How can you support your Mental Health?

The topic of mental health is becoming more and more relevant in society. This is due to the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, instability in the whole world, and the turbulent circumstances that are now beyond our will and desire. I want to share in this article some things I am doing to support my mental health. I don't think it's right or honest to write what can help in theory, but, for example, I don't do it, or do the opposite. We are living in such a period when sincerity and sharing a person's personal experience is more valuable than correct but theoretical texts.

Walking outside.

Of course, walking along the river, sea, ocean, in the mountains or the forest is much better than in the city. But if you do not have an opportunity to go somewhere near nature, then a walk "in the concrete jungle" is better than sitting in four walls at home. In Kyiv, I used to walk twice a day along the Dnipro river and it helped me to refresh and restore my strength and energy. Here, in Germany, I don't have my beloved Dnipro, but I have a field and a forest and that's enough to balance myself. The main thing is to walk alone, without anyone - to have an opportunity to stay alone with your soul. For many people it is unbearable. Why? Because thoughts attack. And yes, they do attack, but when a person takes time for himself/herself regularly, these thoughts will simply follow the direction of the Russian ship and this does not mean that they will shut up forever and never come back. This means that you will finally hear the voice of silence, the voice of your soul. That voice that people are so afraid of.

Hiking.

I discovered this kind of reflection and health recovery only during the war and fell in love with it. I couldn't even immediately answer the question "Why didn't I do this all my life?", I couldn't realize the stereotypes that sat in my head and didn't allow me to do it. I looked at the eighty-year-old Austrian-German grannies and admired how at this age they hiked, without any dyspnea and with a natural, not artificial, smile on their faces. They inspired me and I just followed them. And so it happened that in the last six months, wherever I went for one day or several days, somewhere in Germany or beyond, I chose hiking routes.

Therapeutic writing.

Whenever I have free time, I write (on the train, in a queue waiting for a doctor, in the park, in the evening after work, or during weekends). But the important thing is that I write not only in a stressful and depressed state, I also write in moments of joy, happiness, and love. This is important. I write out everything that confuses me, depresses me, exhausts me, or, on the contrary, gives me strength and expands me from the inside. I write about my fears, experiences, and expectations. I write about my achievements and small steps. I'm writing the book of my life and I'm writing it for myself, not for someone out there, and for printing it. But of course, who knows?!?!?! But I write just to let go of everything. When a person writes, he/she has an individual psychotherapy session, when a piece of paper acts as a psychotherapist, improving also his/her writing skills, he/she reveals millions of sides and talents in himself/herself that he/she did not even know about. A long time ago, I started this practice thanks to Julia Cameron's book, when I first started writing and people liked my texts. Now I just write what comes to me at this particular moment in time. Sometimes I can write in the form of question-answers on a specific topic, sometimes I just write in a flow. Therapeutic writing allows you to look at yourself and your life from a different angle and allow yourself to change.

Meditation.

I first started meditating in 2019. It was not my conscious choice, but rather a forced search for tools that could at least somehow help me. My first meditations resembled the book and movie "Eat. Pray. Love" - the more and more diligently I tried to stop my thoughts, the more actively they attacked me. It was impossible to calm down the inner voice even for a few seconds, the whole body twisted, I couldn't sit straight and calmly, and when it seemed to me that I had already been meditating for an hour, in fact only one minute had passed. Then my meditations went into a new phase - I just began to sleep after two minutes of meditating. It took me years to get to a level where it helped me and I began to meditate and not pretend to meditate. Meditation calms the mind, balances the nervous system, restores strength and energy, reduces stress, tension, and anxiety, refocuses, teaches to be here and now, in this very moment, helps to become more conscious and as a pleasant side effect expands your creativity and makes you a more creative person.

Unity with nature.

It is very similar to walking outside and hiking, but for me, unity with nature has a deeper meaning, because you can walk in the forest and even somehow balance yourself, but not be connected with nature. Unity is grounding. This is the feeling of the elements, trees, birds... This is the feeling that you and all elements or trees are one live organism. When I was on the ocean this year on my birthday, I felt the power of this element for the first time in my life and there was no fear or trepidation, only a feeling of gratitude and unity as if the ocean was me and I was the ocean. When, for example, I hug the trees in the forest, by the way, this is a very powerful practice and one must be able to do it correctly, I feel their power and how it begins to flow through my cells. When I'm in the mountains, I feel like I am a mountain as if no one and nothing can move me, as if I'm hundreds of millions of years old, but at the same time, I'm young and strong. And this again can be felt when you have an intimate meeting with nature, and not a noisy hike or a walk with friends when you talk the whole way and don't notice anything, hear nothing but talk.

Breathing practices.

Whatever negative and stressful feelings you have (fear, panic, panic attack, rage, anger, resentment, pain, hatred, etc.), the most effective way is to breathe deeply (deep inhalation, breathlessness, deep exhalation). For this, it is not necessary to know very special practices, although, of course, it is better to know some of them, but if you do not, then just try to breathe slowly and deeply, slowing down your breathing more and more. It helps and when you practice it often, it becomes a part of you and you don't have to stop walking or doing something to breathe deeply, you just live with that breath. Currently, of course, I do not only simple deep and slow inhalations and exhalations, I have many breathing practices in my arsenal, each of which is used in one or another situation, but you always have to start with something.

Spiritual and esoteric techniques.

Here I include many practices that I have learned in various international spiritual schools and academies and that I have created myself based on the knowledge I have already received. These are practices with imagination, and fantasizing, as well as body practices and practices with sensations, feelings, and emotions.

Sport.

Everyone has their recipe here. Before, for example, I did dancing, then running, swimming, then yoga. But after this period there was another period of doing nothing because of my health issues. Now I have a kind of mix that I call yoga-physical exercises for beginners when there are some yoga practices, some ballet swings, some joint gymnastics. In the meantime, it at least keeps the body in good shape. But I believe that one day I will return to yoga and swimming again... And I will start circling on the floor....

Music.

The sounds of the waves of the ocean or the sea, the crackling of a bonfire, and the singing of birds are very helpful (since it is not always possible to listen to all this in real life). In addition, there are now a huge number of channels that develop music of the appropriate high-frequency vibrations (joy, happiness, love, unconditional love, etc.). You will always find something that works for you. The main thing is not to stop searching!

The most important thing to remember is that whatever you do, you do it for yourself. Not for beautiful photos on Instagram, not for likes and shares, not for relatives, friends, or colleagues, not for achievements, not to prove something to someone, but for yourself. And all this "activity" is very intimate, not showy.

March 18, 2023.