The World Health Organisation defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well being” [1]. Health is the state of the physical body and wellness is the state of mind. To enjoy a healthy, disease-free physical body, we must work on improving our state of mind to a positive and happy one.
In other words, when we are positive and happy, we tend to make better decisions that further enhances the quality of our life. We look after ourselves better and nourish our bodies with nutritious whole foods. This helps us to fight diseases and keep the physical body healthy. The opposite can be true if we are always angry, stressed or depressed.
I will share a personal story here: I was around 8 or 9. I was craving for my mother’s attention and love. I know she gives me special attention when I am sick. So, one morning I woke up and started praying that I should fall sick so that my mum will give me attention. Silly child! I know!. Guess what, I started developing fever by evening that day and was sick with a high fever for three days. It was worth it. I totally got my mum’s attention. That’s how powerful the mind is.
Evidences
Scientists and health care professionals have been studying the correlation between health and the emotional state of mind.
In the numerous studies conducted [3], [4], scientists were able to find positive correlation between negative state of mind and the body’s susceptibility to illnesses. Stress from professional and personal life has negative impact on our immune system thus, diminishing our ability to respond to physical illnesses.
Research findings on this topic are conclusive enough to prove that physical health is linked to wellness – our state of mind. So, here are 7 ways in which you can improve your state of mind to so that you are better equipped to cope with the pressures of life. These 7 ways are in no particular order and they helped me get out of depressed state of mind.
7 Wellness Tips
1. Meditate
Meditation helps reduce stress and anxiety. Once again this has been backed by scientific research [5]. One particular research showed that meditating for 10 minutes everyday for two months helped to stabilize brain activity in depressed patients. I have written a blog on how to meditate, which you can refer to if you need.
2. Be in nature
Being in and observing the nature can have healing effects. Just losing yourself to the sounds and smell of nature can be relaxing and soothing. I remember I used fall asleep at the beach while reading a book. The cool breeze, smell of seawater and the sound of the waves were so calming.
This could be something that you do everyday or once a week, depending on your schedule. It could be a park, river or a nature reserve that’s close to where you live. Allocating some time to ourselves is very important. After all, what use are we going to be to anyone if we are not well ourselves.
So, make a deal with yourself to be in nature to replenish your resources regularly, without any mobile devices of course 😉.
3. Listen to your heart
Acknowledge your wishes and do as your heart pleases. It is important to let our inner-child come out and play, every now and then. It could be simple activities such as taking up drawing, engaging in arts and crafts or relinquishing your responsibilities for a day and just be a child again.
Like for example, not doing the dishes, not cooking and just watching episodes of your favorite drama for an entire day or two. I indulge myself in those days where I do nothing other than just watch episodes of FRIENDS and enjoy a glass of nice vegan wine with my carefully-chosen vegan takeaway dinner 😂.
In the past, I used to feel guilty and criticize myself for being lazy. Now, I have just made it into my list of things to do as an act of self-love. I mean think about it. We always cut some slack for our loved ones when they are not themselves and rarely do we do it for ourselves. To me, putting this into practice was a revolution. I had to undo all my childhood conditioning and lovingly validate that being lazy once in a while is not a bad thing.
4. Start a gratitude journal
This is very common these days because it helps us to stay positive as we count our blessings and attract abundance – Gratitude journal.
I personally prefer having a journal to record the things that I am grateful for. I try to write everday. If I forget then, I just do it the next day. And at the end of the year I get to collate the list and review what are the things that I was most grateful for. Its also a nice way to end the year, by remembering the list of things that I was excited about.
So, what has it done for me? It has helped me appreciate the finer things in life – things which we can take for granted – and live more consciously. More importantly, it helps me look at things positively, which is important for higher state of mind
5. Get sufficient sleep
Well, this is kinda basic rule to improve our wellness. Sleep is very important and getting enough of it allows our body to rest. There are many reasons as to why good sleep is important and I am going to list a few [6]:
- helps to reduce stress
- regulates appetite hormones
- supports a healthy heart and blood pressure
- improves immune system
Experts say it is important to get at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep every day. I think we owe this to our body and for its optimal functioning.
