ALONE: With the full intention of being attuned to your physical body, do a body scan or a meditation, to simply become aware of your thoughts, your feelings and the state of your body.
5. Ask for Help before it becomes urgent!: If feelings of low esteem, low mood, brain fogginess, confusion and/or loneliness persist, meet with a mental health practitioner for ways you can attend to them.
We'd love to hear your ideas of ways you care for your mental health, leave us some in the comments.