SELF CARE ◽HEALTH
Self-Care Tips for the Mind
Self-care can be a path to greatness — Here’s how!
First, Don’t Believe the Lies About Self-Care!
True self-care isn’t for the weak, the selfish or the lazy. Let’s just get this out of the way.
Self-care isn’t just pampering yourself and whining about any perceived discomforts in your life. And don’t let any over-reaching, ambitionist, self-claimed self-help gurus try to tell you so.
You’ve seen these types, right? They prance around with their chests puffed out and tell you that your self-care efforts are a waste of time. You merely lack the strength and fortitude of real winners — right?
You may hear things like “self-care is for the weak and whiny” or “self-care is a waste of time” — show me the folks who are saying these things and I’ll show you someone who is afraid of their own greatness, no matter what image they project of themselves.
Show me a self-care naysayer — I’ll show you someone who will crash and burn while reaching for the stars from a wobbly self-made stepstool.
You and I know better. You and I know that when the mind is under duress, nothing in life makes sense. And this month in September, Self-Care Awareness Month, I’m writing a lot about self-care, how we do it, how we feel about it, and how different types of self-care are necessary.
FOR EASY NAVIGATION ∘ SELF CARE ◽HEALTH
· First, Don’t Believe the Lies About Self-Care!
∘ Self-Care as a Path to Greatness
· 1. Self-Care for the Mind
∘ Take time to unplug
∘ Feed your mind properly
∘ Practice self-preservation while also living bravely
∘ Be careful what you put into your mind
∘ For your mind’s sake, get some sleep
∘ Get some therapy
∘ Lastly, consider cannabinoids
· Your Takeaway Today
∘ FOR MORE READINGSelf-Care as a Path to Greatness
Self-care is important, but how do we practice self-care without sliding down a slippery slope of selfishness or being so self-absorbed our heads are plunged into the sand? We practice self-care as a purposeful method of keeping ourselves fit, both mentally and physically. We do it with purpose.
We take the reactional self-care and save that for indulgences…but the daily mental wellness and cognitive function support our minds need — this takes precedence over merely responding to our bodies’ wants and needs. We practice self-care with self-awareness and with intent.
Benefits of Self-Care
There are real benefits of self-care and it boils down to helping yourself to have a healthy mind, body, and spirit.
- Clearer mind
- Improved cognitive performance
- Self-empowerment
- More targeted behaviors to support wellness
- More well-managed stress
- Better sleep
- Personal greatness!
True greatness often begins with wellness.
A wellness path to greatness is optimal for everyone involved. We know that ignoring your own self’s needs is the first step to:
- Burnout & mental exhaustion
- Health scares
- Leading a life that feels more like a hamster wheel than actual, sustainable happiness.
Today, I’m addressing how to use self-care as a way to keep your mind healthy — so you can achieve the greatness you know you can. So you can achieve the well-rounded and fulfilling life that we all want, but only few are brave enough to claim for themselves.
Self-Care for the Mind
The mind is a complex thing. We tend to think of it in terms of trauma and healing, relationships and behavior, but there’s so much more to it than that.
We tend to think of the mind as something we care for — when it needs it.
Like our minds are reactional to what’s going on in our lives and we simply get some help for it if we need it, but even without any kind of mental health issues in your life, your brain has important work to do.
And you must care for your mind as you would your heart — because, just like our hearts, the brain has essential functions to perform. I am sure we can all agree — without the mind being great, we cannot achieve any level of greatness for ourselves.
We’d simply be a weakened version of our own possibility.
Ignoring your own self’s needs is the first step to burnout, health scares, and to leading a life that feels more like a hamster wheel than actual, sustainable happiness.
Any mind — healthy, unwell, impaired or otherwise— can be supported with self-care routines that keep your mind working to its own best ability — and in my opinion, that’s greatness.
So, let’s talk a little about how you can prioritize self-care for your mind.
Take time to unplug
Take a few moments each day to unplug from distractions. Separate yourself from all the incoming sensory interruptions to your thinking to simply sit with yourself, calm the mind, and check in with your own emotional wellness.
These small moments can help you to re-center yourself and stay focused on your own wellness.
If you live without awareness it is the same as being dead. You cannot call that kind of existence being alive. Many of us live like dead people because we live without awareness. We carry our dead bodies with us and circulate throughout the world. We are pulled into the past or we are pulled forward into the future or we are caught by our projects or our despair and anger. We are not truly alive; we are not inhabited by awareness of the miracle of being alive.
— Thich Nhat Hanh
This is a good time for you to learn how to practice mindfulness, learn to meditate, work on your prayer life, or listen to a podcast…but as wonderful as those things are, they are still things you are doing.
Unplugging from everything means you are simply sitting with yourself.
You are taking a moment to listen to your own breath. Mentally checking in with yourself. Allowing yourself a moment to stop, breathe, cry, sigh, smile.
Whatever helps you to feel re-centered — Do it.
Every day. Without fail.
Feed your mind properly
Healthy foods can feed your mind with antioxidants, Omega-3s, and other brain-rich foods. But our modern diets include very little of this. Is there any wonder, then, that our minds are like fogged-up windshields through which the world is difficult to see clearly?