6. Increase your vibration
Everything that exists in this universe has a vibration. Even all those things that we call ‘non-living things’ are actually alive and vibrating. As human-beings, we all vibrate, but at different frequencies.
Higher vibration means being connected with our higher-self. Meditation helps us access our higher-self and be in sync with it. Our energy fields are compassion, love and peace. When we vibrate from a place of compassion, love and peace, we increase our vibration and our energy flows through our body without any resistance, helping us achieve a healthy, disease-free body.
We can increase our vibration by intentionally thinking good thoughts about ourself and others, intentionally eating unprocessed and nutritious whole foods (as nature intended it to be), and by not engaging in gossips or any activity that is not compassionate, loving and peaceful.
For instance, gossiping is such a second nature for most of us. If I am not present, I fall into that trap very easily. When I am present, I try to divert the topic or don’t make any comments to encourage the discussion further. I usually say “mmm yeah” and then change the topic. The key here is to not to judge ourselves or others for engaging in gossips. It happens. When you become aware of it, just try to change the topic and move on.
I also find it hard not to get angry or let the corrupted affairs of the world get to me. This automatically puts me in a lower vibration. As a result, I decided not to own a television and started making careful choices about where I get my news from.
7. Accept and let go
Acceptance is not just about everything that has happened to us but it is also about accepting our shortcomings, regrets and failures. Some of us, or most of us, have pain, injustice and torture inflicted upon us in different ways or forms and by different people. Finally when we stand up and choose to put ourselves out of that misery, we put an end to that vicious cycle.
But we must not forget, our experiences make us who we are today. It is about accepting all the unfortunate incidences, forgiving those who wronged us, and moving on. For some periods of time, we are going to feel angry. That is normal and its part of the grieving process to acknowledge that emotion and sit with it. When we are ready to move on, we need to accept what happened and let it go.
Not willing to accept and let things go is just going to keep the anger roaming around in our body. Anger, is an energy, that is lower in vibration. Holding onto anger, reduces our vibration. When our vibrations are lower, we fall ill easily.
I don’t have any scientific research to support this but one disease that comes to mind when not wanting to accept and let go, is auto-immune disease. Not accepting also means wanting to fight back. In other words, ‘I don’t accept this so I am going to fight back’ just like when our immune system refuses to accept our own healthy cells and is fighting back.
I will share some lived experiences here. I have spoken about this before. I was diagnosed with gastritis. I had a few people tell me that its because of anger that I am holding onto. They were right. I was angry with my parents and I had a hard time forgiving them. At that point I knew its time for me to forgive them because I was in terrible pain after my meals, my stomach was always hot and I had trouble breathing. When I started accepting what they did and was ready to let go, the symptoms improved remarkably.
Please note, when I say accept, I am not saying that you should succumb to the fact that miserable things has happened to you and in self-wallowing kind of way. I am talking about accepting what happened has empowered you. Because you survived whatever that you had been through. You survived to share and help others. God strategically placed hurdles in our life so that we can learn how to get through them. Learning how to overcome them gives us the key to unlock and advance to the next level in life.
Also, forgiving doesn’t mean you have o invite them back into your life.
Another example is sore throats. I used to the get them quite regularly. I read once, that sore throat occurs when you want to voice your opinion because you are not happy and yet didn’t. That was me years and years ago. I rarely voiced my opinions. I used to be a people pleaser because I was desperate for everyone to like me. As a result, I used to say yes more often than no.
Initially it was difficult to disagree with someone. After awhile, I started voicing my personal truths and it felt good. Haven’t looked back since, and no nasty sore throats. Happy days 😊.
To conclude….
Physical health is very closely related to our state of mind. Cultivating a healthy state of mind can lead to a healthy physical body. The wellness tips have been tried and tested. If you are truly committed to enhancing your state of mind and ready to embrace the spiritual aspect of your being, they work. Wishing you all a Happy & Healthy 2020 😃👋
Wholesomely Made 