We know the importance of nourishing our bodies – but what about our minds? In this episode, Jen talks about the importance of looking after your mental wellbeing through stress and shares tips on how to stay optimistic – even through a pandemic.
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SHOWNOTES
The very first subject we learn in naturopathy is the state of helplessness. Because there comes a point, as emotional beings, when we say, “it’s too hard, it’s too hard, I can’t do it!” and switch into helplessness.
It’s similar to how they train an elephant. When an elephant is little, it’s chained to an anchor on the ground, so it doesn’t run away. Eventually, it gives up and resigns itself to helplessness. So much so that an adult elephant can be tied up by a piece of string (that it could easily break) and they will still move because they’ve given up.
Martin Seligman PhD wrote a book called ‘Learned Optimism, How to Change Your Mind and Your Life’ (if you haven’t read it – it’s worth the read), which talks about how we get out of our mind what we feed it – positivity or negativity.
With this in mind, let’s look at how we can stay optimistic – even when everything is stacked against us, or we find ourselves in the middle of a global pandemic!
Here are six areas to focus your mind on staying optimistic:
- Keep hope – look through a positive lens and know that we’ll get through this.
- Think about the conversations you have daily – who are the five closest people you are conversing with? Do you feel drained or uplifted when you spend time with them? What about the podcasts and books are you feeding your mind? Make sure the conversations and messages you’re digesting are positive. What we think about we bring about.
- Turn off the doom and gloom media – Turn off the news and other shows that fill your mind with fear and negativity and turn on the comedies and positive, uplifting shows that make you happy.
- Journal to break the overwhelm cycle – brain dump your thoughts, even for 5 minutes a day, to get the worries and stress out of your head.
- Acknowledge what you can and can’t control – We can’t control what happens, but we can control how we respond to the stress. BREATHE and consciously respond instead of emotionally reacting. Don’t go down the rabbit hole.
- Feed your brain with mood-enhancing foods – There are specific foods that feed your brain; these include, nuts and seeds, pumpkin seeds, peas, brown rice and grass-fed protein for the amino acids. Kiwifruit will also help with digestive enzymes to make sure you get all the goodness out of your foods. Go back to Episode #3 to listen to ‘Shoo the BUM Glue’.
So, the Health Life Hacks for this episode are:
- Borrow my rose-coloured world lens and keep hope.
- Be aware of the five people you are hanging with the most and make sure they are uplifting! Also, use podcasts and positive books to fill the gaps.
- Turn off the news and negative media!
- You are in control of how you respond to life. No more pity parties. Feel it, breathe and respond calmly.
- Feed your mind with nutrition even if it’s eating one kiwifruit a day.
Did you enjoy the podcast today? Please let me know by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. Every month I draw one lucky reviewer to have a free one-hour consultation with me. Also, remember to subscribe wherever you’re tuning in from so that you always catch the next episode.
Are you looking for more great resources? Get a free copy of my Feed Your Body ebook here and be sure to explore my blog while you are there.
