Mental Health Tips & Facts to get inspired by

Excessive or inappropriate parental pressure carries many mental health consequences for kids as they grow up.

Studies suggest that children who grow up with parents who yelled, shouted, or verbally humiliated them may have a greater likelihood of experiencing challenges  such as:

• depression
• negative self-talk
• anger management problems
• physical aggression
• delinquency
• eating disorders and body image
• trouble maintaining relationships.

You should talk to a therapist:

• if you’ve lost interest in activities you used to enjoy, maybe you are growing a little depressed, or maybe you are developing some anxiety. A therapist can help you uncover why you’ve lost interest in those things as well as help you see how the lack of fun activity can take a toll on your well-being.
• if your social life is suffering, a therapist may help you find people you can connect with or teach you skills that enhance your social life 

As the saying goes: There is no health without mental health. It is the most important component of health. Mental health is an important attribute in our lives. It should be talked about more, considering that it affects your relationships with others and yourself, your work and activities, and your social life. Many times, people have neglected their mental well-being because they have a belief that it'll never happen to them at all.

People tend to be social creatures and research has shown that social connections are vital for both emotional and physical well being.

However, alone time also plays a pivotal role in mental health. Being around other people comes with rewards, but it also creates stress. You worry about what people think, You alter your behavior to avoid rejection and to fit in with the rest of the group.

Alone time can be so important. Having time for yourself gives you the chance to break free from social pressures and tap into your own thoughts, feelings, and experiences.

Becoming comfortable in youw own company can give you the time and freedom to truly explore your own passions withou interferance.

• You can try new things
• Learn about things that facinate you
• aquire knowledge
• practice new methods of self expression

Giving yourself alone time means you can explore these things without the pressures and judgements that others may impose.

• Time for yourself is critical in growth and personal development

Instead of worrying about the needs, interests, and opinions that others may have, alone time lets you focus on yourself.

Alone time is an opportunity to let your mind wander and strengthen your creativity.

• Without the need to care for or interact with others people, you can ignore outisde influences and focus inward

Research suggests that being alone can lead to changes in the brain that help fuel your creative progress

• People who tend to purposely withdraw in order to spend time alone also tend to be highly creative people.
• Loneliness leads to increased activity in the brain related to imagination. because of lack of social stimulation .the brain ramps up its creative networks to help fill the void.

There is an abundance of evidence showing that loneliness can have devastating health consequences.

• But it is important to remember that being alone doesn’t not equal loneliness.
• Where loneliness is marked by negative feelings associated with isolation, alone time involves finding freedom, inspiration, and rejuvenation in solitude.

Health consequences can be:

• Elevated blood pressure,
• Hastened cognitive decline,
• Social anxiety
• Increased risk for Alzheimer's disease.
• Higher risk of depression
• anxiety
• obesity
• early death

If you are thinking of spending some time alone, it is important to do so in ways that are beneficial to your mental well-being.

• Pick a time: Figure out when you'd like to spend some time alone. 
• Turn of social media: Work on limiting distractions. Your focus should be on yur own thoughts and interests.
• Plan something: Not everyone is comfortable spending time alone. So it might be helpful to plan some relaxing time ect.
• Take a walk: Research has found that being outside can have a beneficial impact on well-being. Time outdoors gives you a change of scenery

Operating at the 10x mindset has two major benefits.

• First, it forces you to level up your methods and think of outside-the-box strategies. This will make it a lot easier to achieve your 1x goal.
• Second, thinking 10x trains your brain to think big. When you explore the options for achieving your crazy big goals, your brain grows accustomed to the idea. Then, the goal doesn’t seem so impossible anymore.

Reasearchers are discovering that there are some downsides to social media, particularly with regard to mental health.

• Social media use may contribute to depression
• Social media may hurt your self-esteem
• The fear of missing out
• Social media can lead to self-absorption
• Impulse control issues
• Social media may be used as an unhealthy coping mechanism

If your interested in the points above then dont stop reading yet!

