Simple & Easy Mental Health Tips & Practices Part 2
Here is Part 2 of Implementing Mental Health Tips and Practices.
Ready to find out a few more easy tips and tricks that you can do on a daily basis that can help add to your mental health and improve your overall wellbeing.
Find meaningful connection: However this looks, and not on our phones!!!!! This world and our lives can get busy, and sometimes without us even realizing it. Phones and technology can be a great tool and resource because we have access to so much information and education at our fingertips, but at the same time, we can get easily lost and caught up in it and loose track of time and down. We often use social media as a way to “connect” on social platforms, to share our voice, share our experiences which is great! There is always a time and place for this, and this can be motivating and healing and service countless amazing purposes, but it cannot be our only way of connecting. Meaningful connect to others, in person, or through things like facetime is something that we need more of. By either having deep connecting to others or ourselves, we find our sense of purpose, our “feel good” feelings, and feel a sense of hope, a sense of meaning, and that sense of belonging. We are becoming a society that has become good at being “dis-connected” to others and most of all, to ourselves. So here is your excuse to go and grab that coffee and plan a coffee date with that friend you haven’t seen in a long time, to give your mother or father, or sibling or grandparent that long overdue phone call, or to take yourself on a walk around the lake and give yourself that reconnection. Connection is part of one of the mental health key components. That’s why we have community groups and clubs because it gives us that sense of belonging, to feel like we are a part of something.
Movement: Our bodies and our brains need some sort of movement. Many of us have a job that entails a sedentary job, meaning we sit most of the day or all day long. Our bodies are meant to move!!! They need to move in order to actually function. Hence why when people first have some sort of surgery (pending on the type of surgery), they get you up and moving after a little bit of rest. Why, because it we don’t, our bodies stiffen up and they become harder to move. Movement helps us to keep going. Movement helps to keep our brains going and helps us to keep on moving ahead. There is so much research, science and evidence behind movement and exercise and there is a reason why the medical field and mental health field promote and talk about it so heavily…. Because IT ACTUALLY WORKS!! You honestly want to know the 3 pillars for some sold mental health recovery plans: most doctors will say that medication, movement/exercise or some sort of physical activity, and therapy. Those are the 3 pillars to some extent, of mental health, mental health recovery and mental wellness. These are the things that essentially anyone can do, of any ability or disability, and of any socioeconomic status, background, and essentially from anywhere. These are just simply some of the tools that I know can be a part of your building blocks, of adding to your foundation, of adding as part of your daily lifestyle, routine and daily habits.
Our bodies are meant to move, but they also NEED to move. Start with something small and simple. It can even start with some light movement. Get down on the ground and move around… whatever that looks like, it doesn’t matter. What does your body feel like to move? Pay attention to this. Yes our bodies may feel tight and may fee like it is resisting the movement, but it’s trying to tell you that it hasn’t moved, and it’s going to need some tender love and care, and some consistent movement, but it needs it! Start even with just basic and simple stretching. Learn what it “feels” like to move your body. What do you notice? What do you notice before and after you move? We need to just start somewhere, anywhere really. Start with simple walking. There is not only research and science backing the health benefits of walking, but it is about moving your body in some capacity. Even just start by waling for 3 minutes, then 5 minutes, then 10 and building from there.
Stay tuned to next week’s blog to learn more mental health and wellness practices and tips. For more info on mental health practices or to book a mental health counselling session, contact Mallery@serenityandsoulhealing.com or visit www.serenityandsoulhealing.com
