HOW TO DEVELOP A HEALTHY MENTAL STATE

                                                                The mind is its place own place

  and in itself can make a hell

 of heaven or a heaven of hell

                           ------ John Milton

In the above quote, the poet clearly states that the quality of our mental state is solely dependent on the mind. Thru our minds, we create or reshape our reality. Our mind feeds the information to the brain which will rewire it to create reality. If a person constantly complains or gossips or finds excuses for not wanting to do the assigned task, that will make it easier to find things even with the smallest ones to get upset about, regardless of the actual happenings around. These are negative mental attributes. Conversely, if a person constantly looks for opportunities, abundance, and love to be grateful for, that would make it easier to find a reflection of those things in the surrounding. These are positive attributes. Though all these are more easily said than done. But practicing and implementing positive attributes over a period of time becomes a powerful way to change reality. These would lead to positivity and thus would be conducive to maintaining a healthy mental state.   But the point remains is, how not to slide down into the mental trap of developing negative attributes. This is possible by trying to maintain a sustainable positivity that would enable the development of a constant positive mental state. Following are some of the factors that can help in developing this.

1.     Awareness of factors that are not under human control and those that are under human control.

2.     Positive self-image.

3.     Acceptance of all change whether pleasant or unpleasant.

4.     Not to consider social acceptability as the criteria for judging 

       an individual’s credibility.

5.     Reinforce the factors that are under human control.

6.     Consider life as a journey and not the destination to be reached 

      in competition with others.

            Now, let's go deeper into each of the above factors to elaborate on the ways to achieve

          a healthy mental state.

 

1.     Awareness of factors under human control and those that are not under human control.

This has been very succinctly put into perspective by Buddha which I am quoting below. These are best depicted in a video, the link for which is given below.

Things that can't be  controlled and those that can be controlled

A)       FACTORS UNDER HUMAN CONTROL

                 “We have control over three things in our lives and those are; our thoughts

                   that comes from the way we think, the images that we visualize in our mind’s eye, 

                  and the actions that we take and the way we react to any situation”.

                B)    FACTORS NOT UNDER HUMAN CONTROL

Ø           How people treat you, their actions and reactions, thoughts, feelings, their 

         likes, dislikes, and opinions.

Ø        Time is the eternal flowing parameter of nature that drives all our senses of pleasure and pain; good and bad times, joy and suffering birth and death, etc.

Ø        Nature and its reality. All the phenomenon of nature like the cycle of season change, on the one hand, brings benefit to human beings but on the other hand, the unpredictable events of nature which include calamities like floods, earthquakes, cyclones, and epidemics that cause loss of life, and properties.

 

2.     POSITIVE SELF-IMAGE.

The self-image of a person is a very important aspect that navigates his attitude and behavior in every situation, and it very much depends on his own beliefs. And a sense of positivity in the own self is very important because that induces motivating drive and confidence to move forward with the situation in which he is, at any given moment.  With such a mental state, the nature of the situation whether good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant does not affect the motivational spirit of the person. Hence it is a major factor in developing a healthy mental state.

 3.     ACCEPTANCE OF CHANGE PLEASANT OR UNPLEASANT

Any change that occurs in the surroundings is in the very nature of everything around us and so it will change whether we like or want it or not that’s immaterial. And so it is not in human control, except those that have been initiated by actions of  that individual. Everything in nature is inherently impermanent or transient and so has to change with time. Change is nature’s process through which the manifestation of time becomes visible and events occur throughout our life. The present becomes the past in the next moment, and the future becomes the present and gradually slips into the past to become memories. By readily accepting this process a person can align a sense of positivity to life’s process and hence a healthy mental state.

 

4.     Social acceptability is not the criteria for judging a person’s credibility

A conscientious, honest, and right-thinking person does not need to depend on social acceptability as an assessment of his credibility. For such a person self-assessment of his attitude and behavior for his coarse correction when necessary, is sufficient to establish his credibility. The other major reason why social acceptability should not be considered is, that different persons have different types of bias for a particular person, based on their liking or disliking of that person. And so this is liable to be fraught with an erroneous judgment.  A person going by this judgment may be led wrongly in a direction that could prove harmful for him in the long run. This realization at some later stage of his life could bring in concomitant mental unrest leading to an unhealthy mental state.

5.     Reinforce the factors that are under human control

The three factors stated by Buddha (depicted in the video clip), are the tools that human beings need to accept and adapt to, in order to prevent themselves from sliding into negativity and despair. This in turn could lead him to a mentally healthy state. 

And so, even in adversity or unpleasant situations in life, what matters is how we react and respond without affecting the inner peace

6. Consider life as a journey and not the destination to be reached in competition 

     with others

Why should life be considered a journey and not a destination to be reached in competition with others?

The life of every individual is different in every respect whether personal, social, or professional. It depends on innumerable factors, like the family in which a person takes birth, his family upbringing, education, professional world, social stature, the outlook a person develops towards life, etc. A person's situations and circumstances in different spheres of his activities are different.  These justifies the reason why the life of one person cannot be compared with another person. And so there cannot a competition with another person on any matter, whatsoever it may be. Also, there is no destination to reach. Life is a continuous process that every individual passes through right from birth to the end of life which eventually is terminated by death. So life, as can be seen from the above details, is a continuous process involving a myriad of activities in innumerable fields and there is no destination because that would mean the cessation of activities since he has reached the end of life. But this is obviously not true,  because all throughout life there is a provision for continuous self-development to improve the quality of life till the very end. Holding this outlook would enable the development of a healthy and positive mental state