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| Mental health |
Mental health
Efforts to maintain a positive attitude, an optimistic outlook, and respect for yourself and others can have a profound impact on your sense of wellbeing, and your ability to think clearly. There are a number of specific steps that you can take to promote your own mental health.
Develop constructive habits
We all develop habits; we tend to do some things the same way every-day. You can take advantage of that tendency to deliberately select and develop habits that make you feel better and enhance your daily experiences. Develop habits that will assist you in getting ready for the day – exercise for ten minutes before your shower, always put your wallet or purse in the same spot on your dresser; always check the weather before choosing your wardrobe for the day, and always check for your keys before you lock the car door. Take a few moments each day to appreciate some aspect of your environment – tend a plant, observe the night sky, wonder at the shapes of clouds, pat a dog, or sing a song. Find something to do each day that is positive – pick up some litter, compliment someone, encourage someone, say hello to a neighbour.
Think positive thoughts
It is a simple concept, but you can choose what you think about. Although days can be busy and tasks time consuming, you can always find time for some positive thoughts.
Think about cherished family members, your friends, your pets. Think about past events you have enjoyed. Think about future events that you are looking forward to.
Think about what you accomplished yesterday and what you want to accomplish today.
Develop supportive relationships
There are over six billion people in the world. Find some friends who share similar interests and have personalities that you enjoy. Take the time and energy to support those around you who are struggling to get ahead in the world. Find others around you who have strengths that you can draw upon in a time of need. Seek special friendships that will enrich your life and the lives of those you care for.
Develop techniques for dealing with adversity
Bad things happen. No one is successful at every attempt with every project.
Adversity and setbacks are an integral part of daily life. Develop strategies to ‘duck and cover’ when necessary. Keep a ‘bag of tricks’ that you can use to restore your normal optimism – listen to your favourite music, walk through your favourite park, read your favourite author, talk to a friend. Just knowing that you have strategies for coping with adversity can be a source of strength when you need it most.
Respect others
Make systematic efforts to respect the rights and thoughts of others. Before judging others, try to mentally apply the old adage of ‘walking in another’s shoes’. As you try to appreciate the points of view of others, you automatically reassess your own position. Respecting others leads to self-respect and a positive attitude towards life.
Develop a sense of empathy for the plight of others. It can be more rewarding to assist others than it is to climb one more rung on the ladder towards elitist success.
Be realistic
Work within your capabilities for security and calm, but reach beyond that occasionally for stimulation and a new sense of accomplishment. Try to develop a realistic sense of your own strengths and weaknesses. Then design your daily activities to take advantage of your strengths and to strengthen your weaknesses. Give yourself a daily challenge, but a challenge that is within reasonable reach. Hang a banana a few feet above a monkey and he will jump for it. Hang a banana a hundred feet above a monkey and he will soon dismiss it.
Seek win-win situations – you cannot lose! In a duel to the death, someone is going to be badly hurt. In a pumpkin growing contest, everybody ends up with a big pumpkin.
Beware of competitive win-lose situations. Sometimes a win-lose competition is invigorating, sometimes it is part of a struggle for survival, but a win-lose competition always produces at least as many losers as winners.
Seek assistance
Seek the help of a physician or counsellor if negative thinking persists. There are a variety of resources available that can help you deal with negative behaviours, gloomy moods, and depression.
Intellectual health
Our capacity for advanced thought is the characteristic that defines us as humans and separates us from all other life on Earth. Intellectual health includes an open mind and a joy for learning.
Joy for learning
A joy for learning is fostered by curiosity and a determination to understand why things are the way they are. A joy for learning brings satisfaction when a new understanding is reached, and it initiates a quest for patterns and answers when a new unknown is encountered.
A joy for learning also involves a love of books. There are millions of books in the great libraries of the world, and thousands more are published every year. Books bring you in contact with the best minds of the past and contain a detailed record of our history and culture. Books contain a wealth of knowledge of our present world and provide a window on possible futures. While not every book is a masterpiece, the creation of books provides one of the best means for individuals to organize and record their own thoughts and adventures. Most books are only published after an author has spent thousands of hours planning, writing, and editing.
A willingness to change
Intellectual health includes a willingness to adopt new ideas and approaches for dealing with everyday events. Even when your current knowledge has been hard won, new information and new theories can add insight and explain inconsistencies.
Intellectual health involves accepting that learning is a challenging but worthwhile endeavour, and that errors and failure are learning experiences.
To cultivate intellectual health, you should develop interests and relationships that support, stimulate, and challenge your standard thought processes. You should actively seek new learning opportunities, and develop habits of thought that demand clear thinking and critical judgement.
Learning in early childhood
Adaptability is one of the key features of a human baby’s intellect. The same baby can adapt to life as a Peruvian in the Andes or as a Bedouin in the desert. Without taking any formal lessons, a child in China can learn to speak Mandarin while a child in Spain can learn to speak Spanish. A child in an urban setting learns to negotiate city traffic, ride elevators, and manage home security systems. A child in a rural setting learns to play in the woods, distinguish between crops and weeds, and how to care for animals. When younger children suffer serious brain injuries, they are often able to recover much faster than older persons with similar injuries.
Early childhood learning involves establishing the basic neural pathways that are likely to be of value during the child’s entire lifetime. Early physical and social environments determine what those needs are likely to be. In his book, First Three Years of Life (1995), Burton White emphasizes the importance of early childhood learning, and argues that we should provide an enriched environment for our young children. An enriched environment helps to establish a broad collection of neural pathways. A broad collection of neural pathways lays the foundation for a lifetime of learning and clear thinking.