Participating in any volunteering work can change your life, and here are some of the benefits:

1. Increases self-confidence and develops good mental health.
2. combats depression and makes you happy.
3. Connects you to others and builds lasting friendship.
4. It can advance your career.
5. Exposes you to new experiences, a lot of fun and fulfillment.

Every new day is another chance to change your life; if you start now.

Dissociation: It is often associated with trauma and is considered as the removal of bodily awarness. It is the opposite of interoception.

The ideal mental health state looks like this: We should be able to change between the states of interoception and exteroception as well as interoception and dissociation. The goal is to deliberately control the degree and timing of these shifts. Meditation helps with this!

We have always been taught that mental and physical health are two separate entities existing in different planes.

Our mind and body, surprisingly to many, are not two different things.

If someone leaves their job due to a physical injury, it is considered normal, but if the same person is leaving the job due to a mental health issue, then their decision is criticised and they may even have to deal with long-lasting consequences.

A healthy mind knows how to isolate negativity. It clings to evidence of what is still kind and beautiful.

It remembers to appreciate even the little things. It still looks forward to a hot bath, some dried fruit or dark chocolate, a chat with a friend.

Meditation is essentially self-observation, a conversation with oneself without the verbal noise. Regular meditation is a two-way dialogue that creates self-awareness.

Meditation was an eastern novelty a few decades ago, and like Yoga, is now a multi-billion dollar industry.

Here's when you seeing a therapist is in order:

• when your mood is affecting your work. A therapist can help you get unstuck by assisting you process your emotions and practice new skills
• when your emotional state is impacting your appetite or sleep. Once a physician is able to rule out possible medical causes for your change in sleep or appetite, a therapist can help you determine if there are emotional causes.

Finding time to be alone isn't always easy.Some steps that you can’t take to ensure that you get the time you need:

• Be clear: Tell the people around you, whether they are roommates, family members, or your partner, that you need time alone.
• Be specific: Let people know about what being alone means to you. 
• Return the favor: If people are willing to take steps to ensure that you get some alone time, it is important for you to show them the same consideration.
• Be flexible: If you are trying to find time for yourself when you don't live alone you need to be flexible for creating alone time.

4. Jump around! Move in a way that makes you feel happy, even if it’s just for a few minutes.

5. Take a bath. It might actually help...a little. It’s common relaxation advice—and it won’t fix every problem, but it can actually help a bit.

6. Turn off your social media notifications. This can help you interact with your apps more mindfully—checking them when you feel like it, and not because you’re hungry for judgment from others.

7. Change your sheets. Why? It will help you feel productive, it’s good for your hygiene, and it will make getting into bed that much more pleasant.

Lonely people eat and drink more, and exercise and sleep less. They are at higher risk of developing psychological problems such as alcoholism, depression, and psychosis, and physical problems such as infection, cancer, and cardiovascular disease.

Pharmaceuticals are playing a major role in the deterioration of mental health among young people. There is a link between teen suicidal thinking and antidepressant use, along with a link being seen in actual suicides among the young and the use of opioids in their families.

• Meditation
• Go for a walk
• Get up and move around
• Talk to someone (if you’re worried about something)
• Having a cup of tea
• Taking a power nap
• Having a cup of coffee (differs for each person)
• Getting into a quiet, uncluttered environment
• Turning off your wifi router
• Using full-screen writing apps
• Playing calming music
• Reading an inspirational quote or article
• Talking to someone (including a therapist, if needed)
• Bringing playfulness to the task

Stress can cause mental disorders because it impacts the neurotransmitters responsible for relaying messages between the brain and other body parts. For example, serotonin is a neurotransmitter that regulates moods, and cortisol is known as the stress hormone. When we experience prolonged periods of high levels of these hormones in our system, they can disrupt mental health. 

Research shows that people who undergo therapy for their mental health problems like anxiety and depression, show improvement. While it is established that therapy works, it isn’t quite known why it works.

