Are you mentally hygienic?

We have heard of foot hygiene, hand hygiene, oral hygiene etc. But have you ever thought of having a hygienic mind? Like rebooting your mind?

When we say hygiene we mean keeping one’s surroundings neat and clean in order to prevent illnesses. Why can’t we keep our mind clean to avoid a disorganized life or negativity or anxiety?

 Mental Health is the state of harmony between a person’s needs, desires, attitudes and his/her prevailing environment. Mental Health is one of the components of the broad concept of health. Mental Health is a concept we have heard of or we would try to stay out of because of stigma. We need both physical health and mental health to balance our individual health.

Here we should focus on the hygiene of our mind.

Mental Hygiene is a way to attain Mental Health. By cleaning our mind we mean eliminating all those thoughts, emotions, actions that will affect our personality as well as others, as a whole or part of it. If you want to be mentally hygienic or if you are, check whether you are doing the following:

·   Are you having a realistic appraisal of your own emotions, behaviour or actions?

·   Do you have a good control over your behaviour or impulses?

·   Do you have awareness of yourself? Like do you use more of “YOU” statements rather than “I” or “ME” statements?\

·   Are your emotions dominantly anger, fear, jealous or despair?

Basically what we eat, what we do, what we think affects our personality very much. These elements are in close contact with minds too. So I am penning down some points or “indicators” which can be done to be mentally hygienic.

·   Don’t hold a grudge in your mind towards a person, an event or any happenings

·   Be thankful and say sorry

·   Live in the present. Don’t worry about what happened or what will happen

·   Let go. Please let go of things that are not in your control

·   Have self-esteem. Get hold of your life

·   Talk about things that you witnessed not what others told you

·   Be assertive

·   Find ways to attain your spiritual well being