Early from our childhood days, we have been taught to take care of our health, follow habits that include brushing our teeth, bathing, brush our hair, eat good food, learn to find a job, wear good clothes and follow a routine to lead a good socially acceptable life.However, we tend to pay very less attention to maintaining the health of our mind which plays a significant role in a person’s life.

To be truly happy and successful we need a combination of physical and mental health.

Our Mind is a strong weapon that has been gifted to us . It is like a knife that can be used for different purposes. It can be used to cut vegetables or kill a person. Positive emotions of love energizes us whereas negative emotions of fear, hatred, sorrow drains our energy and makes us tired and develops into mental health issues. We often pollute our minds with different kinds of negative emotions and never realize the impact it has on us until it manifests as anxiety, depression and other mental health issues.

If we are able to gain self control over our thoughts and emotions through training our mind, we can elevate ourselves to lead a life of bliss as that itself is the doorway to an awakened state.

Today, I am going to share with you 3 simple practices that can help us develop and maintain good mental health.

The first practice is Meditation . Meditation means giving love and attention to ourselves in order to tap the infinite potential of our minds.Meditation can help us to create inner peace and joy within us in order to prepare us to stay calm while we encounter the challenges for the day.

I would like to give you an example of how meditation has helped me to remain calm and provided me clarity to accomplish a recent achievement in my life.

As a part of progressing in my career, I had to complete a certification .So I started my day with meditation and prepared myself for the day before heading out for my examination. When I reached the exam centre , the examiner verified my details and tried to enter an authorization code to start the exam. However the code did not work even after several attempts.Meditation helped me to remain calm, patient and grounded .This allowed the examiner also to try alternatives and find a solution that helped to get a new code which worked. Although I started my exam 15 minutes late, I was able to remain calm, think clearly and focus on my responses . That helped me to provide accurate answers that helped me to accomplish my certification successfully.

The next practice is incorporating a positive mindset into our daily life . This means entertaining positive thoughts as much as possible even in the worst circumstances. For example -One of my hobbies is singing .I had recently registered for a cultural event in a community centre. Just 2 days before the performance,I received a call from the organizing committee saying that they will not be able to accommodate my performance.I listened to the person without judgement and responded with a Thank You. However I remained positive believing that it happened for a good reason and that a brighter opportunity is waiting for me. This positive thought brought in a surprise 2 days later as an invite from a different organization requesting me to perform for their inauguration event.I felt very happy and delivered my vocal performance which was highly recognized and appreciated than how I imagined.

The next practice is Mindfulness. Mindfulness is an act of living in the present moment. This means being mindful of every moment in your life paying complete attention and not getting caught up in your past or future. Mindfulness can be practised anytime and anywhere. I have found mindfulness helps me stay focussed on my present moment and utilize it by being focussed completely on the activity at hand. This activity not only helps to train our mind to improve our focus but also helps us to observe and respond to situations around us rather than reacting spontaneously. I practise it everyday in my life and have seen profound benefits of protecting myself from negative experiences 90% of the time . For example — I apply mindfulness strategies during my communications with my family members and co-workers. This has helped me to construct responses appropriately depending on the situation without getting into a conflict . The way I have implemented this into my life is by being present and focusing on myself today and looking at each person I interact with as they are now without bringing in past or judgements . This has allowed me to look at people and situations with gratitude.

By developing and inculcating these powerful practices into our daily life, we can develop a mental hygiene that develops our internal environment and prevents the external environment from affecting us.

“When there is no enemy within, the enemy outside can do you no harm.” — Winston S Churchill

In life, we encounter different types of people and situations. Some people in our life help us learn and grow. Some others drain our energy and suck us into a place of negativity. The negative energy that could be verbal or non-verbal can impact our mindset and can sometimes even paralyze us from moving forward in our life. The negative emotions caused by negative social interactions can make us feel lost and unhappy.

How do we regain our energy to move forward in our life?

One of the most effective ways to regain our energy is by self-regulating our thoughts and emotions .By training our mind, we can elevate ourselves to a centred state that remains unaffected internally irrespective of our external situations in life.

The centred state is a state where we have self control or control over our own mind and use it effectively rather than it using us. Through this process, we will be able to channel our energies in the right direction that can help us achieve our goals, improve our focus and productivity as well as live a peaceful and happy life.

Today I will share with you 5 simple steps to transform our negative emotions .

Stop — When a negative thought/emotion arises in your mind, stop for a moment before judging the emotion. For example — Using simple breathing exercises is one of the best ways to develop awareness to stop.
Identify — Identify the emotion that you are experiencing by giving it a name. This allows us to separate ourselves from the negative emotion and distancing from it. For example — Using funny names to distinguish each negative emotion will help us develop mindfulness around it.
Feel — Pay close attention to the area where you feel the negative emotion strongly and give it your full attention. For example — Scan your body to find where you strongly feel the negative emotion and just stay with it.
Talk — Talk to the emotion and ask questions on why it came up and what action can help to transform it. For example — Talk to the emotion with love and compassion to understand what it needs from you and how you can execute it as an action .
Perform — Do the positive action that came out from the response . This helps to shift your focus towards a positive action that will help you to regain your positive energy back to your life.
It is not possible to completely eradicate negativity from others . However, by carrying out the above steps we can take effective measures to regulate our thoughts and emotions to regain our positive energy back into our life rather than allowing the negative emotions to affect and paralyze us from moving forward in our life.

Positive and Negative emotions cannot occupy our mind at the same time. — Napolean Hill