 Originally published by LustForLife.com, 01-03-16
http://www.alustforlife.com/mental-health/well-being/cultivating-mental-fitness In today’s society, physical fitness gets a lot attention. Being physically fit generally translates to looking good, but also because a healthy body can help prevent certain conditions like heart-disease and diabetes. Physical fitness is defined as a “general state of health and well-being and, more specifically, the ability to perform aspects of sports or occupations (wiki). Exercise is the continuous process, lifestyle, habit, that helps us maintain or improve that physical fitness. This could mean performing a sport or occupation, recovering form an injury, feeling well in our own skin. What about our minds? What does if feel like to be mentally fit? How do we benefit from being mentally fit? And what can we do now to develop a resilience that will help us when the going gets tough? {The Sliding Scale above represents the view of the World Health Organization’s wellness model and is a helpful visual aid when discussing wellness.} When we are mentally fit, we flourish. It is not merely the absence of illness, but feeling like you are your best possible self, represented by the right side of the Wellness Scale. At the left end of the Scale we have Illness; it’s disabilities, symptoms, and signs, affecting our ability to work and interact with life in an enjoyable way. In this area, often times professional help is needed to ‘dig us out’ and help us reach the Neutral zone. We can arrive at the Neutral zone from either end of the spectrum, as changing life circumstances and lifestyle can also knock us from Wellness into Neutral, or further. It’s helpful to think of the Neutral zone as a junction point, in which our actions are what determine whether we are heading towards Illness or Wellness; and inaction keeps us in place, neither here nor there. Through increased awareness of our mind and body, we start to sense what works for us, make changes to our lifestyle, and shift further into the Wellbeing zone. The benefits of being Mentally fit means we are able to use our mental abilities to our fullest extent, allowing us to be more creative, make the most of opportunities as they present themselves, and approach stressful situations more calmly and with less stress. In the same way exercise is beneficial in fighting depression, a practice of Meditation, can have a positive effect on your physical wellbeing. For example, a period of high or prolonged stress keeps excessive amounts of the hormone, Cortisol, present in our body (this has been known to cause impaired thyroid function, disruption of sleep, elevated blood pressure, and lowered immune functions, to name a few). Meditation will help you manage stress, thus diminishing it’s physical impact. It is important to note that by incorporating making these lifestyle changes, we embark on a journey of continuous self-growth and will discover new territory on how good we can truly feel in our bodies. So, what can we do to increase our mental fitness levels? 1. Focus on one thing at a time – “Multi-tasking” is worn as a badge of honor, but multi-tasking too much is not healthy. Practice being in the present. When you are taking a walk, take in your surroundings, the weather; if spending time with friends, really listen to what is being said. Turn off your phone and jot down any to-do lists running through your head. 2. Exercise - when done regularly, helps develop and maintain mental resilience. People who do it regularly, often notice the impact on their mood and state-of-mind if they've missed a session or two. 3. Be Kind to Yourself - engage in activities you enjoy and that get you in a zone where you’re so immersed you find yourself not thinking of anything else. Book a massage, read a book, cook a nice meal, build a Lego tower. Take time to do something that makes you feel happy. 4. Know when to ask for help - “Many hands make light work.” 5. Serve others. “If you light a lamp for someone else it will also brighten your path.” (Buddha) By looking for ways to help others, we have quieted the voice in our mind focusing on ourselves. 6. Spend time in nature. Once there, you will feel your body sigh in relaxation. 7. Playing an instrument: the equivalent of a full-brain workout! I personally enjoy coloring. I really get into selecting a color and it’s placement, and I find the sound of the marker scratching the paper relaxing. 8. Learn something new - this is a great way keep your brain engaged. Curiosity and learning are a great way to keep the brain fit. 9. Positive thinking - It is important to be mindful of our thoughts as we go through the day. When you notice a thought with a negative tone simply change it’s course towards optimism. The more you practice this, the easier it gets. Daily affirmations are also very helpful in setting the vibe for the day. 10. Community – be with people you love and who love you for who you are, who support you in your dreams and who encourage you to take care of your mind. Do the same for them. Our tribe are crucial in sustaining wellness. Mental Fitness is a very important aspect of Wellbeing, not just in terms of prevention, but also in improving our quality of life; no matter where on the sliding scale we may be residing at any given time. As you move further right on the Wellness Scale, the tools you acquire along the way will be at your disposal when thrown off course. It’s a continuous process of self-awareness, our habits of positive thinking and mindfulness, and a lifestyle of understanding and patience that will develop a more resilient mind; helping us find meaning in our relationships with those around us and enjoy the journey through life, regardless of outcomes or destinations. It’s the difference between surviving and thriving. Lets find out how good life can be! There's a territory between the Colombian and Venezuelan border called 'Ipapure'. It's where a group of natives called guajiros used to live before they were affected by modernization and migrated to the cities for work. These are my mother's people. My people. 'La Guajira' is a wild territory, yet gentle like its people. You may find yourself stuck in its desert, but sleep under a brightly starred sky. It's the land of cacti and the sea. It's a beautiful desert landscape dotted with cujíes as well as cacti. You find rattlesnakes, used to make a potent liquor, and mapanares, the deadliest snake around these parts. And on this particular day, you would find the fastest horses of 'la guajira' lined up for the biggest race of the year. They will race from one end of the sierra, around the territory and to the ocean.
