Re-set your Mindset- focus on the positives
In honour of mental health awareness day on 10th October 2020, I write this article about re-adjusting your mindset, a healthy mind means happy soul. Your mind must be healthy to enable your body and soul to follow suit.
It’s true what they say that what we hear and see being reported in the news, social media, on the TV and in the papers and books we read, could be negatively impacting how we view the world….
2020 its fair to say has been a tough and eventful year. It has been extremely difficult for many, adapting to the restrictions, new guidelines and overall the “new normal”.
The news has been inundated with negative reports and stories in light of the pandemic and it seems all other matters in the world appear to have been forgotten. Whilst it has been a devastating and at times a miserable year for all, it is important to focus on the positives. To protect your mindset and your mental health.
What we see, hear, and read – whether it’s something we know to be true, such as a news report, or something we know is fiction, such as a TV drama or a horror movie, it can have a huge influence on our overall beliefs and attitudes about the world around us, and our place in it. The way in which the same piece of information is framed, through either cleverly angled photography, video footage, or carefully chosen words, this can create an entirely different view of the same set of events.
As a solicitor, I was trained and taught to believe that facts are determined by evidence. Without evidence, you fail to prove the fact. Yet, in our day to day lives, when reading or listening about the news today whether its through your TV, tablet, newspaper, podcast, social media or on the radio, we fail to sometimes separate the facts from the fiction and the scare mongering from the truth. We focus so much of our energy on the negative which in turn can change the way we view the world.
In order to re-set your mindset and focus more on the positive, as there will always be negatives, and in our current circumstances, we must move forward as best we can, trying to avoid worrying about what is not within our control.
A life coach and previous Monk, Jay Shetty once said: “We’re so anxious about what will happen in the future that we don’t enjoy the present. The result being, we don’t live in the present or the future. We end up living, feeling like we’re never going to die and then die never having truly lived.”
And…
“The way we communicate says it all. We spend more time holding our phones than we hold each other. We ask Google more questions than we ask each other. A lot of problems in the world would disappear if we stop talking about each other and start talking to each other.”
The important thing to remember is, that while it’s good to be aware of what’s happening in the world, the saturation of negative news, and the way stories can be portrayed, is often overwhelming. To protect your mental wellbeing, and ensure you see a more rounded view of events, we need to hunt out and savour the positive moments, too.
For happier news and if you enjoyed this article, I would you check out any of the following resources which can be found online; the happy news, happiful, action for happiness, the positive news and the good news. All resources which provide a different perspective and view, focusing on what’s good and which I hope will help you re-set your mindset.
Stay safe. Stay healthy. Stay Happy.
By Aimee Baker, Solicitor
