Thinking Well
Emotional stress is far too common. People are under the false belief that by simply exercising and watching their diets they are healthy. Your mental outlook or attitude is just as important as your diet or level of physical activity. If you are usually happy, rarely worry or stress, are surrounded by loving and supportive friends, enjoy your job, laugh regularly, love, are consistently grateful and rarely get angry, guilty, anxious, scared, etc. you probably have a good handle on this aspect of life. Unfortunately, most people don’t.
The good news is that you can change your thoughts and attitude but it takes time and training just like anything else. As a chiropractor, my job is to give you nudges, hope or encouragement when your stressed out. It has been said that, once you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change! Below are tips in your journey towards mental health.
13 Steps to Happiness:
1. Be grateful for what you have daily! The following Persian proverb is amazingly true today, “I cursed the fact that I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet.” I recommend spending time before bed and before rising daily on what you are grateful for.
2. Listen to calming, relaxing, up-beat music that makes you feel good. Rock, punk, and rap usually don’t fall into this category. What a gift music is!
3. Spend time in nature. You are part of the miracle of life and you yourself are an ecosystem, look at it with awe.
4. Go out of your way to do something nice for a loved one or stranger on a daily basis. Donate, connect, volunteer, give, encourage…
5. Write down your values and look at regularly. This list will evolve, grow, and distill. Your values are your compass for decision making.
6. Surround yourself with people who support and love you, and give that love back.
7. Regardless of you religious affiliation, try praying. People who pray and have faith in a higher benign power have been shown to have better quality and quantity of life.
8. View mistakes, obstacles, and undesired results as blessings and opportunities for you to grow and learn. You are flawed and that is perfect. There is no such thing failure, only learning. By viewing things differently, you change your reality and hence physiology.
9. Visualize in detail what it is you want. Sounds easy, right? Most people do the exact opposite, they focus on what they don't want to happen. Again, the consequence is creating stress in your mind that before the thought, did not exist.
10. Don't take life so seriously! Laugh as much as possible. Watching comedies, reading or telling jokes, and being silly help make life fun.
11. Meditate as much as you can. There are many different forms of meditation; find one that works for you. I cannot emphasize enough how important meditation is as part of your health lifestyle, just like chiropractic care. Slow down that incessant mental chatter.
12. Forgive yourself and others. Holding on to anger will only hurt YOU!
13. Finally, enjoy this marvelous life NOW, because when you are on your deathbed wouldn't it be nice to look back and say I lived, loved, left the planet a better place and I have no regrets!
For more detailed information please attend the Think Well™ talk, it’s free.