How to improve your mental health and wellbeing
What do you do to maintain and improve your mental health and wellbeing? So many people are struggling, but they’re not aware of the simple things we can all do to feel better. We can also use these ideas proactively, to help prevent problems appearing.
We need to focus on our wellbeing. Do things that help us feel better and start building up our own toolkit of inner resources. Wherever you are on your journey, I’m sure the ideas I’m about to share will make a difference, or serve as a helpful reminder.
This is just an introduction to get you started though, as there’s a lot more to explore on the site. To help you get going, here are three easy things you can do to improve your mental health and wellbeing.
Meditate and be mindful
I’m sure I don’t need to tell you about the benefits of meditation and mindfulness. It’s important to get the right introduction though, as it can sometimes come over as a bit too spiritual or clinical for some people. The good news is that it’s really simple when you understand it. Here are three easy things you can do right now to help you meditate and be mindful.
Meditate regularly
I struggled to understand meditation for a long time and always assumed I had to do something to make it happen. I then came across a book by Chris Bailey called The Productivity Project. Although it wasn’t written specifically about the subject, he was able to provide a perfect introduction in just one line.
He simply describes how he focuses on his breath for a set time and when his mind inevitably starts to wander, he gently brings his attention back to what he’s doing.
That’s really all you need to know to get going. It’s all about focusing on the present moment for a set time, and just 10 minutes a day will make a difference. When you can, just try setting a timer, sitting in a comfortable, upright position and closing your eyes.
If you’re finding this difficult, just count in when you inhale and notice the sensations when you exhale. When you get to 10, simply start over again until your timer runs out or you want to stop. Why not try it right now and see how you feel afterwards?
If you’ve tried it before, this could be a great time to go back to it.
It also helps to think about what I consider to be the most important aspect of meditation. This is the moment when you realise that your mind has wandered and you gently bring it back to the present moment. It’s the ‘muscle’ you really need to train when you meditate and you’ll soon start to develop it in all areas of your life. It’s one of the most effective things you can do to improve your mental health and wellbeing.
For a full introduction, listen to my podcast episode, Meditate and be mindful >
Be mindful while doing things
People often get confused about the difference between mindfulness and meditation, so I’ll try something here that should help. In this introduction, let’s consider meditation to be the practice of sitting down with your eyes closed and mindfulness as those same skills in your everyday life, where it helps to keep your eyes open.
To help you get going, I’ve got a simple exercise you can try right now.
Head to your nearest sink and put your hands under the running water. Concentrate on how it feels and every sensation you experience. Really focus on the present moment and then start to ease your awareness on to what’s happening around you. The key to this exercise is doing your best to be fully present, concentrating on what’s happening right now in the moment.
This should give you a good idea of what it’s like to be mindful. You should also begin to see the benefits of being in the moment whenever you can and move beyond all those thoughts about the past and the future.
Stop thoughts spiralling out of control
I personally think that learning to stop thoughts spiralling out of control is the most important aspect of improving your mental health and wellbeing. It’s also one of the hardest things to sum up in a brief introduction, as it will take some work. Meditation and mindfulness are a great way to start though, as they will help you to effectively start changing your relationship with your mind.
It’s so easy for a simple problem to snowball into something serious, as you start considering all the worst possible outcomes. We usually travel deep into the past or the future at this point as well, and it’s usually an unpleasant experience. The key is to start to become aware when this is happening, and do something about it.
By conditioning ourselves to focus on the present moment and viewing the mind differently, we can become aware of these escalating thoughts before they start to do damage. We can also learn helpful techniques to deal with them when they get through.
I always try to remember this quote from Mark Twain - "I've had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.
Act ‘As If’
In my opinion, the ‘As If’ Principle is one of the most important things you’ll ever learn about mental health and wellbeing. It shows us that if we change the way we act, we can change the way we feel. The most interesting thing about it for me though is that it was developed by one of the pioneers of modern psychology, William James. Here are three easy things you can do right now to help you act ‘as if’.
Select the qualities you'd like to have
If you’re going to start acting like someone else, you need to think about who that might be. It also helps to think about why you’re doing this. Let’s say you’d like to be more confident. In this situation, you could use the As If Principle to help you.