Efforts to maintain a positive attitude, an optimistic outlook, and respect for yourself and others can have a profound impact on your sense of wellbeing, and your ability to think clearly. There are a number of specific steps that you can take to promote your own mental health.
Develop constructive habits
We all develop habits; we tend to do some things the same way every-day. You can take advantage of that tendency to deliberately select and develop habits that make you feel better and enhance your daily experiences. Develop habits that will assist you in getting ready for the day – exercise for ten minutes before your shower, always put your wallet or purse in the same spot on your dresser; always check the weather before choosing your wardrobe for the day, and always check for your keys before you lock the car door. Take a few moments each day to appreciate some aspect of your environment – tend a plant, observe the night sky, wonder at the shapes of clouds, pat a dog, or sing a song. Find something to do each day that is positive – pick up some litter, compliment someone, encourage someone, say hello to a neighbour.
Think positive thoughts
It is a simple concept, but you can choose what you think about. Although days can be busy and tasks time consuming, you can always find time for some positive thoughts.
Think about cherished family members, your friends, your pets. Think about past events you have enjoyed. Think about future events that you are looking forward to.
Think about what you accomplished yesterday and what you want to accomplish today.
Develop supportive relationships
There are over six billion people in the world. Find some friends who share similar interests and have personalities that you enjoy. Take the time and energy to support those around you who are struggling to get ahead in the world. Find others around you who have strengths that you can draw upon in a time of need. Seek special friendships that will enrich your life and the lives of those you care for.
Develop techniques for dealing with adversity
Bad things happen. No one is successful at every attempt with every project.
Adversity and setbacks are an integral part of daily life. Develop strategies to ‘duck and cover’ when necessary. Keep a ‘bag of tricks’ that you can use to restore your normal optimism – listen to your favourite music, walk through your favourite park, read your favourite author, talk to a friend. Just knowing that you have strategies for coping with adversity can be a source of strength when you need it most.
Respect others
Make systematic efforts to respect the rights and thoughts of others. Before judging others, try to mentally apply the old adage of ‘walking in another’s shoes’. As you try to appreciate the points of view of others, you automatically reassess your own position. Respecting others leads to self-respect and a positive attitude towards life.
Develop a sense of empathy for the plight of others. It can be more rewarding to assist others than it is to climb one more rung on the ladder towards elitist success.
Be realistic
Work within your capabilities for security and calm, but reach beyond that occasionally for stimulation and a new sense of accomplishment. Try to develop a realistic sense of your own strengths and weaknesses. Then design your daily activities to take advantage of your strengths and to strengthen your weaknesses. Give yourself a daily challenge, but a challenge that is within reasonable reach. Hang a banana a few feet above a monkey and he will jump for it. Hang a banana a hundred feet above a monkey and he will soon dismiss it.
Seek win-win situations – you cannot lose! In a duel to the death, someone is going to be badly hurt. In a pumpkin growing contest, everybody ends up with a big pumpkin.
Beware of competitive win-lose situations. Sometimes a win-lose competition is invigorating, sometimes it is part of a struggle for survival, but a win-lose competition always produces at least as many losers as winners.
Seek assistance
Seek the help of a physician or counsellor if negative thinking persists. There are a variety of resources available that can help you deal with negative behaviours, gloomy moods, and depression.
Intellectual health
Our capacity for advanced thought is the characteristic that defines us as humans and separates us from all other life on Earth. Intellectual health includes an open mind and a joy for learning.
Joy for learning
A joy for learning is fostered by curiosity and a determination to understand why things are the way they are. A joy for learning brings satisfaction when a new understanding is reached, and it initiates a quest for patterns and answers when a new unknown is encountered.
A joy for learning also involves a love of books. There are millions of books in the great libraries of the world, and thousands more are published every year. Books bring you in contact with the best minds of the past and contain a detailed record of our history and culture. Books contain a wealth of knowledge of our present world and provide a window on possible futures. While not every book is a masterpiece, the creation of books provides one of the best means for individuals to organize and record their own thoughts and adventures. Most books are only published after an author has spent thousands of hours planning, writing, and editing.
A willingness to change
Intellectual health includes a willingness to adopt new ideas and approaches for dealing with everyday events. Even when your current knowledge has been hard won, new information and new theories can add insight and explain inconsistencies.
Intellectual health involves accepting that learning is a challenging but worthwhile endeavour, and that errors and failure are learning experiences.
To cultivate intellectual health, you should develop interests and relationships that support, stimulate, and challenge your standard thought processes. You should actively seek new learning opportunities, and develop habits of thought that demand clear thinking and critical judgement.
Learning in early childhood
Adaptability is one of the key features of a human baby’s intellect. The same baby can adapt to life as a Peruvian in the Andes or as a Bedouin in the desert. Without taking any formal lessons, a child in China can learn to speak Mandarin while a child in Spain can learn to speak Spanish. A child in an urban setting learns to negotiate city traffic, ride elevators, and manage home security systems. A child in a rural setting learns to play in the woods, distinguish between crops and weeds, and how to care for animals. When younger children suffer serious brain injuries, they are often able to recover much faster than older persons with similar injuries.
Early childhood learning involves establishing the basic neural pathways that are likely to be of value during the child’s entire lifetime. Early physical and social environments determine what those needs are likely to be. In his book, First Three Years of Life (1995), Burton White emphasizes the importance of early childhood learning, and argues that we should provide an enriched environment for our young children. An enriched environment helps to establish a broad collection of neural pathways. A broad collection of neural pathways lays the foundation for a lifetime of learning and clear thinking.
