Mental Fitness

Depression

You may be wondering why, in spite of various natural remedies you have taken, or in spite of the many drugs you have tried to help you overcome conditions of depression, nothing has worked for you.

Perhaps you have overlooked some important factors that must be addressed and eliminated before persisting in seeking a remedy. These are found to be causative factors, although of unknown or varying degree as each of us reacts somewhat differently. However, without eliminating these negative impediments to your mental health and well being, no remedy can be anticipated to be successful.

One of these is the recreational use of cannabis or Marihuana. Medical research is continuing to demonstrate that cannabis is linked to depression and psychosis with symptoms tending to increase with volume of the drug taken.

The Pill

The other is of direct interest to both sexes but is of major concern to women. That is the birth control measure, in use by the majority of women as a popular contraceptive. We call it The Pill.

There have been many complaints regarding the side effects of The Pill since first it was released to the public. Allowing that there have been many improvements to the original formula, we are still faced with medical evidence that includes high risk reactions that endanger our health. This is not physical health alone but most importantly manifests as depression and mental instability of various kinds.

This is such a common reaction in women on The Pill and statistics seem to indicate a strong correspondence between women on The Pill and those who are being treated for depression.  This is worth serious investigation.

Sally Janssen’s wonderful book Mental Fitness: A Simple Self-help Guide, offers simple and timely solutions.  Read more…

Technorati Tags: anger, health, Meditation, Mental Fitness, personality, psychology, relaxation, Stress, The Brain

Music is now well confirmed as an aid to learning. It allows greater absorption of information to be retained by the memory when studying and is a vital need for most students and scholars.

  In spite of this information, many students surround themselves with the vibrations of rock music and drumbeats that function in a contrary way and are effectively acting as destructive agents, harming both brain and the thought processes.

The type of music best suited to improve intellectual work is found to be the classical adagio type or baroque music where harmony and melodies are soothing with an impersonal quality that establishes calm emotions rather than stirring personal feelings and memories. We would be advised to make our choices from music of this nature; we must also search for sounds that soothe our soul. There is a wealth of music readily available.  It is worthwhile, if you are not already a lover of classical chamber music, to begin your personal exploration now! Music of the great classical composers truly nourishes the soul.

 Less understood, but gaining greater public interest, is the use of perfume to deliberately affect our mood and mental state. Most of the time we respond to perfumes unconsciously, or with passing interest. Selection of particular natural scents and perfumes that are found in essential oils offer a delightful range of aromatics that once inhaled, provide tonics for our brain and mind. The power of these oils that even by their emanations is shown by science to have a wide range of capabilities in both assisting psychological health and relieving symptoms of disease. Beyond physical healing they have qualities that can change our mind states and affect our emotions and so are becoming of greater potential use to psychologists and psychiatrists and those who choose to use self -help natural methods in their lifestyle.

Some oils, such as lavender, are soothing to the brain and nervous system and prove helpful in reducing stress. Others are vitalizing, such as mandarin, or cleansing like peppermint or lemon. Although the science of Osmics is relatively new it possesses scientific evidence enough to demonstrate the benefits of perfumes. It is a natural science exploring a subtle realm that offers many delights as well as curative qualities. Through the simple process of respiration, we can benefit brain and mood. It is a realm of nature studies that offers us great delight to our senses and enriches our mind as we take deep inhalations of subtle perfumes that can not only relieve any respiratory problems, but transport us in consciousness and make us feel good.

 Sally Janssen’s wonderful book “Mental Fitness: A Simple Self-Help Guide”, offers simple and timely solutions. Read more…

Technorati Tags: Depression, healing, Meditation, moods, music, psychological well being, relaxation

The balanced mind is fair and just. Thoughts are not biased or extreme but aim through either inner consideration or by means of external debate, to establish as near as possible the mid point that best reflects truth.
It may be trendy in the western world to be ‘non judgmental’ but this phrase is not appropriate in all matters, particularly in our everyday affairs. We are in situations that require our mental assessment and judgment constantly, whether in minor matters, domestic situations, or the workplace where we may hold positions of great social responsibilities. The people in our communities who are expected to exemplify the faculty of mental judgment or discrimination are those in the highest positions of our system of law, our judges. Even our jurors are each examined to establish if they hold any particular bias that may affect their true judgment of people and situations as they attempt to take an overview.
However, there is some confusion in modern terms. The social phrase ‘non judgmental’ may be commonly used to imply liberality and a generous community spirit, one that allows individual freedom.  But we should be careful that in our casual use of the term there is no hint that it implies a denial or reduction of the important principles our culture – one of these being the law, the law that is structured to measure and dispense justice and holds the scales as its symbol.
We as individuals require the inner faculty of mental discrimination that allows us to measure and balance out all the diverse and often opposing factors in ideologies and circumstances that can affect our thoughts. We need also to balance our emotional and intellectual regions of our psychological nature. But of prime importance, is the need to maintain the habit of balanced thinking to avoid extremes. A person with a balanced mind is a safe person, just as there is danger in the fanatical.
The mind that seeks beyond the limitations of having an opinion about something, and graduates to having firm knowledge tested by experience, will be most likely to indicate a maturity of thought that demonstrates both firmness of thought and principle, as well as an elasticity that allows further growth.
The balanced mind is a controlled mind, just as a mind that is not under an individual’s control we term ‘unbalanced.’