A closer look reveals that all the diverse methods of therapy seem to work, with no real difference in their effectiveness. A corollary to this phenomenon is that therapy by itself is a decoy, and what really works is simply you being in a room talking about your problems to someone who listens well.

There is a common thread between the three ways to improve mental health. They essentially are doing the same thing to us. The three tools externalize the baggage (our mental problems) that we had internalized, leading to an unburdening of our mind.

Therapy, journaling and meditation are all tools to convert a subject of our consciousness into an object, building our self-awareness and diminishing our ego.

• Never accept an enemy threats unless it is proved as dangerous.
• Preventing a false threat is actually helping the enemy to win.
• Always believe in your own position
• Stick to your move and check if the move still work against enemy's threats
• Analyse the possible loss of ignoring or preventing the threats
• Don't waste moves
• Instead of thinking "I missed it, I must be doomed" about a surprising move, think "How can I punish this? "

Change your Mindset. It is never too late to become a learner. This is a notion back of not only the growth mindset but also the lifelong learning mindset. As an old saying goes, the day we stop learning is the day we stop living.

• Egoism is the belief that our moral behaviour is based on taking care of our own interests. Taking care of ourselves is actually a rational, desirable activity. If we take care of others while neglecting ourselves, we become worn out or suffer burnout. Example: Flight Attendants warn passengers that they should be putting on their own oxygen masks before helping anyone else with theirs.
• Egotism means having a really big ego. Egotists are always talking about themselves.
• Egocentrism is when one only sees their own perceptive and thinks that the world revolves around them. The focus of an egocentric person is only themselves.

• Creating a lifestyle that supports wellness (physical and mental) requires knowledge about your best options, what can work best for you, what can be the best approach, etc.
• When you learn more and know the facts, it’s a lot easier to design a self-care plan and find the help or resources you need.

• The need for closure. It motivates us to arrive at a stable conclusion.
• The need for cognition is our desire to understand experiences and things in our environment.
• The need for meaning motivates us to understand how we relate to our environment, especially after traumatic events.
• The need for power motivates us to want to be noticed and to desire to influence other people, to be in command, and to have high status.
• The need for self-esteem refers to how a person feels about the self.
• The need for achievements is guided by the motive to achieve success and to avoid failure.

If you have difficulty managing and processing your feelings and, maybe you're not dealing with them in the most effective ways:

• if you’re having trouble managing your stress a therapist may assist you in problem-solving so you can eliminate some stressful aspects of your life.
• if you are having difficulty regulating your emotions a therapist could help you develop a plan to ensure your emotions serve you well.
• If you have unhealthy coping skills, they can help you learn healthy coping skills.

You can benefit from seeing a therapist:

• if you are facing major life transitions like starting a new job, moving to a new city, or ending a relationship that might create a fair amount of distress for you.
• If you’re questioning your parenting skills or you have questions about whether your child’s behavior is normal, talking to a therapist might be in order.
• if you need help processing a traumatic event. This could prevent you from developing PTSD; it may even help you grow from the experience.

Everyone experiences cognitive distortions sometimes. Here's how a therapist can help:

• if you want to change unhelpful thinking patterns, A mental health professional can help you develop a healthier inner dialogue. And that could be key to living your best life.
• if you don’t feel as happy as you think you could be, a therapist can help you develop a little change to your habits, mindset, lifestyle, or daily routine.

There was a time when the educated, learned individuals like Benjamin Franklin, Leonardo Da Vinci, Winston Churchill and the like were known as journalers who used to write to help themselves think.

It was later discovered by psychologists that journaling offers therapeutic benefits, helping us verbalize our thoughts and feelings, reflecting upon them and making them lose their grip on us in the process.

Factually, having a mental illness can never make you special. There are over 264 million people of all ages who suffer from depression today, and someone dies from suicide nearly every 40 seconds.

