Early to bed and early to rise make a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. We have all been familiar with this since our early childhood days. Healthy, what is healthy? It means to be strong and well, but we often forget that it includes physical and mental wellness.
There is a taboo in our society associated with the term mental health, although it simply refers to the cognitive, behavioral, emotional, and social well-being of the mind and brain. Biologically they are different terms as the brain exists physically and can be touched to coordinate movement and function of the body, while the mind is the sense of consciousness, understanding, and thought processes. A person is described as mentally healthy when he or she is able to learn, is able to perform daily work without any difficulty, and is able to feel, express, and manage all types of emotions, maintaining and forming his or her social life in a good way.
If a person cannot perform above such functions, any one of them is disrupted. It can be said that he or she is not mentally fit. It may include anger issues, eating disorders, sudden behavior changes generally known as mood swings, depression, amnesia, uninterested social life, and distance from others. More than 100 million people are suffering from mental health disorders worldwide. Reasons are there which affect the mental health of a person; it may be disturbed due to a traumatic incident, abundance in childhood, feeling neglected, hormonal or neurological disbalance, insecurities, lack of self-confidence, etc.; these all things happen due to the disconnection from our own self.
When we get disconnected from our true selves, when we get distracted from the purpose of our life, we go down the hill. Here comes the role of spirituality. Now reading this word, the first thought which will be created in most of the mind will be regarding religion. We often picturize spirituality with holy places, holy books, recitations, chance, or scenarios with incense sticks and lambs lighting, or a person praying in front of an idol. But this is not spirituality.
It actually means connecting to the spirit of our own, creating a definition for our soul, finding purpose and meaning in your action, to find that inner peace, the peace that gives you satisfaction. It is a guide to a different realm free from this materialistic world.
Growing up in an Indian household, what I saw was the dedication to religion. Even in my neighborhood, it was a must to follow and practice anyone's belief system that has been passed down in the generation. I am honored to be born in a country with vast beliefs, but somehow it pulls away from its primary purpose. Religion is just a set of rules which leads to its principle, which is spirituality.
Our forefathers were indeed correct that to live in this world, the nourishing element for the mind is spirituality, as food and water are for the body. And hence specific ideas were developed through which they found the tranquility and harmony and where the main setback starts.
It is not necessary for every individual to act in accordance with that. It will be futile to chant those verses if you don't believe them when you are not getting a sense of contentment and fulfillment. Associate yourself with activities you find pleasure in. Examples are listening to those blissful music, singing along to them, dancing in the rain, painting those canvas or just going for a walk in the park, or even sitting idle stargazing. It is true meditation when you feel calm. It's not always a shown. If you are able to align your thought by doing the activities, concentrating on what you actually are, not what else are describing you, what you really require, and how you can achieve it, then you find your way, your own set of rules.
Let me explain this to you with an example, milk is the source of calcium, vitamin d, and protein, but if you are lactose intolerant, it will be not beneficial and will only cause harm to you. Still, that doesn't mean you can't get the nutrients; you may obtain them with another source like pulses, eggs, or any supplements. Things are not always as beneficial to you as they are two the others, but the important point is to choose the path which leads to the same destination. The part which doesn't harm anyone, including yourself, as there are ways which will only create a mirage of happiness. Try to stay away from them as they give more wounds than healing.
When you grow spiritually, you eventually grow your mind because the soul is the primary owner of a mind. Soul and mind work coordinately. When there is a disturbance in any of them, then our mental well-being affects. When we find relief inside ourselves, when we develop the ability to accept things as they are and to move on from them, we start improving the state of our mind too. When we understand something is beyond our action, that things don't happen because of us even if we are being blamed for them. The only change we could make is within us, by ourselves, then we start evolving, developing, start being strong, and actually; happy.
Eventually, I wrap up my words with Naom Spencer. Mental health is not a destination. It's a process. It is about how "you" drive.