When people are trying to improve their mental health, it’s natural to focus on the things they don’t like – the anxiety you might be feeling, for example. However, it can sometimes to be just as beneficial to focus on the emotions and feelings that perhaps aren’t as present as they should be. For example, noticing that you’re lacking something, such as enjoyment and feelings of joy throughout your life, can be transformative for how you approach your self-care.
However, as always, re-implementing these things back into your life is often easier said than done, but it’s worth highlighting its importance regardless so that you can plot your own course toward success.
Bringing You into the Moment
As you might have heard, a method that is often used to improve mental health is that of mindfulness. Be aware of your thoughts and feelings so that you can better put yourself firmly in the present moment. There are practices such as meditation that can focus on this specifically, but you might also find yourself so preoccupied with what’s going on inside your head that you don’t experience any joy from the activities that you would otherwise love.
Letting yourself to feel this joy again can give those times their significance back, and while it can be difficult to allow yourself to relax, becoming more familiar with mindfulness could be a step towards helping you do so.
Casual Enjoyment
It’s easy to think of these grand moments when talking about joy, like the one-of-a-kind occasions with your friends or loved ones, such as big events. However, a lot of the time, it can be much more mundane and regular. Finishing work early and coming home to play some games, or doing so on the move through your phone to play slots online for real money, these might be inconsequential in the long run, but at the time they can help you to relax and enjoy yourself.
Again, it’s often hard not to feel guilty when you’re not doing anything productive, but you have a right to these moments, and allowing them to occupy your attention for the time that you’ve provided them with can help them to once again be moments that you look forward to throughout your day.
Your Physical Health
It’s not just your mental health that might be suffering. The stress that you experience could be impacting your physical health in subtle ways too, ways that might be alleviated through allowing yourself to feel joy again. At a glance, this is just another reason to feel stressed or anxious – but it can also be interpreted as a hopeful message. As much as it might not feel like it, the capability to steer your own emotions in this more positive direction is very much within your grasp. That’s not to say it’s a choice, but learning of the best ways to go about that can give you a place to begin and a way to tackle what you’re experiencing.