The ceremonial drums are beating in anticipation. Cows and goats are being slaughtered in the noon sun for the evening's celebratory feast and the onlookers are swinging in their chinchorros drinking whiskey and fanning themselves waiting for the send off. I'm sitting on my horse, Tapa-Tapa, against my father, chief Yahaira's, wishes. I'm only a thirteen-year-old boy, but my size and thin frame are the same as a professional jockey. This is the first time we race, but no one else can ride him - he's too fast, wild, and unpredictable. But I understand him. He talks to me by tapping his hooves; that's how he got his name. The drums beat faster. Tapa-tapa's nostrils flare and he shifts anxiously. He knows he's going to win. We get the signal and I close my eyes against the cloud of fine sand being lifted. When I open them, there is nothing ahead of us except the first challenge. A forest of cujíes. These short trees grow to be about twice the height of the tallest man in our Apshana caste. We are proud to be the caste of vultures because they are the only bird that has no predators. The sand gives way to thin trunks which produce thinner branches that fan out flat on top. The ends of their branches are so sharp they've been known to slice off fingers and puncture eye balls at high speeds. Tapa-tapa gingerly weaves away from the most menacing of branches and I crouch as close to him as my saddle allows; our scratches are very superficial. I look behind me in time to see the next horse stand on his hind legs in protest – refusing to go on. I can't help the smirk that comes across my face. As I turn back around, I can see the ocean ahead and for a moment I enjoy the sun warming my face and the loudness of the wind rushing past me. This is what I love about riding – going so fast I feel like I'm flying. And that's exactly what we need to do to overcome the second challenge. This time of year you find a lot of snakes nesting in this particular area. The sand, the color of brown sugar, camouflages them well. The cacti around me are growing a colorful flower called yosuzi. The sun has dropped and has tinged the sky orange and pink and a flock of red ibis are flying back from the ocean. I am so absorbed in my meditation of the sky, I forget we are racing and as I focus back, a mapanare springs into the air in front of us ready to strike. I have just enough time to draw my gun from my holster and shoot its head off, crashing limply against Tapa-tapa's chest. Without hesitation, Tapa-tapa plunges into our final challenge. He picks an excellent path down the sandy cliff and we slide most of the way down. At an angle where I'm forced to lay back against my horse, this steep obstacle is the only way to reach the ocean. Once at the bottom, the high winds that rarely subside carry the thick granules of sand that whip at your ankles like thousands of angry, biting ants attacking all at once. We cross the finish line and I notice my father's stoic pride. All the other families hire the best riders for their horses and where are they now? Not in first place. I’m sitting on the stoop of our newly rented country home on the first sunny day since we moved in. It’s an experiment. My fiance and I are curious to see if the dreams we share out loud before we fall asleep can be turned into a reality. Are we cut out for a country life or will we run back to Dublin preferring to leave it a dream?
More space is one of the allures of living in the country. Leaving our filing cabinet of an apartment and renting this cottage (for the same price!) gives Colm space to play and compose music without neighbors to think about. I also have a lot of space in my new kitchen to be creative and enjoy cooking. But more importantly we have space for Kaifina. We wanted plenty of space for our baby girl to run wild. There's a walled garden on the property as well as chickens, geese and ducks. It's somewhere she can be intrigued by the wonders of Mother Nature instead of Dora the Explorer. Where she can experience the peacefulness of our surroundings instead of the insecurities of consumerism. It’s quite an ideal we’ve set for ourselves, but watching bee bounce from flower to flower reminds me that a steady pace forward is all I need to ask of myself now. As I sit on my stoop, my attention falls on the shimmering of the stone floor of the courtyard. I didn’t really know what to make of it at first. Being a city girl from one of hottest climates in Venezuela, I’d never really seen anything like it. That’s when I saw, at the end of one of the trails, hiding in the shadows, this ugly, slimy brown thing with a shell on its back. It was barely evading the sun in the shadow made by a leaf overhead. I remembered seeing it before, stuck to the glass panes of my door showing me its pink underbelly. I could never bring myself to touch it directly. If I need to remove it from the door panes or my kitchen floor and take it outside, I require a paper towel. I never imagined that this thing could leave behind something so beautiful.There were so many trails left behind by a large snail network that they made the whole courtyard gleam in the sunlight. I want my life to gleam from the stories and experiences of life. I don’t strive to be famous or über wealthy, but I want my life to be brilliant, joyous, wholesome, loving, grounded, intuitive, peaceful, healthy, and harmonious, with gratitude sprinkled on top. I want to be a mother who raises a confident, independent, grounded, self-aware, happy, healthy, curious, peaceful daughter. I want to share all this goodness with my husband, his family, my parents, brother, sister, friends and fellow citizens of the world. I want to be able to look back at my life and be proud at my attempt to play the game. |
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