Nutrisystem, Jenny Craig, WW (formerly Weight Watchers), Adtkins, Pelaton, NordicTrack, Beach Body etcetera etcetera etcetera. (Name that movie… THE KING AND I starring Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr) What does that list have to do with Mental Health month and then the movie? Let’s see:

 

January of every year the diet and exercise commercials begin hammering us all. As if we need them to tell us we probably didn’t need to eat those 12 peanut butter balls while watching THE BISHOP’S WIFE (starring Cary Grant, Loretta Young and David Niven) for the 10th time. But you only have them in December. Why do we only make some things at Christmas? Hmmm well I digress. So those commercials continue throughout the year. Occasionally I find myself stopping and thinking about the general message of health. Okay true confessions, I used to feel very shamed by these commercials. Over time and in my quest for better mental health I realized they are not using my name and I can change the channel, and I do. 

 

Which brings me to the message of this blog…we hold the remote to what we feed our minds. 

 

But Deb…

oh trust me I hear it in my office all the time…

 

I need to know what the news is…I just keep going back to that conversation last week, 3 months ago, 2 years ago, 15 years ago…that thing I did 30 years ago, 12 years ago, 3 years ago, 7 months ago, 3 weeks ago. 

 

The question I ask is, “What do YOU have control over?”. 

 

Simple question. 

Answering is harder. 

The honest answer is…not much. 

 

However, you can change the channel, literally where the news is concerned. On the other, do you need to apologize, write a throw up letter, journal? More often than not the issue has been resolved we just self punish by revisiting over and over. 

 

Change the channel. 

 

Come up with a positive saying, 

quote, 

hymn, 

song,  

scripture,

something that you switch to when 

your mind starts going to the dark 

place. 

Don’t wait until you are there. 

Catch it when it’s sliding. 

 

Go for a walk, get a drink of water even if you are in an office space you can walk somewhere and take some deep breaths. Return to the present. The bottom line is to become an active participant in your mental health. 

 

My goal is to help people figure out where their “content” this is between joy and depressed/anxious/not okay. Joy seems too difficult to attain and then people feel they are failing.  I describe a spectrum and in the middle is content and that’s the goal with any movement towards joy being a bonus. 

 

Feed your mind positives. From what you listen to in the car to what you watch at home to what you read to conversations to where you allow your mind to wander. And yes this is hard and takes practice. Just like working out and eating right. The goal isn’t to get it 100% every minute of everyday. But if you can get to 75% what a difference that can make.  

 

There are positives all around us. Sadly society likes to overdramatize some and accentuate the negatives. Walk around your neighborhood and take time to look at all the flowers blooming. 

 

Look for 7 good things everyday and share them with someone. It can be as simple as someone opened the door for someone else. Watch a Katharine Hepburn/Spencer Tracy movie for fun, or have a MAMMA MIA movie night, play SCRABBLE or another board game with a group of friends. (Don’t answer for people by saying no one will come or want to —that’s negative and deprives you of the opportunity to be surprised and them the evening out.) 

 

You have the remote.

You can change what 

you are feeding your mind. 

 

Today let me give you the first message to write on a sticky note and put on your mirror in your bathroom and in your car:  I AM ENOUGH! 

 

Have a blessed day! 

& HAPPY MOTHERS DAY! 

 

Deb Moffitt

LSCSW