Sally Janssen’s wonderful book Mental Fitness: A Simple Self-help Guide, offers simple and timely solutions.  Read more…

Technorati Tags: angercharacter, anxiety, Meditation, Mental Fitness, mental health, personality, relaxation, Stress

We all have to learn not only to cultivate and broadcast positive thoughts but to be able to deal with intrusive thoughts of disturbing or negative kind. These can arise from our own subconscious mind but more often are thoughts that are inadvertently ‘picked up’ on the universal air waves of human thought.

Good thoughts are strong. They have the power to push away bad ones by the sheer strength of a happy, wholesome and vital idea installed as a replacement.  Beautiful, positive thoughts and pictures, with the help of our applied imagination, are equal to this task. We can prove this by regular practice.

The garden analogy with the mind seen as fertile soil is apt. We are responsible for cultivating the seed ideas we wish to bloom and must toil as all gardeners, to keep the weeds under control, that is, the undesirable thoughts and ideas.

Wonderful ideas take root in our minds and can be encouraged to grow and flourish to produce positive and welcome results in our lives just as evil thoughts and fears can run rampant when untended and need to be pulled out and deleted from our consciousness.

To accept the premise that positive thoughts are wholesome because they encourage us to feel confident, strong, healthy, loving and happy so that we truly benefit, means that we must also accept that it is our unwholesome thoughts that will result in our unhappiness and depression of spirit.

Although in practice it is far more complex than this and there are other factors that must be taken into consideration, it offers us a fundamental starting point to making a change in our thinking and therefore in our lives.  An improvement in the positive nature of our own thoughts will result in changes for the better in our feelings and circumstances.  Try it!

 Sally Janssen’s wonderful book “Mental Fitness: A Simple Self-Help Guide”, offers simple and timely solutions. Read more…

Technorati Tags: angercharacter, anxiety, Meditation, Mental Fitness, mental health, personality, relaxation, Stress

There are many platitudes such as the suggestion that we are only as old as we think we are.  Although it is no doubt our thoughts that help to keep us youthful, or influence the speed of the ageing processes of our body, there are certain physiological considerations that also must be taken into account.

Physical health means that the brain is likely to retain its healthy functions and condition also. This is a fundamental priority if we are interested in remaining as vital and youthful as we can. But there are specific facts known to science that help us to understand further.

Our brains require quantities of oxygen and absorption of vitality from the subtle atmosphere of our environment. This is taken for granted when we are young but as we age we must consciously draw upon nature’s universal supply in fresh air and improve our respiratory capacities. Every cell needs oxygen and our brain eagerly consumes up to what has been assessed as two thirds of what is provided in order to keep all systems functioning. The brain’s demand for adequate circulation of oxygenated blood points to the need for us to do regular exercise.

The brain gradually is inclined to reduce in weight and volume until at 70 years it has lost 5% of its weight. By about 90 years of age it may be reduced by approximately 20%. It requires vital nourishment from easily digested foods and vitamins. We therefore must be specially considerate of the factor of diet and our need for health supplements as we get older.

Scientists observe changes in the neurons of the brain as well as atrophy of cells and changes in hormone levels. Unfortunately these changes are all inclined to reduce the levels of brain and body function rather than improving them. The loss in brain weight is thought to be related to the shrinkage of the large neurons.  In the basal forebrain it is shown that these neurons shrink or die as we age.

Sally Janssen’s wonderful book “Mental Fitness: A Simple Self-Help Guide”, offers simple and timely solutions. Read more…

Technorati Tags: angercharacter, anxiety, Meditation, Mental Fitness, mental health, personality, relaxation, Stress

There are many causes of brain strain and we all suffer at some time from certain tiredness of the mind. The most obvious reasons often relate to study or intellectual or professional demands and responsibilities. There is also the self inflicted everyday habit of recycling personal disturbing thoughts and anxieties over and over.

We need to employ our brain power in creative thought and endeavour but also provide times of relief when we interest ourselves in pleasant activities that allow us to counter any fatigue or nervous strain. It is the equivalent to a change of gear to release the concentration we must exercise in our work and allow the brain a non-thinking period, or time of rest. And so we are wise to learn what we can of relaxation methods that allow body and brain to be refreshed. Here we find meditation to be ideal. Hobbies can also offer a direct course of interest and activity.

We can allow self imposed pressures in our attitudes and thoughts that exacerbate external pressures or even that these internal ambitions and ideas continue to exist on their own. If this is the case then as well as reduction of external stress situations, we must re-programme our own motivations to suit our real needs and allow us to enjoy a state of mental fitness.

Throughout the day it is possible to find a few minutes to stop still and do nothing, nor be thinking about anything in particular. The most elementary of disciplines is to sit upright and maintain stillness over your muscles. Once settled comfortably, just close your eyes and keep only the movement of your regular rhythmic breath but no other muscular movement.

