Mental health, often overshadowed by physical health, is an integral part of our overall well-being.
There will always be an element of stress in our environment that is unavoidable. However, how much we get impacted by the stress in our environment is dependent on our individual Stress Tolerance. We all have different levels of Stress Tolerance. Stress tolerance is our ability to be unaffected by the stress in our Environment. This blog is about improving your stress tolerance level.
Like a three-legged stool, our mental health is supported by three critical foundations: Emotional Fitness, Emotional Resilience, and Emotional Intelligence. When one of these legs is weak or missing, our mental health can become unstable. Let's explore these foundations and understand how they contribute to a balanced and healthy mental state.
1. Emotional Fitness
Emotional Fitness mirrors the concept of physical fitness; it's achieved through consistent and daily practice. Just as we exercise our bodies, we must also exercise our minds. Three practices have proven to be exceptionally beneficial for developing emotional fitness:
- 15-20 Minutes of Exercise: Physical activity is not just good for the body but also for the mind. It can help reduce anxiety, depression, and negative mood by improving self-esteem and cognitive function. It also helps increase better blood circulation to your brain.
- Meditation:
Meditation helps in calming the mind, reducing stress, and improving focus. Regular meditation can lead to better emotional health by fostering a sense of peace and clarity. Meditation allows us to have better control on our thoughts and so our emotions.
- Gratitude Journal: Writing down things for which you are grateful can significantly increase your sense of well-being and happiness. Our brain is designed for survival. So, it’s natural instincts are to look for what’s wrong. This is the reason why 90% of the things in our life are the way we want them to be, yet we focus on the 10% that are not the way we want them to be. Research shows that conscious daily gratitude helps release feel good chemicals that enable us to be more creative, productive and emotionally intelligent.
2. Emotional Resilience
Emotional Resilience is the ability to bounce back from setbacks, adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or significant sources of stress. It's a practice of seeing that our emotions are information and not our identity. Creating the separation that - I feel anger, I am not angry. Just like if you hurt your knee, you have “knee pain”, you are not “knee pain”. Creating this separation makes us more resilient to the emotion. Building emotional resilience allows us to navigate through difficult emotions and situations with grace and adaptability.
3. Emotional Intelligence
Emotional Intelligence is the capacity to be aware of, control, and express one's emotions judiciously and empathetically. This requires the ability to acknowledge the emotion without labelling it good or bad, positive or negative. And then asking do I want to be feeling this way, if not, then understanding that my thoughts create my feelings. So how can I REFRAME this situation so I have more effective thoughts that will put me into a better emotional state?
The Interplay of the Three Foundations
Most people face challenges in their mental health journey because they might overlook or undervalue one of these foundations. Each foundation supports and enhances the others. For example, emotional fitness can improve our resilience and intelligence by providing us with the strength and clarity to face and understand our emotions. Emotional resilience allows us to navigate through life's ups and downs with greater ease, while emotional intelligence offers us the tools to manage and express our emotions constructively.
The journey to mental health is continuous and multifaceted. By investing time and effort into developing emotional fitness, resilience, and intelligence, we equip ourselves with the tools necessary for facing life's challenges. Remember, it's not about perfection but progress. Like any form of fitness, the more we practice, the stronger we become.
Disclaimer: This Blog post is NOT intended as medical advice and does not imply any kind of specific guidance or treatment recommendations and should NOT be used to guide a treatment protocol. It is impossible to provide such guidance or advice of such nature in a general manner. Seek advice from an expert if you are experiencing a mental health condition.