Mind Cleansing
Mental hygiene
They say cleanliness is next to godliness. Is it just limited to outer cleanliness or does it involve inner cleansing too? Because even in a spik and span room, you can be suffering from mental illness fighting unknown battles silently. So cleanliness and maintenance has to be all rounded too. Therefore mental hygiene means nothing but working to maintain mental health. It is the steps that we take like psychotherapy, medication and even less clinical action such as meditation, or reaching out for family support etc. to achieve mental well-being. You don’t have to be mentally ill to maintain mental hygiene. It is the process of looking out for your mental well-being by just eliminating unwanted thoughts and worries from day to day life that could invite uninvited mental stress. It’s the act of staying clean in the mind.
How to maintain mental hygiene?
Maintaining mental hygiene is actually simple. You have to stop worrying or obsessing and things that require your least concern. You need to prioritize your work and see if the stress is worth it. And even if it is, do not panic, think calmly and rationally, take somebody’s help. Nobody’s going to judge you. We’re all learning. Stop overthinking. Indulge yourself into hobbies in your pass times or take time to walk outside where there’s less human interference and more of nature’s beauty. Take a few moments and meditate. Don’t take your whole day’s tension to your bed. Leave it and have proper sleep. Have healthy and sufficient food. Don’t give in to unnecessary diets that might result in weakness. Do what you like and take care of yourself. Basically, it’s the art of having a positive outlook towards life which results into better mental health.
Just as there are tools to clean your surroundings, there are tools to clean up your mind too. Try meditation that helps in guiding you towards ideal techniques. Set goals, and work towards them. If needed, keep a daily reminder to yourself to do at least one thing that you love, everyday. If you feel you can’t speak to anyone, maintain a diary or journal and put it all out. If ever you feel like you need a break, take a small vacation. That can even be a cruise or a trip to the park. The goal is to calm yourself and keep you enthusiastic to do more of what you love. Mental hygiene is neglected a lot because we have made it normal to go through stress. It is almost as if a person without stress would be considered abnormal. But if we start maintaining our mental hygiene just like we maintain our body cleanliness, many illnesses can be erased from the root even before they can grow. As prevention is better than cure, following perfect mental hygiene, we can achieve sound mental health.
Written by Rimpa Sarkar