Just continue to observe how you feel and what you are experiencing and what thoughts pass through your mind as your subconscious thought processes begin to unwind.

It is very simple. Only after a few minutes you will begin to feel better and more refreshed.

Most of us are satisfied that we have a need for greater appreciation of the need to be still and conserve energy of mind and body and that is why we practise meditation and learn all we can about mental fitness. 

Sally Janssen’s wonderful book “Mental Fitness: A Simple Self-Help Guide”, offers simple and timely solutions. Read more…

Technorati Tags: angercharacter, anxiety, Meditation, Mental Fitness, mental health, personality, relaxation, Stress

Envy is a very regrettable and uncomfortable state to experience. Although it is usually a temporary condition, it has a potential to take over our feelings or thoughts and give us lasting problems that interfere with our mental health and fitness.

Envy in itself as jealousy is a sterile or unproductive state of mind and feeling, whether it is directed towards external situations, possessions or to people.

Other than demonstrating that we admire something or someone for what they represent, it is pointless to desire anything that has not been earned by ourselves. We tend to develop the bad habit of envy, nevertheless.  How often we say ‘I wish I were like him (or her)’ or “I wish I had …..”  Usually we can accept that whatever we desire to achieve materially or in character or skills, we are free to gain and possess through hard work, enterprise and patience in acquiring the means. Of course this holds providing that we choose goals where we have some reasonable expectation of success and are prepared to convert wishing into working.

Although most of our remarks and passing feelings of envy may be just felt in casual thoughtless moments when we let a sense of unfairness enter into our mood. For instance, we may judge someone as not deserving as we are or may desire to acquire something without working for it. Envy can eat into our souls and become a really inhibiting character trait, even a toxic factor in our personality, capable of spoiling our life and our relationships with others.

Envy displays the capacity to be unappreciative of what we already possess. If we are truly aware and grateful for our good fortune, even though this commodity may seem to be unequally divided amongst us, we will help our degree of appreciation increase in a healthy manner to earn us greater fortune in the future.

Envy is totally eradicated if we become centred in our own personality and mind and if we focus upon our own business, our own desires, and developing our own qualities and aims. Then any negatives are transformed into positive admiration of others, or can provide motivation for us to pursue our own material or spiritual goals.

Sally Janssen’s wonderful book “Mental Fitness: A Simple Self-Help Guide”, offers simple and timely solutions. Read more…

Technorati Tags: angercharacter, anxiety, Meditation, Mental Fitness, mental health, personality, relaxation, Stress

Early awareness of depressed moods when we may feel hopeless, helpless, lonely and afraid of the future is learn how to help ourselves if we wish to avoid taking medicinal drugs prescribed under medical treatment.

We learn to cast off old habits and re-establish natural health that allows our emotions and minds to feel vital and positive.   We learn to feel well again, and it feels good.

Sally Janssen’s wonderful book Mental Fitness: A Simple Self-help Guide, offers simple and timely solutions.  Read more…

Technorati Tags: angercharacter, anxiety, Meditation, Mental Fitness, mental health, personality, relaxation, Stress

The existence of so much mental disease in the community, including stress, depression and dementia, indicates a need for us to take responsibility in changing and training our own health habits, and disciplining our thought and feeling also, if we wish to avoid adding to the numbers.

Sally Janssen’s wonderful book “Mental Fitness: A Simple Self-Help Guide”, offers simple and timely solutions. Read more…

Technorati Tags: anxiety, concentration, Depression, Meditation, Mental Fitness, mental health, relaxation, Stress

As individuals in society it is inevitable that we will compare ourselves with others. This serves two purposes in motivating us to seek to emulate the good, and to eliminate the bad examples we observe around us.  Others will be judging us in a similar fashion.

In relation to our minds, as it is impossible to enter the private world of another’s brain or world of thought without intrusion, we are able to determine the mental health of another only by conversation, exchange of ideas, by the written word and through the expression of that person’s life and creativity in any direction. So we recall wise words of the Bible in Matthew 7: 16 “….By the fruits ye shall know them.”

However, the most important stance is that we first are capable of judging ourselves honestly.

Here, our culture presents us with some clear references, to help us in our personal self culture and thinking.  We look to the enduring qualities and ideals that have permeated thought in every fine civilization throughout history. We ask ourselves, have we already tried to develop or express any of these admirable mental traits …

Capacity for rational thought.

Balanced and fair in judgement.

The mind free of anxieties and exaggerated responses. 

Extended vision and ability to foresee outcomes.

Free expression of matured thoughts and ideas.

Receptive to the value in others’ thoughts and intellect.

Positive attitude to life in general.

Constructive and confident use of creative mental faculties.

Consideration of others demonstrated by kindness and compassion.

Unswerving high principles and ethics.

Wholesome sense of humour and cheerfulness of spirit.

Dedication to truth in all things.

Imagination that allows new enthusiasm and hope for the future.

So ….how do we rate ourselves?

Sally Janssen’s wonderful book “Mental Fitness: A Simple Self-Help Guide”, offers simple and timely solutions. Read more…

Technorati Tags: anxiety, concentration, Depression, Meditation, Mental Fitness, mental health, peace of mind, relaxation, Stress