We can explore our mental/emotional wellness by checking in with three important elements:
Focus: Our ability to pay attention to what we want to, when we want to.
Feed: Our ability to stimulate and grow our intellectual and emotional capacities.
Feel Good: Our ability to cultivate positive emotions and to bounce back from setbacks.
We can support our mental/emotional wellness through a variety of strategies that boost our focus, feed, and feel good abilities. The key is finding the strategies that work for you. See a list of suggestions below.
How are you feeling in the realm of mental/emotional wellness?
Here are a few questions we can ask ourselves to check in and make small adjustments.
What types of activities help me focus best? Meditation, deep breathing, listening to a certain type of music, doing certain activities at certain times of day?
What am I doing to prioritize feeding my mind and my emotions? Am I taking time to listen to, read about, and discuss topics that interest me?
How am I cultivating positive emotions in my life? When set backs happen, what are my strategies to cope and bounce back?
Three - ok, way more than three, but broken into three main categories - simple strategies to support your mental/emotional wellness:
Focus: Support your ability to focus by...
-Using resent moment/mindful meditation
-Traveling through your senses by finding:
4 things you can see.
3 things you can hear.
2 things you can smell.
1 thing you can touch.
Feed: Support your ability to feed your mind and emotions by...
-Listening to podcasts. Below are a few suggested podcasts.
-The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos
-TED Radio Hour with Manoush Zomorodi
-Good Life Project with Jonathan Fields
-The Doctor’s Kitchen with Dr. Rupy Aujla
-Work Life with Adam Grant
-A Little Bit of Optimism with Simon Sinek
-Reading a book about a topic that you are curious about.
-Watching/listening to TED Talks.
-Conversing with experts about their area of expertise.
-Sharing a meaningful conversation with a friend.
-Journaling about your thoughts, feelings, & emotions.
-Using mindfulness to observe your emotions.
Feel Good: Support your ability to feel good by...
-Performing the Gratitude Visit: write a letter to someone thanking them for something specific, and then read the letter out loud to that person - either in person or via virtual connection (i.e. FaceTime, Skype, Zoom, Google Meet, etc.).
-Performing a random act of kindness for someone. Can be as simple as opening the door for someone who has their hands full.
-Listening to a favorite song and move your body.
-Smiling. Sounds goofy, but research suggests that putting a smile on our face actually starts to generate positive emotion.
-Sharing a meaningful conversation with a friend.
-Journaling about your thoughts, feelings, & emotions.
-Setting specific goals; identifying potential obstacles; recruiting a friend to hold you accountable; establishing a game plan.
Play around with as many strategies as you would like to find what serves you best.
Be well, my friend!