When differentiating those with mental illnesses from the fakes, It’s sometimes easy to know the latter because they often give an exaggerated view of their “predicament”.

Writing daily can help in improving our mental health.

• It lowers anxiety
• It makes us feel present for that time
• A good habit that we enjoy makes us look forward to it
• It heals our painful experiences by making us see them objectively.

Stigmas can stand in the way of your ability to value and care for yourself.

They can leave you with feelings of shame, sadness, self-doubt and other self-sabotaging emotions.

The world is filled with stigmas around mental health, and choosing to reject them is an important component of self-advocacy.

People with a fixed mindset think intelligence, character, and creative potential are unchangeable attributes that come from birth. They also assume that success is the result of this inherent talent. They tend to avoid failure to avoid looking fallible.

People with a growth mindset do not look at failure as a reflection of their ability, but rather as a starting point for testing ideas.

• Gram pack the usual punch, contributing to skyrocketing rates of anxiety & depression.
• Children & adults of all ages have confided that they are embarrassed to post photos of themselves without the use of filters on social media.
• Seeing people's stories will give you a false sense of connectedness that does not & cannot replace talking to & spending time with loved ones.
• Over time, this can create debilitating feelings of loneliness.

Several people think that having a mental illness, such as depression or anxiety, excuses them to be assholes.

Having a mental illness should not make you unaccountable for yourself.

• Too much media multitasking causes cognitive overload, which interferes with learning.
• Heavy multimedia users were more distracted and did not perform attentional tasks as well compared to light multimedia users.
• Heavy smartphone users experience greater impulsivity, hyperactivity, and negative social concern.
• People who use many social media platforms feel increased anxiety and depression.

A healthy life, with plenty of sleep, exercise, and social activity contributes to the psychological health of the parents as well as the kids.

With the therapy aimed at kids(like CBT) being out of reach of many and also being a temporary treatment, parents who have to create the right conditions to promote the children’s mental health, and more importantly, for their own sanity.

1. Talk to others. Talk with peopleexternal icon you trust about your concerns and how you are feeling. Share your problems and how you are feeling and coping with a parent, friend, counselor, doctor .

2. Avoid drugs and alcohol. These may seem to help, but they can create additional problems and increase the stress you are already feeling.

So in this way you can cope up with your stress feelings .

Use These 7 Daily Habits to Boost Your Mental Health in 2023:

1. Make relaxation a routine
2. Practice gratitude
3. Value social interaction
4. Take care of your physical health
5. Monitor your social media intake
6. Journal your feelings
7. Make yourself laugh

• Think in decades, not years
• Forgive people, it’s easier than holding grudges
• People do change. It’s just a slow process
• Work toward leveling the playing field for others.

Loneliness is the pain of being alone and is damaging. Solitude is the joy of being alone and is empowering.

Human beings need face-to-face contact to be mentally healthy. Nothing reduces stress and boosts your mood faster or more effectively than eye-to-eye contact with someone who cares about you. The more you prioritize social media interaction over in-person relationships, the more you’re at risk for developing or exacerbating mood disorders such as anxiety and depression .

Your therapist is human too. She probably has a kid who she’s trying to talk out of doing crack, and she may feel stressed about her husband’s poor communication skills.

Someone being able to help you address some of your issues doesn’t mean they don’t have issues of their own. They might have someone who is more experienced than they do that for them.

71 percent of bed makers consider themselves happy

Something so simple. Yet, when you make your bed first thing in the morning, you knock-off your first accomplishment of the day. This puts you in a mindset of “winning.”

Think of 3-5 things that matter most to you. They may be guiding principles of your life or aspects of the person you want to become.

Then write a sentence or two on each, describing what they mean to you. These are the values you’ll want to act in service of when the going gets tough.

I follow these points on a daily basis :

1. I take 15 minutes every morning at the beginning of my day.
2. I review my calendar for the day, what is already planned. It helps me not to be too greedy when I start to commit to the tasks I’ll do.
3. I reprioritize what to do.

