Healthy mind leads to a healthy body

Some say a healthy body leads to a healthy mind but I firmly believe that a healthy mind leads to a healthy body.  When you are in the right mindset you are naturally inclined to want to feel healthy. You could be physically very healthy but have an unhealthy mindset or suffer from mental stress. Either way a healthy mind and a healthy body compliment each other.

Develop your Intellectual Curiosity

I think as humans we all have intellectual curiosity. Whether we decide to ignite or develop it or not depends greatly on the individual’s thought process. A lot of us go through our early life learning specifically about our chosen career, albeit before it becomes a career, but for a good few of us everything holds great curiosity, and learning and discovering what fascinates us becomes a lifelong lesson.

It is important to have intellectual curiosity as it allows your mind to be active and not passive and as curious types of people are constantly asking questions and searching for the answers their minds are always active. As we know the mind is like a muscle and so the mental exercise caused by being curious ultimately makes the mind stronger.

“Champions aren’t made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them―a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have the skill, and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.” ~ Muhammad Ali

Mental Energy Balance

It’s a well known fact that you can increase and maintain high energy levels by being physically active, getting a good night’s sleep and having a balanced diet.

We lose mental energy every day through our emotions. The more positive the emotion that has been released increases the energy for both the giver and the receiver. The more negative the emotion being released, increases the energy of the recipient and takes it from the donor. Our emotions transfer mental energy from one person to another.

In order to ensure you have enough mental energy you have to actively seek to replenish the bases from which you receive mental energy from. The main sources to increase your mental energy stem from being surrounded by those who love, support and understand you, those who offer praise and encouragement.

Also, doing activities that bring you joy and contentment. If, you are out of your comfort zone and are experiencing difficulty with a task, you will lose energy. Similarly, if you are enjoying the task and like what you are doing, then you re-gain energy or as some say “recharge your batteries”. This way you will maintain a good balance.

Below are a few simple suggestions to obtain mental energy

• Be Kind to People – especially yourself.
• Let go of the little things – don’t sweat the small stuff, if something won’t matter by tomorrow then don’t let it ruin today.
• Forgive yourself – Your past mistakes are there to guide you, not define you. Learn from your past, but don’t let it destroy you.
• Listen to music – as often as you can during the day, sing out loud and dance when you can!
• Slow down. Use your time away from the stresses of the working week to have a rest and relax doing something that you enjoy. R&R is a great way to replenish the mind and body.
• Remove the major sources of stress and negativity from your life – unhealthy relationships with friends or family, de-clutter your living environment and reduce unnecessary splurging.
• Avoid gossiping and drama – both are exhausting and draining your energy levels. If, you have nothing good to say, say nothing.
• Laugh out loud and often don’t take yourself or life too seriously, you will miss out on so much fun!
• Read & learn – Every day is a school-day! Broaden your interests and open your mind to new possibilities and beliefs by reading, watching documentaries or webinars, taking courses/classes etc.
• Get enough sleep each night. We all know how much sleep we can “function on”, try increasing that by 1 hour and you will see the difference. No matter what your age, you’re never too old for a catnap.
• Meditate regularly. Meditation improves so much in our lives, our memory, our mood, our immune system, and our creative ability. It need only take a few minutes a day for you to start seeing the benefits.
• Get at least 15 minutes exercise each day. If, you happen to live close to where you work try taking 1 day a week to walk to work, cycling or going for walks, and at a pace that increases your heart rate is all that is needed for a good exercise regime. Exercise is so important for our health and puts us in a great mood.

Cultivate Your Creativity

Most of us are not naturally creative, we have to work at it, but it’s true to say that everyone has the capacity to be creative, with a little work.

You may be lucky enough to be naturally creative and if so embrace this skill which is becoming increasing essential in life today.

Below are a few ideas that may help you to cultivate and nurture your creative abilities.

Be Impulsive – creativity often comes easier to the young and to those who have not yet learnt adult responsibilities, it is not about being thoughtless rather to be impulsive, as if there are no rules.

Writing – Why not try your hand at writing a type of poetry, Free Verse with no rules, Sonnets a short rhyming poem with 14 lines, a Limerick which is a five-line witty poem with a distinctive rhythm, or an Acrostic poem where the one letter in each line spells out a word or phrase vertically that acts as the theme of the poem.

Because there are all sorts of rules involved it forces you to be creative in your expression. If, you want to go a step further, create a blog or write a story.

Free play – a relatively unknown term in the adult world but this fun and unstructured form of play is particularly favoured by preschool children who embark on it with vigour and imagination. Making time to play something that involves no rules, no end game and involves a lot of imagination can be highly conducive to increasing your creativity.

It could be making a den from blankets to getting creative with colourful chalk on a public footpath, whatever you decide it doesn’t really matter… what does matter is how you feel when you are playing and what you notice around you. The end result is to play without a care in the world!

If none of these ideas ignite you then perhaps you can cultivate your creativity in another way. If, you simply don’t feel creative, or if your environment does not allow creativity then remove yourself from that space and take back control of your actions.

Embrace and celebrate creativity in your life and in the lives of your loved ones.

Tap into your Spiritual side

You may be a person of faith or you may not. But one sure way to effectively control stress in your life is to build a connection with something.  For some it’s to practice their religion within their communities for others it’s embracing the higher energy from within themselves and connecting with the universe and all its natural wonders.

When you build up your spiritual awareness you begin to realise that we are all connected and are all part of this vast cosmos and all important in the same way. The mind, body, and spirit are all connected. There is emotional freedom and physical health to be gained from this realisation.

Healthy Mind = Healthy Body

So, if you turn your world into a place that allows you to reduce stress, eat well, be positive, and embrace your spirituality, you will have a healthy mind and body, and they will work together to give you a satisfying life.

So a healthy mind keeps you lively and active, a healthy body keeps you free and alive and both together makes for a very fulfilling life.

Doctors won’t make you healthy. Nutritionists won’t make you slim. Teachers won’t make you smart. Gurus won’t make you calm. Mentors won’t make you rich. Trainers won’t make you fit. Ultimately, you have to take responsibility. Save yourself.

~ Naval Ravikant