How Your Thoughts Can Improve Your Mental Wellness
January marks the start of a new year and Mental Wellness Month. So, it seems appropriate to focus on learning new ways to improve our mental health.
Because it's a new year, you likely have new goals, opportunities, and aspirations. Maybe you're determined to pursue a new hobby, a new job, or even some new friends. If you are, you likely know that whatever you dive into will no doubt require practice, patience, and repetition. It's going to take time and energy to master anything new.
In fact, most experts agree that it takes three weeks or more to develop a new habit or routine. A decision to begin a new exercise routine does not automatically create a new habit. It takes time and repetition. Likewise, the determination to stop a bad habit is more than just sheer willpower and hope. The same is true of our minds. We cannot suddenly and automatically change how or what we think. It must begin with being intentional and routine. As we devote time to improving our physical, emotional, and even spiritual health, we must also establish how to improve our mental health.
From the moment we are born, we learn how to navigate the world around us. How to cross a street, how to drive a car, follow directions, how to file our taxes. We learn how to treat people with respect and resolve conflict. We learn how to act in school, at a job, and among friends. We even learn when to tell a great joke and when to bite our tongue.
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When it comes to our minds, we have to learn how to navigate our inner world, see it clearly, make sense of it, and wade through its confusing waters. We need to discover how our mind interprets feelings, how we see the future and even our awareness of self. But perhaps most importantly, we have to learn to consider the thoughts streaming through our consciousness. In other words, being keenly aware of what you're thinking about. This seems simple enough, but have you ever really sat back and thought about what you think about?
Thinking About What You're Thinking About
Okay, I admit, that's a confusing and a pretty abstract consideration. Let me rephrase it. Have you ever thought about the idea of thinking about what you are thinking about? The ancient philosopher Plato described it as the mind talking to itself. Teachers use this idea to develop and implement a strategy with students called metacognition. It helps students become more aware of their thought process to help them analyze ideas, ask better questions, and work more collaboratively with others. While we don't really need to attach such a fancy word like, metacognition, we can apply the same concept to develop the skill of changing how we think.
You are, of course, thinking all the time. Most of which is unconscious and firing at more than four hundred billion actions per second. Roughly 90-99% of our brains are on auto-pilot, all day, every day. But the rest of our thinking is the part we need to focus on. This is what you say, what you do, the questions you ask, how you perceive the external world around you and how you react to it. Actively and consciously thinking about this thought process is metacognition.
Everything is first a thought. Everything we do, everything we say, is stored in our unconscious by what and how we think. That includes every positive thing we think and experience and anything toxic or negative.
What We Choose To Think About Matters
You're about to ask a question. So I'll just ask for you. Why does this matter? Of course, I know I'm thinking, how is this a skill I need to develop? Let's go back to what Plato said. Your mind is talking to itself. So what are you telling yourself? Because what you're thinking matters. And it matters more than you might think.
Research has shown that our thoughts have a direct impact on our DNA. For example, suppose you constantly focus on negative thoughts about the future or others' thoughts about you. That kind of toxic thinking can change the wiring of your brain in a negative direction adding unhealthy amounts of stress to your mind and body. Which can also affect your body's natural healing capacities and wear down your brain. But while the research revealed the damaging effects of toxic thinking, the opposite also proved true. The adverse effects to our DNA were reversed by feelings of love, joy, appreciation, and gratitude.
Our thoughts matter, therefore what we choose to think about matters.
Click Here to Learn About Avoiding Toxic Thoughts
Positive vs. Negative Thinking
One of the skills I am working on with my kids is the idea of taking an extra 10 seconds to think before they speak or react to a situation. This is teaching them to think about what they are thinking about. It leads them to consider what they are currently thinking about and ask if it is true, gracious, loving, and kind. This simple reminder helps us take control of our own thoughts and reactions to the world around us. But this practice is not automatic. It must be repeated time and again.
Do it enough over a long enough period the new thought is moved to the unconscious part of your thinking. It becomes part of your auto-pilot thoughts and actions. And all of that focused, dedicated, and repeated practice you consciously put into the learning process over time creates a very strong thought network. According to Dr. Caroline Leaf.
Our world is broken. It's filled with lies that we tell ourselves are true. It's easy to believe we don't matter, others don't love us, that we aren't good enough, smart enough, or deserve the good things we have. It's easy to allow our thoughts to wander into a sea of confusion and negative what-ifs—perpetually waiting for something terrible to happen.
When we believe the lies we are told and repeat these lies to ourselves over and over again, they are buried and solidified deep in our subconsciousness. We begin to react to those lies on autopilot. We start to live as if those lies were true.
The solution, in part, is developing the skill of thinking about what you're thinking about. In other words, developing the skill to think the right thoughts. Thinking the kinds of thoughts that build up, not tear down. Thinking the kind of thoughts that breathe life, give us confidence, and remind us we matter and have purpose.
Click Here to Learn About Banishing Negative Thoughts
Practice Makes Progress
So when the negative thought creeps in, what do you do? First, take that extra 10 seconds and think. Think about the thought. Evaluate the thought rationally and respond to the lie with the truth. Like many things, this is a skill that needs to be developed, nurtured, and mastered. It might feel awkward and unnatural at first, but the right thoughts will be much more automatic and normal over time.
"Choice is real, and free will exists. You are able to stand outside of yourself, observe your own thinking, consult with God, and change the negative, toxic thought or grow the healthy, positive thought. When you do this, your brain responds with a positive neurochemical rush and structural changes that will improve your intellect, health, and peace." - Dr. Caroline Leaf, Switch On Your Brain.
I'm sure that you are considering New Year's resolutions or goals that will help you navigate the world around you—improve yourself, relationships, new hobbies, or job performance. But take some time this month to consider how you navigate the world within you. And it begins with what and how you think.
