Spring Cleaning Your Mental Health
Bringing the clearing power of spring to your mental health strategies
Last week we focused on how to spring clean our relationships. This week I want to focus on spring cleaning our mental health. We get a burst of energy and creativity with the change in season so we might as well capitalize on this gift of increased productivity.
Focus on kicking out negative thoughts especially those shame triggers.
There are 15-20 negative core beliefs we all identify with. Given the large number of people on the planet imagine there only being 15-20 thoughts which we all struggle around. Here are a few of them:
I am not good enough
I am stupid
I am a fraud
I am unwanted
I am abnormal
I am defective
I am helpless
I am bad
I am worthless
I am weak
I am a failure
I am incapable
I am unloved
I am unimportant
I am powerless.
Take time to notice over the course of the next week which of these comes up for you and start to combat those beliefs by flipping the script and changing the thought. In the moment when you notice the thought of, ‘I am stupid’ coming up, stop the thought, change the thought to something like, “I am learning” and then give yourself kindness for the struggle in being human and such as, “it is hard to learn, and we all feel less than when we are learning something new and make mistakes.”
Focus on changing your perspective in the new season.
We can get really stuck in our way of thinking and become inflexible in our ability to be curious. The loss of curiosity and rigidity of thought stifles our creativity and connectivity. Embrace the energy of the spring season to focus on creating a more flexible perspective. Notice times when you step into righteous indignation, meaning you assume you are correct and others are wrong, and pause to take in another perspective.
Replacing rigidity with curiosity by asking:
Could this be true?
What is the other side to this story?
How would another person see this?
What are the pieces of this perspective I am missing?
Understand that changing perspectives can be difficult and also rewarding as we become more open to a wider world and increased connection to ourselves and others.
Take space to review priorities during this time of renewal and regeneration and evaluate what is the best use of your time.
Aging has brought with it a sense of intense urgency for spending my precious minutes and energy on what I value the most. I often find myself entangled in self-criticism for not making every minute count.
Springtime is a great opportunity to do a deeper dive into what matters most and where your energy is best spent.
Take time to journal what your core values are and how you are honoring those values with your time and energy. I believe time and energy are our most precious resources and need to be spent on what we love, cherish, and value the most.
At the conclusion of your journaling if you decide your values are not aligned with what you are currently prioritizing then write down what needs to change and make it happen. Don’t forget to schedule a time to review the progress and changes so you can stay on track and keep up the momentum toward change.
Embracing change, and progressing toward new ways of thinking, and being is not easy.
The challenges I have laid out will not be overnight successes and will take a great amount of mindfulness and focus to truly change.
I challenge you to make these little changes as you can over time you will see a big improvement in your mental state.
Good luck and remember we are all in this together. Happy Spring!
Penney