Ask yourself, how do confident people act? What do they look like? What qualities do they possess. You could think about people you admire who project confidence. They could be people you know, famous faces or even fictional characters.
Once you’ve pinpointed these key qualities and have a good idea what they look like, you simply have to act like you already have them. Here’s how you do that.
Adopt a positive posture
Now you have a good idea of what a confident person looks like and the qualities they possess, you simply act ‘as if’ you have them. Focus on your posture and really feel it.
You’ll find that the body leads the mind. If you act AS IF you’re confident and in control, you’re likely to feel like you ARE more confident and in control.
We can also use this in other situations. For example, If you act ‘as if’ you’re interested in what you’re doing, you’re likely to do a better job and feel better about it while you do it.
You’ll find that the body leads the mind. This is all backed up by research and I’ve personally seen how effective this is.
For a full introduction, listen to my podcast episode, Act As If >
Force yourself to smile
One of the simplest things you can do to feel better when you’re feeling awful is to force yourself to smile. That’s right, just smile for about a minute and see what happens. Think about it, your body will respond ‘as if’ you are happy and is likely to relax and stop producing stress chemicals, like cortisol.
You’re likely to naturally feel some relief and this is all backed up by research. This technique is called the ‘Ekman Smile. Again, this is something you’re going to have to try yourself to see how amazing it can be.
Forcing yourself to smile is a great example of how the ‘As If’ Principle can be put to immediate use in tough situations. You could also try clenching your fists if you need some willpower and resilience.
The book that introduced me to the ‘As If’ Principle, and quite simply changed my life, is Rip It Up by Richard Wiseman. This is always one of the first books I recommend if someone needs help.
Change your perspective
I honestly believe that changing your perspective to a problem and the way you feel about it can make a huge difference when it comes to mental health. It’s all about changing your relationship with your mind, thinking about life a bit differently and understanding what’s going on in your body. Here are three easy things you can do right now to help you change your perspective.
Understand what’s going on inside you
It’s easy to overlook how our bodies can affect our brain and influence the way we feel. A lot of people don’t realise that we all produce a set amount of glucose, that acts as our natural energy bar. It’s limited, so we often feel a lot different when it’s depleted and some people will produce more than others.
A great first step is to notice when things are getting you down. If it’s late in the evening when you’re tired or late in the afternoon when you’re hungry, that should give you a good idea of what’s really going on. When we start to understand this, we can also start to be a bit easier on ourselves.
A good example is when you can’t sleep because something is troubling you. A simple awareness that your body and your mind will respond a lot better after sleep will help you distance yourself from these thoughts and adopt a more mindful response to them.
For more on this, listen to my podcast episode, Understand willpower >
My post, Things that influence decisions will also be helpful >
Change your story
Although they may not realise it, most people will inevitably create a narrative around their lives. This is the story they constantly tell themselves and usually live out each day. It’s also the story where a lot of people cast themselves as a victim, which can be a huge problem.
Just take a second to think about the story you tell yourself, and how you might like to change it.
My video, Why words matter takes a closer look at this >
Don’t react, respond
Most of us don’t realise how much some things get to us, or just how much time we spend festering afterwards. Wouldn’t it be great if we could find a way past this? Just imagine what you could do with all that energy.
Think about this the next time you receive an email that really pushes your buttons. I’m sure the first reaction is to ask yourself who the hell these people think they are and how they could possibly think they could treat you this way. It’s then sure to get a lot worse as you start fuming and planning your response, which is sure to take a retaliatory approach.
Wouldn’t it be great if you could save yourself all this rage though? Why not adopt a more mindful approach?
If you simply take time to work out what the message is asking you to do, and how you can do it, you’re sure to respond a lot more effectively. Rolling this approach out into all areas of your life will also help you feel better and it will probably improve your relationships.
As I said at the start, this is just the beginning. As the site expands, we’ll explore these ideas a lot more closely and there will be a lot more coming your way.
I just wanted to show you that there are simple things you can do to help you feel better. Whatever life throws at you, it helps to have your toolkit ready. These inner resources will always be with you whenever you need them.
I think the most important thing to remember is that this isn’t just for people who are struggling. These ideas and practices can be part of a proactive approach to mental health. They are here to help you feel better.