This week is Mental Health Awareness week in the UK… and whilst I love the fact we are shining a light on mental health, I truly do believe every day should be a good mental health day.
8 Wise Ways: To A Healthy Happier Mind
The first step in achieving balance in our lives is to become consciously aware when something in our lives is out of balance.
This past year, for many of us we would have lost our emotional connection to our support groups, our environments became smaller from being locked down.
Perhaps it was harder for some of us to take care of our physical beings, or socially we wouldn’t have been able to hug or see those people we have an emotional connection with.
For some of us our occupations either where under more pressure to deliver or came with a sense of not knowing if or when we would return to work.
All these areas of our lives, though very different in each household, likely one or two at the very lease will have been out of balance for a period of time, which can have a detrimental effect.
I mentioned at the beginning its about being consciously aware of the areas in life that were out of balance, if you nodded to any of the above, then the 8Wise™ approach may go some way to helping you to see where you could start to redress the balance.
8 Wise is a tried and tested formula that I use with all clients, to help them to gain a sense of purpose, be actively involved in both their work and personal lives, have hobbies that are satisfying, find happiness, have joyful relationships, and assisting them with looking at ways to cultivate a healthy body and living environment.
The eight core dimensions are as follows:
· Emotional - When you are emotionally well you have a positive attitude, high self-esteem, a strong sense of self and the ability to recognise and share a wide range of feelings with others in a constructive way. You find it easy to cope with life and build successful relationships.
· Physical - To achieve physical wellbeing, you need to take proper care of your body for optimal health and functioning. Eat healthy foods, exercise, get adequate sleep every night and avoid the bad habits that come with consuming or doing things to excess.
· Spiritual - Spiritual wellbeing has to do with finding meaning in life events, understanding your life’s purpose and living in a way that reflects your values and beliefs.
· Environmental - To be environmentally well, you need to be aware of the interactions between the environment, your community and yourself and behave in such a way that reflects a responsible and caring attitude towards each one. You should spend most of your time in a place that soothes you and in the company of individuals who support you.
· Social - When you’ve achieved social wellbeing, you will have built strong relationships with others, dealt with conflict appropriately, and connected to a positive social network.
· Intellectual – You are stimulated and intellectually well when you are willing to learn and are open to new ideas. You also make time to embrace creativity, you engage with critical thinking and you aspire to seek out healthy new challenges and adventures.
· Occupational - Seek to have a career that is interesting, enjoyable, meaningful and that contributes to wider society. Then, put your focus on and being content with the progress you have made.
· Financial - You don’t need to be rich to achieve financial health, but you do need to live within your means and learn to manage your finances for both the short and long term, with the aim of having enough to be happy.
If you are interested in taking a deeper into each dimension and be equipped with the tools to be able to assess yourself, then check out my new book 8Wise Ways. The book has been written for those looking to bring some balance to their lives, because the real pandemic is the mental health crisis that was already looming prior to COVID-19.
2021 is a year for each individual to take back control of their mental health, and so this book will help the reader with taking their first steps towards becoming more resilient.