Our minds are the driving force of our lives. If we don’t nurture, exercise and rest our minds on a regular, if not daily basis, we can be sure burnout is about to rear its ugly head. I like to think of mental well-being as three, strong pillars, with a cute & happy little brain balancing on the top…
… to feel good mentally, we need those three, strong pillars:
- exercise
- rest
- nurture
Failure to properly exercise, rest and nurture your mind leads to stress and ultimately burnout. You know you don’t want that, not when you’ve got little souls depending on you. But don’t worry, I got you. You can get started on self-care for your mind right now and here’s how:
EXERCISE
1. Read
We have a device at our finger-tips or in front of our eyes for hours and hours each day. Beautiful photographs & entertaining television and videos are so easy to consume, mindless activity tricking us into believing distraction is a way of re-energising. While some mindless activity is useful, the amount we are consuming (and only really using our eyes to do so – videos and pictures leave little room for active imagination or thought) is lowering our concentration spans (and our children’s too). Reading a book, however, requires you to engage your mind and mentally create images of what you’re experiencing. It takes focus and concentration therefore exercising your mind effectively.
REST
2. Yoga
You don’t need to include the religious words and anything you feel uncomfortable with, but the stretches and principles of yoga for exercise are so effective to relax and rest our busy minds.
I currently enjoy following Yoga with Adriene on Youtube, especially as she usually wears modest outfits and has no music in her videos. (There is a little intro about 30 seconds in, you might wish to skip.)
3. Take a walk in nature
Allah has made us naturally engaged and intrigued by nature. It healthily distracts us from pain and stress, replacing them with the organic, pleasant feelings we sense when we allow ourselves to be absorbed by natural surroundings.
Learn more about the benefits of being in nature, here:
https://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/how-does-nature-impact-our-wellbeing
NURTURE
4. Positive self-talk
Be your own best friend by getting into the habit of self-talk. This is literally creating the voice of a best friend or ideal mum/spouse in your mind, who cheers you on throughout your lows and shines the light on all the hard work and effort you do instead.
Watch ‘The Parenting Junkie’ self-talk further:
5. Journaling
Pro-actively writing out your challenges, allows you to be in the driving seat, finding solutions to your own challenges. It’s extremely empowering and immediately effective as you tap into and increase your self-awareness.
Here’s how I journal my way through challenges I face:
- What is my current challenge?
- How does it make me feel?
- How do I want to feel/want things to be?
- What is the root of this challenge?
- What actions can I take to address the challenge?
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