Happy belated ‘Mental Health Day’ for yesterday!
I realise it’s been a while between posts but is ‘quality not quantity’ an excuse …?
Now I may have typed about this before but I think it’s a story worth repeating.
Years ago I attended a conference in Byron Bay one of the speakers there was a man by the name of Professor Rob Donovan from the University of Western Australia who is foremost a clinical psychologist and researcher.
Not surprisingly he was talking about Mental Health.
He said the words ‘Mental Health’ were designed to soften the seriousness of its subject matter.
To probe a little more deeply around this he decided to do some research.
He asked volunteer research groups what the words ‘Mental Health’ meant to them. What came back were statements and labels such as: ‘Mood disorders, mental illness, depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, social isolation, stigma” ….to name a few.
He then decided to tweak the words of ‘Mental Health’ to become ‘Mentally Healthy’.
He then popped that into the research mill and asked what people thought that could mean. What came back were words like ‘community, communication, mindfulness, meditation, exercise, openness, support …’ and so on.
What a difference!
Even though society has come a long way in the conversation around mental health it still has a fair way to go but I love this term ‘Mentally Healthy’.
Being ‘Mentally Healthy’ is what we should constantly strive towards and promote as individuals, workplaces and communities.
For a start it’s positive, it’s not a label, its not shrouded in fear and misunderstanding.
I truly believe if we want to be mentally healthy there are simple things we can do on a daily basis to help make our grey matter ‘shine’.
Unfortunately there’s no magic pill, no short cut, no silver bullet. It’s predominantly a potpourri of varied disciplines, simple activities and routines that create a better, happier and healthier self. It’s also known as ‘Wellbeing’
The two life management activities that are most important in day to day, is exercise and meditation, closely followed by good sleep, good communication and eating well.
If you’d like to know more about Rob Donovan and the great work he’s done in WA check out http://www.actbelongcommit.org.au
Anyway happy Mentally Healthy Day, hope this finds you well where ever you maybe.
PS I drew this drawing of projecting the life we’d like to live, for the Black Dog Institute and their LifeSpan Project.
