“Mental health is not a destination, but a process. It’s about how you drive, not where you are going.” – Naom Shpancer
If you are mentally healthy you are blessed with wellness of the mind and the absence of mental illness. But what exactly is Mental healthy and why is it so important?
What Is Mental Health?
Our mental health encompasses our view of the world, in terms of our thought patterns and how we act out on them. It is inclusive of our social efficacy, psychological stability, and our emotional well-being. Our ability to understand or empathize with other people is reliant on our mental health, as well as, our stress management.
What does it mean to be mentally healthy?
If you are of sound mental health you are blessed with the wellness of the mind and the absence of mental illness. Struggling with your mental health does not necessarily mean you suffer from any mental health issues, like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. It does, however, mean your perception is clouded by negative thoughts and this will make it hard for you to relate to others, including your loved ones, who can on occasion be the hardest ones to understand. Mental health means you are able to manage your emotions and your behavior will follow suit, allowing you to get better enjoyment out of life.
What makes a person mentally healthy?
Mental health conditions like anxiety or bipolar disorder are experienced by 5% of the adult population. Being mentally healthy is not the absence of the said disorders or mental illnesses.
Being a mentally healthy person is someone who is able to function in a number of aspects of their lives from making and keeping friends, understanding the roots of their emotions, and acting out on them accordingly.
How do you know if you are mentally healthy?
If you are mentally healthy it means your ability to function in certain aspects of your life is at an optimal level.
- Ability and willingness to learn
Having a negative mindset can instill hesitation or fear of rejection or humiliation. If you manage those aspects positively with things like positive affirmations,
- Maintain good relationships
Having optimal mental health allows you to empathize with others. It also allows you to enjoy your time when you are out with your friends and be more present at the moment. having good mental health can also enable you to perceive everything as a threat or criticism.
- Bounces back
Resilience and perseverance are also qualities someone with good mental health possesses. Resilient people tend to be resourceful and have a means of sorting out any situation so they can continue along their path.
- Great support system
If one is lonely, without a supportive system of friends and family you will struggle with poor mental health. Someone who is supported by others is able to offer support themselves, thus facilitating a life of positivity and growth. This is especially important during this Coronavirus pandemic we are all living through.
- Less expectation
It can emotionally hurtful or disappointing if people do not meet up to your expectations. People with sound mental health do not see themselves up for disappointment and they appreciate that which comes their way.
How to be mentally healthy: 8 Tips to cultivate good mental health
Do not fear that you have a mental disorder just because you had a breakdown or resorted to substance use. There is a difference between a mental illness and making poor choices. This is just a sign you need to work on yourself. The good news there are many preventative methods you can practice which will not take a huge amount of time out of your life. Here is a list of eight.
1. Sleep
Not getting enough sleep can negatively impact your mental health
2. Exercise
Your physical health is closely related to your mental health. You can achieve wellness if the two are functioning well. Physical activity leads to the production and release of endorphins, commonly known as the happy hormone.
3. Laughter
A belly full of laughter has a huge impact on the amount of oxygen intake and flow within your body. This helps to spread the rush of endorphins thus limiting the amount of cortisol – the stress hormone.
4. Practice mindfulness
In the fast-paced routines of our lives, we can often get swept away with all the emotions and thoughts we experience. Being mindful means being aware of your emotional health. Take note of how certain situations make you feel.
5. Meditate
Practicing regular meditation has shown signs of improvement in your concentration, self-esteem. It can reduce your levels of stress and help manage your anxiety and depression.
6. Positive affirmations
It is a natural human response to be negative towards something you do not understand yet. Practicing positive affirmations like: “I am”; or; “I can” facilitates positivity and hopefulness when learning new skills.
7. Practice gratitude
Let attitude be your attitude! studies have suggested the daily appreciation of everything and everyone you have in your life. This enables you to think of the positive aspects of your life and those will, in turn, assist with the negative.
8. Professional help
Seeking professional help has a negative stigma against it but it should never be feared. We all go through ups and downs but it is advised that if your downs last more than a fortnight, your self-efficacy takes a tumble, or if your thoughts turn suicidal then you should seek out some guidance. This can come in the form of psychiatry where they can prescribe antidepressants, only if necessary.
Key takeaways on being mentally healthy
Achieving wellness is an undeniably important mission for our lives and in order to achieve this one must. Be sure to be mindful of your daily life experiences and potential mental health problems and be open to accepting health care if needed to help deal with the inevitable changes that life brings.
Written by:
Jade Small
Firstly, to start recovering from any form of abuse one must learn to recognize that one is being abused. In order to recognize the abuse, one must understand the specific abuse they’re receiving. So, what is narcissistic abuse? Contrary to popular opinion, People who suffer from narcissistic personality disorder are not simply in love with themselves. In fact, it’s the total opposite. Their actions, words and behavior are driven by their true feeling of low self-worth. In order to avoid facing their insecurities, they project their idealized image of themselves onto others and portray themselves as if they are better than everyone. Empathy for others is hard to come by – if it exists at all. It’s as if only themselves and their opinion matters. 
The path to recovery will not be the same for everyone as we are all unique beings with our own experiences under our belts. Yet this time of self-care is essential for our mental health. This road to recovery might feel like you are moving in zigzags and at first, you might not be able to forget excuses you made for your partner for what seems like for a while but you must not give up.
Your confidence in yourself and your newly obtained knowledge of how to handle narcissistic people has bloomed. Forgiving yourself is easier at this stage because you understand how blindsiding narcissistic abuse can be. With this new sense of optimism, you start thinking forward and making plans for your future. Of course, remanence of your previous way of thinking might resurface from time to time but their intensity will diminish soon enough. 
Find a narcissistic abuse recovery therapist
A spiritual bath is like no other. It cannot be compared to your daily bath with soap and shampoo. It is a ritual for spiritual cleanliness. Spiritual baths, reminiscent of the ancient Roman baths, require some powerful ingredients which activate the bathwater with their pure vibrations which can clear blockages, ensure a positive state of mind by removing negative thoughts, cleanse your chakras and facilitate a sense of inner peace.
As we are all very unique and complicated beings, there are a myriad of different ritual baths you can choose from, all for a specific intention.
Everyone dreams of wealth to a certain degree. Whether you want tons of materialistic things like cars and houses or even just to live comfortably and able to provide for your family, a ritual bath for manifesting money and abundance into your life probably wouldn’t hurt. 
How many times have you argued with yourself in your head today? It’s okay to admit that we can be quite hard on yourselves. There are a lot of expectations of us in today’s world and the media does not help by brainwashing us into thinking our curves are ugly. We need to practice more self-love and this spiritual bath will facilitate just that.
This kind of bath can literally be done by directly swimming in the ocean. Of course, the vast majority of us do not have such luxuries therefore we have to source our sea salt and add it manually to our baths. It sounds laborious but it’s worth it. It will leave you feeling fresh and rejuvenated as the sea salt has amazing aura cleansing properties.
