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As many of you know, June is Men’s Health Month. This annual recognition is in part to encourage men to be proactive in addressing their health by implementing healthy living choices.
Health has many dimensions – physical, spiritual, emotional, financial. While these are all crucial, let’s focus on mental health. Mental health affects how we think, act, and feel, and impacts how we handle stress, make choices, and interact with one another.
Our brains generate a whopping 75,000 daily thoughts, and 80% can be negative! This negativity can hold us back. Mental fitness is our ability to challenge those negative thoughts and cultivate a positive mindset. Strengthening mental fitness enables us to boost performance, improve our well-being, and fortify relationships.
How can we start to reduce that large number of negative thoughts we all have?
Five immediate approaches to consider:
- Empathize: show appreciation and compassion for yourself and those around you. Give yourself and others grace – let go of the inner critic.
- Explore: be curious, and try to understand a person, problem or situation beyond surface level assumptions. Don’t just find faults.
- Innovate: if exploring is about discovering what is, then innovate is understanding what is not. Ask yourself – what’s a whole new way to approach this situation?
- Navigate: think about how campers use a compass to guide their way. The next time you feel the urge to judge a person, use your values as a compass to guide your response to challenges.
- Activate: take action on your chosen path. When you focus on engagement, it reduces the urge to judge.
Just as we exercise our bodies, we must also train our minds to become the healthiest versions of ourselves.
This Men’s Health Month, check in with the men in your life and encourage them to prioritize mental fitness.
Everyone benefits from a healthier mindset. Which of the five approaches resonates most with you?
