Memories – Awareness – Actions
Memories –
I’m not sure that these “days” for being aware of “things” are all that helpful.
Here are a few just for Oct. 1!
- World Hair Day – really?
- National Black Dog Day – I had a black dog once, she was Awesome!
- National Homemade Cookies Day – I love cookies 🙂 My mom and I used to bake lots of cookies at Christmas, it was a tradition.
Ok, a few memories came to the surface as I looked at the National Day Calendar for October and a couple of chuckles. (you can find all the things that there are days for here: https://www.nationaldaycalendar.com/october)
Awareness –
Are Memories Awareness?
I don’t think so. I think how we look at memories can spark awareness for us. It can also spark gratitude, notstalgia, loss, sadness, and joy – ALL AT THE SAME TIME!Â
Recognizing that we can have all of the different feelings at the same time is awareness.Â
Learning to flow with the different feelings, watching them pass through us, not allowing ourselves to get stuck to any single feeling and moving oursleves out of this whirlpool of feelings, this is using our awareness to take care of our own mental health.
Actions
- Allowing is an Action
- Moving is an Action
- Deciding/Choosing are Actions
- Letting Go is an Action
Allowing memories to flow, deciding to move through the memories and the emotions they evoke, and most importantly Letting Go of the things we cannot change is an Action that leads to mental health and freedom.
All together now – Memories – Awareness – Action
The actions we take on a daily basis lead to better mental health or less good mental health. We choose the actions we will take based on being aware of what we are doing, and what happened the last time we took and action:
- eating lots of sugar leading to fast highs and low lows (Sugar makes little things seem like big things. Sugary foods can weaken the body’s ability to respond to stress, which increases anxiety.)
- staying up too late so the next day your body feels like lead and your brain is foggy
- choosing to learn new things so you have better skills to manage the things that come at you from the world
- seeking teachers and guides, counselors or therapists, and friends who support you and your health
Every day we have choices. Sometimes we make good ones, and sometimes we choose something that “seems like a good idea at the time.” But the important thing to remember is that we can always make a new choice, we can change direction, seek help, and take actions that are healing to us.
Some things that have helped me sort through my choices and make decisions include journaling, allowing time for gratitude each day, and my Body-Brain Balance practice.
Speaking of friends, I was inspired to write this post today after reading my friend and fellow writer, Dale Darley’s post World Mental Health Day, Navigating the Path to Mental Well-being
Dale has many resources that will support you on your journaling or writing adventures.Â
Selfcare and Mental Health are Intertwined
So wherever you start with physical or mental care each one will improve as you choose the things that make you healthier. Whether it’s letting go of
- people who bring stress and dysfunction into your life,
- thoughts that create anxiety or upset in your mind,
- eating habits that upset your body
each of these will create an improvement in your overall well-being. It might be small at first but each step on the path will lead you to better physical and mental health! As Lao Tzu said:
The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.
