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The New Year traditionally means new resolutions. These are often related to physical fitness, professional life, or social life. But what if, to start this new decade, you focused on improving your mental health?
Here are some practices to put in place to strengthen your mental well-being:
Learning to identify the wellness processes that work for you and practising them regularly
Getting into the habit of doing positive actions
Practise identifying and stopping negative thoughts
Consciously improve the environment in which you operate
Learn to identify wellness processes that work and practice them regularly.
Think about the last time you felt relaxed and serene. Are you able to remember what you did to reach this state? Could you easily get back to it?
The brain is an organ that is constantly learning. The more aware you are of your states of mind, the easier it will be to replicate them.
Take turns concentrating on your breathing, think of a happy memory, then imagine yourself in a soothing place. For each of these actions, take the time to become aware of the state of mind it engenders. Are you in a better mood? Quieter? No change?
It is important to understand how the thoughts and actions you perform on a daily basis affect your mental state. Once you have identified the relaxation processes that work for you, you must then reproduce them as often as possible so that the brain can multiply the connections necessary to facilitate your state of calm, thanks to the phenomenon of neuroplasticity.
Nowadays, tools such as melomind™️, the anti-stress helmet, allow access to neuroscience technologies previously only available in hospitals and clinics, such as neurofeedback, i.e. real-time sensory feedback of brain activity. Melomind™️ allows, via the helmet’s EEG electrodes, to measure brain waves related to relaxation and to retranscribe them in the form of auditory feedback via the application. It then becomes possible to distinguish the relaxation techniques that actually work on your brain and thus train it to relax in a concrete and measurable way.
Get in the habit of doing positive actions on a daily basis.
Because Man is a creature of habit, it is important to create rituals that have a positive impact on your mental well-being:
Smile!
According to several studies (source)The physiological act of smiling significantly reduces the sensation of pain and stress. So the simple act of smiling can improve your mood immediately. It’s simple, effective, and can be done at any time of the day!
Speak kindly of yourself and yourself.
Your brain is a sponge. The more you educate him to love you, the more naturally and easily he will do it. Little by little, learn to identify and stop all the self-deprecating thoughts and phrases you express.
If you would not allow these negative words to be spoken to a loved one, why would you tolerate it to yourself?
Express your gratitude.
It is normal to have moments of doubt and to feel discouraged. To better cope with sadness, get into the habit of starting your day by listing at least three things that make you happy on a daily basis: the support of your loved ones, the unconditional love of an animal, the privilege of having a home, food, education, or even your victory at a card game with friends … there is no such thing as a “small contribution”, celebrate your life!
To go further, make a list of the things that make you happy and read it again at any time, especially during a bout de blues.
Practise identifying and stopping negative thoughts
It is very difficult, especially when you are dealing with depressive disorders, to get out of the feeling of being overwhelmed by negative thoughts.
It is a very great effort, but it is possible to train your brain to come out of it. Begin by becoming aware of and accepting the times when you are in a negative state. Then question this state, and gradually try to get out of it by applying the techniques seen in the previous points.
It takes a lot of work and regular proactive effort, but remember that there is no such thing as a small victory, and every step towards more positive thinking helps your brain cope with the overwhelming feeling. Little by little, you will get into the habit of countering negative thoughts and it will become easier to do this on a daily basis.
Consciously improve the environment in which you operate
Inner well-being also comes from the outside. Take care of your environment: clean regularly, decorate your home with photos that remind you of good memories, light candles, … And above all, don’t forget to make a proactive effort to take care of your body: do sports, take care of your hygiene, wear clothes that give you confidence. It is important that your daily actions reflect the effort you put into taking care of yourself.
Although these techniques are not a substitute for professional help, medication or neurofeedback training, they can quickly bring positivity into your daily life.
It’s never too late to work on your well-being, and you deserve to be happy.
Together, let’s focus this new decade on Mental Health.
By Florence Vuong
