Want to reignite your New Year’s resolutions or jump-start your mental health intentions? Check out these easy tips to prioritize your mental wellness.
Make Goal-Setting Incremental.
Anytime you’re setting goals to support mental well-being, there’s almost always a learning curve. Whether you have plans to relax more, eat better or reduce your screen-time, a key with the process is making goals doable, achievable and to expect to meet them incrementally. If you want to enjoy more time outdoors, be realistic about how much and how frequently you can make that happen. If you want to limit late-night screen-time, be easy on yourself if you fall off the wagon now and again. When learning anything new–whether it’s a physical skill or a trait supporting your internal resilience, we typically learn incrementally. Small steps are significant. Just like in nature, incremental growth often lays a solid foundation. Celebrate baby-steps!
Validate What You’re Already Doing.
If you’re like most of us, you’re probably aware of things you can continue to improve upon. And while there’s value in knowing how you can keep growing and creating more balance in your life, perhaps equally as important is the act of validating what you’re already doing. Whether that’s sharing kind conversations with friends, family or colleagues. Enjoying dedicated time in nature. Reading a good book, or sharing nurturing food with loved ones. The reality is, if you’re reading this article you’re likely doing scads of things already that support your mental health. So whatever your healthy habits are, notice them. Own that you do that! Validate yourself more.
Remember Your Intent.
There’s a Japanese proverb that says, “Fall down seven times, get up eight”. Another translation offers, “To fall seven times, to rise eight times, life starts now.” This powerful teaching speaks to the importance of remembering we’ve got choice. Everyone falls. Life is often messy and complicated. Prioritizing our mental health is rarely a linear process. So, for all the times you get overwhelmed or find yourself in old habits or unsupportive patterns, the act of coming back to a simple intent that supports your mental health is huge. What might that look like for you?
Join us for our 8-week Mindfulness program online.
Each 60-minute webinar explores a theme related to emotional well-being and shares skills for navigating life stress and relationships with greater ease. Sessions incorporate guided mindfulness practice, time for reflection, opportunities for discussion, videos and activities to enhance learning. You’ll receive resources and information in each webinar to support developing or deepening a mindfulness practice. You can attend sessions live, or do classes by video recording weekly anytime it works for you. Curious? Give it a whirl!
