A HEALTHY MIND IN 7 STEPS
Mind-Body Connection
A healthy mind is essential to happiness, confidence and contentment. But getting a healthy mind is not a matter of simply deciding to be healthy. Just as a healthy body takes work to achieve and must be maintained, the same goes for a healthy mind.
We know for a healthy body we need to exercise, eat a balanced diet (including your 5-a-day), and drink 2 litres of water. Just because we know what to do doesn’t mean we do it though, but at least we know what to do, and so if we’re not doing it, we don’t expect to be physically fit and healthy.
The issue with having a healthy mind, is that we don’t necessarily know what it takes to develop this healthier state of well-being.
Well look no further, here are the 7 steps you need to take to get your mind healthy, happy, confident and content.
1. Sleep Time: studies show that all human adults (bar a very small percentage) require 8 to 9 hours sleep a night. Getting less than this 5 work nights a week and thinking you can catch up on a weekend with a lie in is a falsity.
2. Physical Time: the mind and body are connected. Your brain gets exercise when you physically exert yourself. Its is put to work managing your physiology, and it also benefits from the hormonal changes.
3. Focus Time: Your mind benefits from being put to work and challenged by being focused on work tasks. So work, be it paid or for pleasure, is essential exercise for a healthy mind.
4. Time In: This is one of the most under-performed areas of mind health in the western world. Time in, means time alone, in mediation where you silently withdraw within yourself and allow your mind to bring your attention to different parts of your body without the distractions of the external world.
5. Down Time: We all need rest time, where we reduce the pressure and demands we place on our body and mind. Time to relax and allow ourselves to be entertained. For many of us, this maybe watching TV or playing computer games, and this is fine in moderation, so long as it’s balanced with the other 7 elements and not used to avoid sleep time, physical time or time in.
6. Play Time: Play time is something we couldn’t get enough of as kids, and yet we seem to move away from it as we age. Play time, is about being creative, purposeless and having fun. Embrace your inner child and get silly, its freeing and relaxing for both mind and body.
7. Connecting Time: We are social creatures, we enjoy the connection and stimulation of being with others. Being with the people we car about, who make us feel secure and where we feel we belong. Stay connected, and not just through social media, but allow your mind and body to connect physically by being in the same room as another human being, and share emotions and energy (this is not a careful way of talking about sex, I just mean enjoy another person’s company). Your mind will thank you for it, and it is relaxes and feels stimulated your body will reflect this positive change too.
So these are the 7 steps to a healthy mind. Now you have the information you need to start practising and improving your mind’s healthy and therefore get closer to thinking, feeling and behaving happy, confident and contented each and every day.
And remember, the mind-body connection has to be strengthened before trouble arrives, so don’t delay, get started today!
If you would like help with getting started, or maintaining your practice, please feel free to get in touch in the comments below, or email info@yourvelvetevolution.com.
Wishing you a happy and confident day!
Lydia x
n.b. this post is inspired by the work of neuro-biologist of human moods and mental states, Dr. Daniel J. Siegel of UCLA.