The Art of Mental Wellness
Preventative care is a concept, much like exercising regularly, that centers around the understanding that waiting until you are suffering to take care of yourself is not a sustainable way to live. Just like going through cycles of gaining and losing weight, being inconsistent can have long term consequential effects on our overall health. This is why preventative care is so important. It recognizes the need to practice healthy mental wellness habits on a daily basis, through both the good and the bad days. With regular practice, you'll feel less stressed and eventually build resilience toward future stress.
With uncertainty in politics, a global pandemic, and an environmental crisis happening around our planet, it is essential that we turn our focus inward to maintain mental wellness on a consistent basis. Our mental state reflects our entire being, and if our minds are not channeling the right vibrations, our perspective on our surroundings will reflect that. Mental wellness can be achieved in many different ways, as can self care, and it doesn’t always entail a hot bath and face mask! In this article, we’ll be diving into a variety of methods and tools curated to help improve and enhance mental wellness.
Meditation
Meditation has been proven to improve one’s mental state for centuries. There are many different forms of meditation one can practice, but if you are a beginner, consider this book to get you started; “Meditation in the Age of Facebook and Twitter - Personal Development through Social Meditation - from Shamanism to Transhumanism”
You can always choose the duration of your meditation and the tools in which to keep you focused while practicing. Some may choose to meditate outside for 1-2 hours at a time, and some may choose to meditate on the bus for a few minutes on their way to work. Whatever is accessible and feels good for you is the right way to meditate, as long as it allows you the opportunity to quiet your mind and relax your body.
The use of essential oils, incense or cleansing sprays can aid in making the meditation experience more enjoyable, and more approachable for beginners with racing minds. Especially when meditating with one’s eyes closed, engaging your other senses, as well as using chants or breathing techniques, are great ways to keep focused during your practice. Holding no judgment towards thoughts while meditating can help make the practice more effective. No thought is good, nor bad. Breathe in while acknowledging the thoughts, then exhale to release attachment.
Brain Foods
Incorporating Omega-3 fatty acids into your diet can have immense benefits on your mental health, aiding in depression, anxiety and panic attacks. Omega-3s can be found in walnuts, flax seeds, chia seeds and hemp butter. Probiotics and B vitamins are also helpful to maintain a healthy nervous system. You may try mixing them up for a healthy snack, or trying one of the healthy vegan recipes as found on the One Green Planet website.
Rediscovering your Purpose
Seeking guidance from masters of spirituality can feel extremely comforting and grounding. Teachers like Deepak Chopra, Kundalini masters, and other Yogis and Shamans can all provide great wisdom and insight for the anxious or worried soul.
Tarot cards are another great tool for mental health, with each card offering deep insight for the user. Tarot cards can be interpreted as spiritual guidance, which can have very beneficial effects on the mind. Connecting one’s self to the spiritual realm allows for trust in the universe in times of change or uncertainty.
Self Care Products
If you’d prefer the traditional and physical route when it comes to self care, there’s nothing wrong with indulging in body products! Our selection of products by Madame Phoenix is a great option in this case, including bath salts, Chakra soaps, candles, lotions and bath bombs, all made with natural essential oils. When practicing physical self care, try to explore the physical body with deep love and appreciation. Self touch and exploration can be immensely healing for the soul.
Setting Ambiance & Space for Mental Wellness
If you are having trouble sleeping because of anxiety or stress, it’s important to create a calming, inviting space to sleep in. This can include using an essential oil diffuser, sleeping with selenite under your pillow, cleansing your room with palo santo, as well as turning off screens and lights and/or drinking a calming tea before bed. DriftTEA is an amazing tea that uses ingredients like chamomile and lavender to promote better sleep. Music is another powerful way to self soothe, especially if the sounds are made for meditation or creating calming vibrations. Try listening to our ‘Sunny Daze’ curated playlist on SoundCloud, or hanging up a wind chime somewhere where it can catch a breeze.
Exercise/Walk
It is widely known that endorphins, which are produced by our bodies from physical activity, promote overall wellness in both the body and mind. Getting outside and grounding yourself in nature can be incredibly healing and soothing. If you have the privilege to do so, step out into the grass in the morning in bare feet and feel the dew between your toes. Doing this has been proven to aid mental health and can be very powerful as a spiritually grounding exercise.
Practice Gratitude
Creating a gratitude journal can allow your mind to take a break from negative thoughts. If one focuses on what they possess instead of what they lack, the things lacking will start to cause less and less worry and pain. It can be very easy to focus only on what others have that you want, instead of how lucky you are to have what you have. This is where a gratitude journal can come in handy to channel those good vibrations and put them out into the universe.
Smile
You probably know the saying, “fake it ‘till you make it” and that statement applies to smiling. If you teach yourself to smile more often in a day, you can actually trick your brain into emitting more of those feel good endorphins like dopamine and serotonin. Plus, we all can benefit from seeing each other smiling! Life can’t be taken too seriously all of the time, and we all have many blessings to be grateful for. This is so important to remember in order to live a happy and fulfilling life.
There are many tools one can utilize in order to maintain mental wellness and peace of mind; it’s all about making the space in life to do so, and it’s not as challenging as one may think!
About the Author
Tablö Creative is a digital creative agency dedicated to helping small businesses leave a lasting impression online with our service offerings including content creation, copywriting, branding, social media marketing, web design and development. Our dream clients are brands whose core values are rooted in conscious & mindful operations. We believe that it's our responsibility to protect our planet from the climate crisis, not just through our personal lives, but also through our work. Our communication style supports creativity and freedom of expression by creating meaningful connections.