Article by guest writer & Lysn psychologist Nancy Sokarno
Our mental health is the driving force to achieving anything and everything in our lives. If you don’t fine-tune the engine then everything else fails you. Making my mental health a top priority is to avoid burnout, to foster appropriate emotional regulation and to aid in good coping mechanisms.
Self-awareness and insight is important to ensure I am consciously checking in with my thoughts and feelings to address things early on!
Prevention is always better than cure. Having positive mental health resolutions set me up to be making clarified, informed decisions on other aspects of my life, as I will be in a rational and logical state.
Intelligence
- Anything that triggers your imagination and allows you to delve into what feels good
- Learn something new
- Advance on a skill
- Research something you’re interested in or passionate about
- Listen to a podcast or watch a video that adds to your knowledge
- Practice a task you’ve been wanting to master
Creativity
- Draw
- Paint
- Coloring in
- Build
- Music
- Interior Design
- Planning
- Organizing
- Anything that triggers your imagination and allows you to delve into what feels good
Gratitude
- Love, compassion, grace and forgiveness can all be acts of gratitude
- Take the time to be grateful for small elements in your life, thank someone for things otherwise taken for granted, be consciously aware of the positives in your life. Not allowing “negative emotions” to carry anymore more weight than a positive emotion would carry
Self Care
- Scheduling in things that are solely for the purpose of YOU
- Pamper yourself
- Positive self talk
- Take time out
- Schedule what you eat for the week to be nourishing, for sustenance and energy
- Sleep
- Exercise
- Discuss how you feel with more honesty
- Flag things you feel uncomfortable about
- Set personal boundaries
- Decompress from the day
Exercise
- Move your body and mind
- Exert physical energy
- Stretch, run, walk , skip
- Weight train, Box, Swim, yoga , Pilates, ride
- Thought journal
- Express your feelings and emotions
Mindfulness
- Meditate
- Pray
- Grounding Exercises
- Progressive Muscle Relaxation
- Diaphragmatic Breathing
- Undivided Attention Exercises
- Unhook from social media
- Pause before you speak or act
