I wanted to write something for my blog today to do my bit for World Mental Health Day. I was diagnosed with a Chronic Pain condition many years ago and have since spent a lot of time doing research to better understand the condition. I was told there was no known cause or cure and given a very bleak prognosis.
As the name implies this condition has it’s physical challenges but also affects me mentally and emotionally. Finding the link between physical symptoms and my mental & emotional state was a complete game changer for me and I’ve been studying this area ever since.
Our thoughts & feelings have a significant impact on our physical health and vice versa. This is the area I am fascinated by and I have delved into researching things like the subconscious mind, positive thinking, the present moment and even getting into things like quantum entanglement.
I have learned that we all experience life through our own individual reality and therefore we are all unique and live our lives completely differently to everyone else. This is why dealing with our thoughts and emotions can be so challenging because we all experience things in our own way. To be human in this day and age is extremely complex and a lot of our core survival functions are still based on those that used to help us survive an attack from a sabre tooth tiger hundreds of thousands of years ago. Yet the threat these days isn’t from a wild animal, it’s your boss, an irate driver, a tax bill or your spouse and so on.
The important thing to remember is that you are not broken. Your mind body is working as designed. It’s just working with some incorrect data and research into Neuroplasticity proves that we can rewire our brains and correct it.
So, what do I do to help myself when my thoughts and feelings are on a downward spiral ? I keep things as simple as possible;
Focus on my Breathing – As soon as I focus on my breathing I become present. As soon as I am present I am using my conscious mind. This means that whatever “story” my subconscious was playing get’s turned off. Whatever thoughts were there are quieted and I move from fight or flight to rest and repair.
Meditate – Again, the first thing that meditation does is move you into rest & repair. If nothing else this is a positive step. However, I have meditated for a while now and take great comfort from this personal down time. You can’t stop your thoughts but through meditation you learn to recognise that you are not your thoughts. This makes it easier to just let them come and go without getting carried away by them. As the saying goes, everyone should meditate for 20 minutes a day, and if you don’t have time for that you should meditate for an hour !
Cold Therapy – ok, not something you can’t do at a moment’s notice, but, every morning I take a cold plunge for a few minutes. I have been doing this for 5 months (at time of writing) so it must be doing something good ! It’s not for everyone but I get so much out of it. The body perceives the cold as danger or stress so by immersing yourself into this stressful situation, taking control of your breathing and relaxing, you are teaching your body that it doesn’t need to “react” to stressful situations. Typically, your first reaction would be to tense up, shiver and breathe irratically. But by relaxing into this situation, slowing your breathing, you are showing your subconscious mind that it doesn’t need to react to stress in that way. This then sets you up for the rest of the day because you are most likely not going to experience anything like that during the rest of the day. And the more you do it, the easier it gets.
All of these things help me every day and I certainly notice it if I miss my morning plunge. But, there is one other thing far more effective than breathwork or meditation. Talking.
Talking – Life is complicated enough and finding ways to cope doesn’t have to be complicated as well. In fact, the simpler the solution the better because you’ll be more inclined to do it. And I can’t stress this enough, talking really does help. As soon as you open up you can feel the weight lift. It’s not about talking to someone so they can tell you what to do, it’s just talking about it out loud to get it off your chest. You may even find a way through your current situation as you speak about it.
If you aren’t ready for that or don’t have someone to turn to, then write it down. This works as well, get it off your chest and onto the paper. You can then throw it away or burn it as I someties do, It’s very theraputic. The main thing is don’t bottle it up.
It all comes down to thought, not what is happening, but your thoughts about it. And thoughts can be changed. You really are just one thought away from a better life and that could simply be your thoughts about whether to open up or not. Go for it.
If you have read this far, thank you very much. I know this was worth writing because it will help at least one person in some way or another.
#worldmentalhealthday
Just a Thought 