Good Thoughts = Awesome Life

The following tips can help your mental health:

Daydream – Close your eyes and imagine yourself in a dream location. Breathe slowly and deeply. Whether it’s a beach, a mountaintop, a hushed forest or a favourite room from your past, let the comforting environment wrap you in a sensation of peace and tranquility.

“Collect” positive emotional moments – Make it a point to recall times when you have experienced pleasure, comfort, tenderness, confidence, or other positive emotions.

Learn ways to cope with negative thoughts – Negative thoughts can be insistent and loud. Learn to interrupt them. Don’t try to block them (that never works), but don’t let them take over. Try distracting yourself or comforting yourself, if you can’t solve the problem right away.

Do one thing at a time – For example, when you are out for a walk or spending time with friends, turn off your cell phone and stop making that mental “to do” list. Take in all the sights, sounds and smells you encounter.

Exercise – Regular physical activity improves psychological well-being and can reduce depression and anxiety. Joining an exercise group or a gym can also reduce loneliness, since it connects you with a new set of people sharing a common goal.

Enjoy hobbies – Taking up a hobby brings balance to your life by allowing you to do something you enjoy because you want to do it, free of the pressure of everyday tasks. It also keeps your brain active.

Set personal goals – Goals don’t have to be ambitious. You might decide to finish that book you started three years ago; to take a walk around the block every day; to learn to knit or play bridge; to call your friends instead of waiting for the phone to ring. Whatever goal you set, reaching it will build confidence and a sense of satisfaction.

Keep a journal (or even talk to the wall!) – Expressing yourself after a stressful day can help you gain perspective, release tension and even boost your body’s resistance to illness.

Share humour – Life often gets too serious, so when you hear or see something that makes you smile or laugh, share it with someone you know. A little humour can go a long way to keeping us mentally fit!

Volunteer – Volunteering is called the “win-win” activity because helping others makes us feel good about ourselves. At the same time, it widens our social network, provides us with new learning experiences and can bring balance to our lives.

Treat yourself well – Cook yourself a good meal. Have a bubble bath. See a movie. Call a friend or relative you haven’t talked to in ages. Sit on a park bench and breathe in the fragrance of flowers and grass. Whatever it is, do it just for you.

Aries: ability to make last-minute plans when a sudden urge to go out pops up, and my lack of patience for people who can’t decide where to go

Taurus: secret sensitivity under a tough layer of unflappability, and inability to focus on anything else when i’m in a bad mood

Gemini: habit of distracting myself with random things that catch my eye, but demanding your attention nonetheless

Happy people value and choose:

1. Love over Fear: People, who are really happy, fear less and love a lot more. They see each moment, each challenge, each person as an opportunity to discover more about themselves and the world around them.

2. Acceptance over Resistance: Happy people understand that you can’t really change a situation by resisting it. When something unpleasant happens to them, they don’t try to fight it. Instead, they ask themselves questions like: What can I learn from this? How can I make this better?

3. Forgiveness over Unforgiveness: Really happy people know that it’s not healthy to hold on to anger. They choose to forgive and forget, understanding that forgiveness is a gift they give themselves.

4. Trust over Mistrust: They trust themselves and they can figure out who is trustworthy – and who they should avoid.

5. Meaning over Ambition: They do the things they do because of the meaning it brings into their lives and because they get a sense of purpose by doing so. They’re not driven by the need to gain approval from others.

6. Challenges over Obstacles: Happy people see problems as challenges, and as opportunities to explore new ways of doing things.

7. Selflessness over Selfishness: Happy people look for ways to give and to share the best of themselves, and to make other people happy if they can.

8. Kindness over Harshness: They are kind to themselves and others and they understand the power of self-love, self-forgiveness and self-acceptance.

9. Gratitude over Ingratitude: No matter where they look, no matter where they are or with who, happy people have the capacity to see beauty where many would only see ugliness – and they’re quick to express their gratitude, as well.

10. Being Present over Being Disengaged: Happy people know how to live in the present moment, appreciating what they have and where they are. 11. Positivity over Negativity: No matter what happens to them, happy people always seem to adopt and maintain a positive, and upbeat, perspective.

12. Taking Responsibility over Blaming: Happy people take full ownership of their lives. They choose to keep their power and take responsibility for everything that happens to them.

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