Mind Matters for Positive Mental Health

This hub will outline how one's mind matters for positive mental health in two ways, i.e. how a healthy mind is important (it matters)for mental health alongside the issues(matters) relating to positive mental health.

Furthermore, even though the term mental health is self-explanatory the use of the word positive with it is necessary because negative thinking patterns are probably the hallmark of most mental health conditions.

In this context, I use the term "positive mental health" instead of "mental health"

Some of you may have heard the latin term "Mens sana in corpore sano" which translates as follows "A healthy mind in a healthy body"

This is particularly relevant to those with mental health issues but perhaps it is more relevant to invert this motto in this instance as follows: "A healthy body in a healthy mind" as sometimes the healthy mind must come first for some people.

Many people with less than positive or indeed negative mental health abuse their bodies with substances i.e. alcohol, drugs and/or cigarettes. Another factor is that they do not differentiate between the substances (medication) that they need and the substances that they abuse and then abuse all the substances.

In my experience the most important first thing that I did was to stop smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol. The other two things that are important are a healthy diet and plenty of exercise. I have started working on these as well.

To summarize this section,the four factors of importance in maintaining mental hygiene and wellness are a good diet, plenty of exercise ,no substance abuse and taking medication as prescribed.

One of the things I do now and it is working well is that I talk about when I was unwell in the past tense. This keeps me moving in a forward direction in my journey of recovery and it prevents relapse into bad habits

Another thing worth mentioning is that this new way of thinking and living was uncomfortable at first because it was sudden and new. In my case it is easy to maintain because it is so much more comfortable than the old way of "stinking thinking" and the bad habits that I had.

This healthy way of living will perpetuate itself as one "gets into the groove" of being healthy. The burden of mental illness was a heavy one and not having to deal with it any more will continue to give me time to focus on the good things in life.

It was like moving out from a black cloud through a grey mist and eventually into the light. It is now time to hold on to the light when at last I am able to do so, having been so disabled so often in the past.

The freedom of knowing that I now have the skills to live healthily and the confidence to hope that this can continue as a new way of life is such a blessing.

I no longer have to worry about going from cycle to cycle. That pattern is broken and although it was a process, my recovery has recently accelerated . It is just my time to mend and
I am lucky.

I hope this hub has given some encouragement to anyone reading it who has a mental health condition. It also might be useful to people living with someone who is challenged to maintain their positive mental health. All of us get opportunities along the way to mend and recover. It is important to recognize these opportunities and make the most of them.

Perhaps, the two most important points to make are:

that a wholesome,gentle discipline is a much better way of dealing with the challenge of maintaining mental health than struggling and fighting a losing battle against it.

and

mental illness is not a weakness-one has to be strong to manage it in the right way to lead a normal life.