We can all be affected by common mental health problems, which are far more common than we realize.
In the GYMHA newsletter, the subject of gratitude has been brought up. Being grateful is a great way to set a good example for our minds to give and receive positive things that are good for our mental health.
It is important to think positively. Try to think of 5 or 10 things that you are grateful for or happy about that you have encountered or things about yourself that you are pleased about. Because negative thought processes can overcome positive influences and shape our personalities and actions, by stopping the flow of negative thought processes and replacing them with positive ones, you can very easily see the difference between your feelings of anxiety, anger, depression, or lack of gratitude. This does not always come as an automatic response, and it is important to seek good advice like this if you are feeling inclined to see things in a negative way. Thinking positively switches on lights in your brain and allows you to see that it is very possible to alter from negativity to positivity, which in turn releases endorphins within your brain that give you an uplifted sense of being. When you begin to practise thinking positively, it serves as a reminder for you to do so when you experience something that makes you want to think negatively.
Furthermore, our perception of ourselves has a strong influence on our positive and negative tendencies. If a person is unhappy with their appearance, they may suffer a lot of distress as a result of this. People within a community can bring not only each other but themselves into a better environment by being aware that giving can also be received and that works in a variety of ways. This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what the human brain is fully capable of. Within a circulatory system, the human brain will mostly put itself first-even though our heart, reproductive organs, and other vital organs such as the lungs, kidneys, and bowels, the brain tells us “I’m first, I do everything, and you depend on me.” The cycle of life, however, does not give us the brain first and then everything else, as any midwife, nurse, or medical specialist can inform you. Consider the lungs, which we need to breathe in order to survive, as well as the stomach, which requires food to fuel our muscles and water to digest that food. In fact, a large part of our vascular system is started within the lungs and stomach, and the blood that we oxygenate and pump through our bodies goes not only to our limbs, down to our fingers and toes, but also to our brain.
Incorporating a good breathing exercise into your routine will provide you with the positive benefits of that breathing exercise as well as allow you to alternate from routines that may be stressful or have negative effects on your well-being to create a path for positive energies and thought processes to flow. The other point that is being made is about how our diets can affect us. What we eat can affect how we function and how we feel. Someone with a healthy, nutritious diet is more likely to have an energetic, positive lifestyle than someone who does things like going hungry, taking drugs, or overeating with a lot of unhealthy food options. Food is something that people can turn to for comfort or turn away from if they don’t feel that life is really worth it.
On another note, it is worth saying that our brains have a desire to live well and will often distort the truth if there is an inclination that something is not right with our mental wellbeing—this is an example of how you are not fully in control of what thoughts will process themselves, and it is your brain’s way of avoiding forms of negativity and harm. It is therefore important to take reasonable measures to create for yourself a positive environment when it comes to taking control of your mental faculties. This may be indicative of your individual personality; there are many different ways that a mental health issue or mental illness can manifest itself physically; creating a stable foundation within yourself to manifest deliberate actions should be done with caution; if you stabilise your goals based on negative impacts, this can manifest into thoughts of self-harm or even suicidal tendencies; but if you take the steps to create a positive foundation on which to base your goals, this can manifest into thoughts of self-harm or even suicidal tendencies.