I limit my essential things to 3, max 5, depending on the day. My first two hours are usually blocked in my agenda to execute what I commit on for the day.

Mental health is a topic that affects all of us in different ways. You don’t need to be suffering from the symptoms of a mental illness before you show concern for yours. The stigma surrounding mental health awareness has to be completely eradicated for us to move forward as healthy individuals all around.

Many people often assume that people who have mental illnesses always display obvious symptoms that they are conscious of. This is not always accurate often because people who may have the illness may see it as a normal way of life. It is important for everyone to pay attention to their mental state, even when supposedly okay. A habit of doing this can help to reduce the rate of occurrence of severe mental illnesses.

Prevention is the best medicine. It is really difficult to pull out of negative spirals once we've fallen into them.

• It's hard to pull out of a major depressive episode once we're in the habit of beating ourselves up.
• It's hard to stop worrying once we've started imagining all the worst possible outcomes.

Not that pulling out of these problems is impossible. It isn't. But it can be a struggle. Life can be much better if we can creatively avoid these negative cycles in the first place.

Love is critical to help us keep faith with life and rescue us from severe mental illness.

In fact, anyone who has ever suffered from mental illness and recovers will do so because of love, whether from a friend, a partner, a child, or a parent.

Sometimes, when we feel a certain way, we are quick to label ourselves as having some type of mental illness. This shouldn’t be so because it makes those who actually have these issues look really dumb. It needs to be stopped.

• Talk to friends and family.
• Join a club or socialize through hobbies or interests. It is a good way to meet new people and increase social interactions. 
• Do voluntary work. It forges connections as well as makes you feel worthwhile.

Anxiety can be good because it protects us. However, too much anxiety without a specific reason is bad and it takes away from agency and gratitude. We have to understand the anxiety in order to deal with it.

Anxiety can be caused by our genes or by past experiences and traumatic events.

• It is important to look at your conscious mind: What are you thinking about?
• Consider your defenses: Do you avoid it?
• Take note of your character structure: What decisions are you making and how are they affecting you?

With that in mind you can see what the experiences of the self are.

Many mental traumas are the result of abandonment, and the neglect has thrown us off balance ever since. We may find it hard to depend on others.

A loving companion is ready to fight to earn our trust. We may try to incite despair and frustration and say some awful things to a carer we love. A wise companion will remain unruffled because they understand they are tested.

Our beliefs about ourselves and the stories we tell ourselves as a result of those beliefs have a profound effect on our happiness and relationships.

What stories have you been telling yourself about yourself? If they are not moving you toward your goals, it’s time to choose a new story based on your ability to grow.

It's not always easy to recognize the singshat you might need some time away from other people. Some signs to watch for include:

• Feeling short-tempered
• Getting easily irritated by sometimes minor things
• Losing interest in doing things with other people
• Feeling overwhelmed or overstimulated
• Having trouble concentrating
• Getting anxious about spending time with other people

The good news is that even if you are struggling with any of these signs, a little alone time can have a significant restorative effect.

• Not all mental health habits and routines should apply to everyone, but most are universally applicable.
• Not all mental health habits are mentioned, nor are they gospel.
• Many of the mental health habits are not psychological in nature. Mental health is built on top of a foundation of physical health. If that foundation isn't strong, what sits on top will also not be strong.

Ask your community for mental health specialists recommendations. Consider asking your GP, family, friends or local community.

Once you have a few names, look up their qualifications and read up about them.

1. Intelligence is Fixed.
2. We use only 10% of your brain.
3. Mistakes are Failures.
4. Knowledge is Power. (Without implementation it's useless)
5. Learning new things is Difficult.
6. Criticism of Others matters.
7. Genius is born. (Not born. It's made through deep practice.) 

1. Check out a mental health podcast. Mental health podcasts can provide self-care in multiple ways: You might learn something new about how to deal, feel less alone.