Consider these brain-healthy foods:
- Omega-3 fatty acids — two servings of fish each week
- Vitamin E and antioxidants— Nuts, seeds, berries, dark chocolate, dark leafy greens, whole grains
- Healthy fats — Extra virgin olive oil, avocados
Practice self-preservation while also living bravely
I am often told that I live bravely. This isn’t something that comes naturally to me, at all, but something I have learned to do. I have many traumas and PTSD as a result, but also a deep curiosity about the world — which makes me realize that life is so brief, that we must take each opportunity offered to us.
➡️You can’t feel the joys of life while hiding behind your past pains or fears.
➡️You cannot open yourself to the opportunities of life while holding on to what’s been safe, and possibly too safe for you.
➡️Stagnancy stunts you.
Your mind can be more challenged when you take a step out your front door, as Tolkein suggested.
“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
Though this sounds more like a warning…it kicked off the great adventure of the tales of Frodo, his people, and the One Ring. This adventure saved Middle Earth and created the beloved character arcs through which we all saw great growth, courage, and mental strength. Oftentimes these are lessons that go unlearned from the safety of our regular lives.
Be careful what you put into your mind
This is something I feel very strongly about, but to make certain it’s what the experts also think, I did a little digging to find out just how much what we put into our minds affects our mind’s health.
- One study that measured psychological distress in journalists who were routinely exposed to violent images in the workplace made this conclusion (bold emphasis mine):
suggests that frequency rather than duration of exposure to images of graphic violence is more emotionally distressing to journalists working with User Generated Content material.
and
reducing the frequency of exposure may be one way to go.
In addition, here’s a paper on the connection between political violence and repression and mental health.
- One study refuted the widely argued theory that daily play of violent video games contributes to a lack of empathy and an increase in aggressive behavior. Though this topic is still highly debated, think of this in terms of: 1. Is it healthy for [individual] and 2. Is it contributing positively to one’s life? If it feels imbalanced or feels like it’s negatively impacting one’s health — then, make the brave choice to choose your health over the perceived need for violent games. As a parent, I felt this wasn't healthy for my boys and limited or selected less-violent games for them to play. To this day, they prefer to play fantasy games rather than realistic violent games like Grand Theft Auto.
- One study involved television watching [in general — not just violent tv] in children and concluded that all three of their hypotheses concerning negative impacts of regular television viewing in children and their mental health were supported, stating in conclusion that:
Heavy television viewing by children may indicate the presence of problems such as depression, anxiety, and violent behaviors; such viewing should be screened for by psychiatrists and other mental health professionals working with children.
J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry, 1998, 37(10):1041–1048.
The point here is not to eliminate the things you love — but to be mindful of the health impact those things may have. Be mindful of their impact on your mind and of when certain activities or viewing materials should be limited. Especially before bed!
For your mind’s sake, get some sleep
Speaking of bedtime —pre-sleep winding down and sleeping time are both sacred for your mind’s health.
Related reading: 12 Tips for Waking Up with Positivity and Battling Sleep Inertia
One study on veterans and the mental health impact of sleep concluded that:
Sleep duration may be an important marker for psychiatric and health risk behavior problems, and our results suggest that clinical assessment of sleep disturbance in this veteran group is warranted to assess for both short and long sleep.
You can see the recommendations for daily required sleep by age by visiting the Sleep Foundation’s website. Make your sleep a top priority, now and moving forward. Your mind will reap the benefits.
Get some therapy
Greatness.com reports that therapy isn’t just for those struggling with mental health issues, but an important tool we all can use to help keep our minds clear and mentally healthy, and to help us navigate decision-making and self-care efforts for a more meaningful and stable life.
In 5 Reasons Why Therapy Is for Everyone (Plus, How to Get Started), Greatness.com outlines 5 reasons why therapy can help anyone in their life:
- Therapy helps us see things blocking our way
- Therapy improves our communication skills
- Therapy helps us to recognize, communicate, and promote healthy boundaries
- Therapy fosters growth through discomfort
- Therapy helps you support and maintain better mental health
Lastly, consider cannabinoids
Full disclosure here: I make the largest portion of my income through writing about cannabinoids and how they can improve your life. So, I’m a big fan. Plus, I take a lot of CBD products. They’ve helped me to find more calm in my life, focus more on my work without mental fatigue and clogged or scattered thinking, and to manage the chronic pain that without CBD dominates my life.
If you are in a position to consider CBD (meaning you are not a doctor, a part of the military or some other position that means you cannot take CBD products), then talk with your doctor or mental health professional about whether CBD may help you to live a more mentally comfortable and productive life.
Your Takeaway Today
The true key to achieving greatness through self-care is to keep it balanced: Mind, Body, Spirit. To follow this article on self-care for your mind, I’m also writing on self-care for the body and self-care for the spirit. As these works are completed, I’ll share the links below.
FOR MORE READING
- Self-Care Tips for the Body
- Self-Care Tips for the Spirit
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Meet your author: Christina M. Ward is a lifelong beauty and wellness enthusiast with a professional writing career in the wellness, health, and clean beauty industries. Her work has been featured in Today’s Health Science, LA Weekly and most recently, the Village Voice out of New York and OK! Magazine.
Follow her writing newsletter or join her poetry community newsletter for more on how you can live your dream of writing for a living. If she can do it — so can you!
Remember: The true key to achieving greatness with self-care tips and through practice is to keep it balanced:
Mind, Body, Spirit.
