Today, October 10th, is world mental health awareness day. Although this may be just another calendar day, just another one of those "awareness" days we see on the Gram, I find it especially important to address mental health now. Stress, anxiety and depression have spiked this year and I'm not surprised.
Years ago, when I began suffering with debilitating anxiety, I had no clue how to help myself. It was a truly isolating and dreadful experience. I can only imagine how lonely and scared so many people are right now, without the knowledge of how to manage their mental health. This breaks my heart.
Mental health is so crucial to living a beautiful life. Working on it every day can be daunting at first, but it is well worth it. One thing I encourage my clients to do to improve their mental health is check in with their emotions to see where their vibration is. This practice was first introduced to me about 7 years ago and even though by then I was mentally and physically thriving, I was able to further better myself using it.
Think about how you feel right now. The thoughts in your mind. Are they happy thoughts? Are you feeling gratitide and joy? Do your thoughts race? Running in circles around your head, scrambling to remember everything, worrying about so many things? Do you feel angry, placing blame on people or circumstances that you have no control over? Are you in despair, or are you sad and unmotivated?
Your feelings are thoughts that you keep thinking, so when your vibration is low, your thoughts are also low. It can be really difficult to climb your way up the emotional scale. It takes patience, practice and persistence but once you learn how to do it, you can take yourself from anger to hope in no time. The lowest level of emotional vibration is despair, fear and powerlessness. The highest is joy, love, appreciation and freedom.
Here are 5 tips to help raise your vibration and help you move up the emotional scale right now:
1- Sleep. A good sleep is not only essential to your physical being, it is absolutely crucial to your mental health. Energy naturally replenishes and resets when we meditate, nap or sleep. It's almost like when your computer is overloaded so you shut all apps down and restart it. It's up and running just fine until you restore all the same apps. You end up with the same problems...which leads me to my next tip.
2- Gratitude. This is an instant vibration boost. Upon waking, even before you fully open your eyes, say good morning to yourself, your body and mind, and list 3 things you are grateful for. For me, it's usually, Good morning, I am so grateful I slept well last night. I'm grateful for another day to make myself better and help other be better. I appreciate my life so much and it's a good day to have a great day. When I first began this practice, I woul laugh at myself, even make fun of myself! But, the more I did it, the more my vibration rose and the better I felt. So, don't grab your coffee and phone. Grab your coffee and your journal, or bible or daily affirmation book. Start the day with 15 minutes of positive, encouraging mental nourishment!
3 - Be generous. Generosity is one of those magical actions that can take your mood from disgusted to delighted very quickly. You don't need money to be generous. You can be generous with your time, helping someone who needs it, or by sharing your knowledge. You can get coffee for the stranger in line behind you. You can send a card to a loved one filled with words of kindness. Being generous with kindness creates an amazing tingle in the spirit! My personal favorite, however, is being generous with your compliments. Everyone you encounter, notice something about them, their appearance, attitude, work ethic, anything at all, and generously compliment them.
4 - Forgive. Ah yes, the very difficult task of forgiveness. It is so helpful to your soul to forgive! It can help release pent up anger, allowing room for better emotions. You can forgive anyone or anything. The store clerk for snapping at you, the weather for ruining your plans, your mother for ruining your life or, the best choice, forgive yourself. Forgive yourself for everything you think you've done wrong, or failed at. Forgive every mistake you've made and bad word you've spoken. Forgive the way you have treated yourself and others. Feel how much lighter you'll be, how much better you will be, once you have truly started to forgive.
5 - Love. So simple but we complicate the hell out of it. Love, feel it. Embrace it. Let it swallow you up. Focus on someone or something that is easy to love, that brings you true joy. This doesn't have to be romantic.This can be any love. Love for gardening. For your dog. For your parent or your child. Love for your best friend. Love for yourself. Especially for yourself. Take 5 minutes in the morning and in the evening to feel love.
As you continue to use these tips, you'll notice your mood improving and with that your mental health too. Of course, these are just a few ways to work your way up the emotional scale, which is helpful, but there are so many other tools and resources available to you. Do not ever skimp on taking care of yourself, body, mind and spirit. You are worthy of feeling good and whole and happy.
*If you are feeling especially down, sad or even off, please call your doctor or the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255