2. Take on a small, doable, uplifting home project. Giving your space a little upgrade can create a nice, comforting sense of control—especially helpful when you’re feeling anxious or uncertain.

3. Or...color! Art can be healing in many ways. You can use your creations to zone out from the world. Basically, coloring is always a good idea. Download coloring book apps on your phone here , adult coloring books we recommend here.

Taking a twenty-minute nap can refresh your mental performance.

The key is to avoid getting into the deeper stages of sleep that cause grogginess.

We tend to ruminate on issues from the past and condemn ourselves over them. But that’s counterproductive; more often than not those issues are no longer relevant or were out of our control.

When you catch yourself ruminating, ask yourself if it’s necessary or useful and if you had a choice in the matter, to begin with. It will help you discern what matters, so you can go easier on yourself. 

• How do you feel right now? (physically, emotionally, spiritually)
• Describe a moment when you felt completely peaceful.
• Write a list of positive/reassuring things you want to remember during difficult times.
• Write the things that are making you anxious and rate them 1-10, explain the rating and what would lower it.
• How do you pursue happiness in daily life?
• Make a list of non-physical things you like about yourself and explain
• List 3 things you’d like to accomplish in a month, even small things.

Loneliness can be overcome. It does require a concious effort on your part to make a change. In the long run, making a change can make you happier, healtier and enable you to impact others around you in a positive way.

Here are some ways to prevent loneliness:

• Consider community service or another activity that you enjoy. These situations present great opportunities to meet people and cultivate new friendships and social interactions.
• Expect the best. Lonely people often expect rejection, so instead focus on positive thoughts and attitudes in your social relationships.
• Focus on developing quality relationships. Seek people who share similar attitudes, interests, and values with you.
• Recognize that loneliness is a sign that something needs to change.
• Understand the effects of loneliness on your life. There are physical and mental repercussions for loneliness.

As you can probably assume from the list above, there is a strong relationship between mental health and happiness! Happy people are healthier, have better relationships, make friends more easily, and find more success in life.

The sources that contribute to happiness are the same as those that provide people with a buffer or protection against mental illness, which explains the close relationship between the two.

The close tie between mental health and happiness is reason enough to make happiness an important priority for parents, educators, researchers, and medical professionals alike, along with the simple fact that we all like to feel happy!

Optimism isn’t about wearing rose-colored glasses. It’s about choosing how you interpret the events in your life. 

Research has shown that when we look at life through a lens of positivity, we are more likely to enjoy better mental and physical health. It’s also a key component when it comes to business success.

Mental toughness is something one can nurture and practice. Let's explore the 7 habits of mentally strong people:

1. Recognize Your Ability
2. Being Flexible
3. Staying Resilient
4. Not Deterred By Uncertainty
5. Seeing Opportunities in Disappointments
6. Mastering Emotions
7. Practical Optimism

Sometimes, those that post online content that carry subliminal messages of depression or suicide are often leaving out a cry for help. Other people who may suffer from these symptoms may be too shy to express themselves in the open. Hence, it’s important to treat all people with care and kindness.

Although I hate to admit it, even one of my formerly beloved shows, 13 Reasons Why, fell guilty of this claim. Hannah Baker, the protagonist, takes her life, and leaves a box of tapes containing her reasons why.

In the series, she looks like the Messiah who suddenly shows everyone the wrong in their ways. It sort of gives suicide this kind of glorifying look to teach people a lesson. Suicides are ugly in reality.

Living alone tends to be seen in a negative light. However, researchers have found that people who live alone may actually have:

• Richer social lives and more social energy than people who cohabitate with others.

In his book “Going Solo,” sociologist Eric Klineberg notes that one in seven U.S. adults lives alone.

• Klineberg found that not only were these adults not lonely, many actually had richer social lives.

Alone time can be challenging for some people for a variety of reasons:

• Lack of experience being alone: Some people just might not be used to being by themselves because they are so accustomed to being around other people. 
• Distressing thoughts and feelings: being alone and focusing inward can be difficult or even painful. Because of rumination adn worry.
• Social stigma: Stigma about being alone can also play a role in shaping how people feel about solitude. 

No matter what your personality type, there may be times you can benefit from some quality time to yourself.

People are different. Some are more fragile than others, and because of this, we can’t expect everyone to take life the same way. Some people might be comfortable drinking and doing drugs after a breakup, others may just be sad for a while, and continue with life. A few might get swung into depression and may even consider taking their own lives.

• Mindfulness: practicing mindfulness means building the mental muscle of awareness and attentional control.
• Cognitive restructuring: learn how to modify the content of our thoughts. 
• Mental minimalism: just like we need to be good stewards of the stuff that we let into our lives, we also need to be good stewards of the stuff that we hang on to in our mental lives.

If you’re on the fence about whether to see a therapist, it might help to give it a try. Talking to someone outside of your family and friends might help you in more ways than one.

Keep in mind that talking to a mental health professional doesn’t mean anything is wrong with you. You might simply decide that seeing a therapist is what helps you become the best version of yourself.

• Getting worked up with anxiety or envy from what we see on social media keeps the brain on high alert, preventing us from falling asleep, explained Dr Bono.
• Plus, the light from our mobile device just inches from our face can suppress the release of melatonin, a hormone that helps us feel tired.
• Set yourself a strict rule of not going on your phone for at least 40 minutes before going to bed, and see if that makes a difference to the quality of your sleep.

• Recognize that loneliness is a sign that something needs to change.
• Understand the effects that loneliness has on your life, both physically and mentally.
• Consider doing community service or another activity that you enjoy.
• Focus on developing quality relationships with people who share similar attitudes, interests, and values with you.
• Expect the best. Lonely people often expect rejection, so instead focus on positive thoughts and attitudes in your social relationships.

Objective: Maximize stress resilience, social support, sense of purpose. Eliminate bad moods.

Key tactics:

• Daily meditation
• Psychotherapy
• Never, ever lie about anything to anyone.
• Have more sex.

Now, let’s talk about how we can do morning journaling. You will need tools, time, and a template to follow so it becomes very for you to do this regularly.

Keep in mind that journaling is just one aspect of a healthy lifestyle for better managing stress, anxiety, and mental health conditions. To get the most benefits, be sure you also:

Relax and meditate each day.

Eat a healthy, balanced diet.

Exercise regularly—get in some activity every day.

Treat yourself to plenty of sleep each night.

Stay away from alcohol and drugs.

Use your journal to make sure you follow these guidelines daily.

If you struggle with procrastination and a lack of motivation, you're not alone. Many of us find motivation challenging at times, but there are ways to overcome laziness, and the Japanese have some techniques that can help.

Here are eight Japanese approaches to motivate yourself when you feel lazy:

1. Ikigai: Discover Your Purpose
2. Kaizen: Small Steps, Big Progress
3. Pomodoro Technique: Enhancing Focus and Productivity
4. Hara Hachi Bu: Eat Mindfully
5. Shoshin: Embrace the Beginner's Mindset
6. Wabi-Sabi: Finding Beauty in Imperfection
7. Forest Bathing: Recharge in Nature
8. Kakeibo: Master Your Finances

Mental health professionals can address a variety of issues:

• if you are struggling to reach your goals a therapist can address issues like procrastination, perfectionism—all of which can make reaching a goal nearly impossible.
• if you want to improve your relationship(s) a therapist can assist you with the skills and tools you need to form and maintain healthier connections.
• if you want to increase your self-awareness they can help you discover the self-limiting beliefs that are holding you back.

Mental models are the various thinking frameworks that are used to understand life, make decisions, and solve problems.

Just raw intelligence is not enough to solve problems. A different or a broader set of mental models can provide a different view of the problem, leading to an unconventional, new solution not thought of before.