Once you’ve recognized that caring for your mental and emotional health is as important as caring for your physical health, where do you begin?

Seek out positive people

Firstly, supportive, positive people make life easier and more enjoyable.  Make time to socialize with friends and see family who care about you.  Get out of the work-home-bed rut.   Explore your community, join a club or team, take a course, go on a hike.

Secondly, minimize the time you spend in the company of people who put you down.  Be careful around people who constantly focus on things that make them angry, unhappy or worried.  Beware people who always want attention or other things from you, but aren’t willing to give back in return.

If you find yourself looking around for things to get angry about, people to criticize, or new topics to worry about, it’s time to change your focus.  Dwelling on things that make you feel bad isn’t good for your emotional health.

Keep your focus on the bright side

It’s hard to feel happy or fulfilled when you spend all your time ruminating on negative thoughts.  It’s okay to express your feelings when something bad happens, but if you spend most of your time contemplating things that make you feel bad, it’s time to adjust your thought patterns.

Practice focusing your attention on thinking good things about yourself.  Think about the positive aspects of a situation.  Allow yourself to enjoy time with things and people that help you feel happy.

Challenges are easier to deal with when you believe that they’re worth overcoming in order to make the best possible life.

Looking on the bright side doesn’t mean bottling up negative emotions and faking happiness.  It also doesn’t mean being oblivious to things that are frightening, worrisome, sad, or irritating.   It means approaching these things and these feelings in healthy and proportionate ways.

What about negative emotions?

Everyone is angry, sad, and/or worried sometimes.  Repressing these emotions isn’t good for your emotional health.  It’s okay to feel these emotions and express them in healthy ways.  Experience the emotion and allow it to pass.

What are healthy ways to express negative emotions?  Some people find that physical exercise can help them release anger and stress.  Others like to vent their feelings with video games or art.  Some people choose to put the anger “to good use” by volunteering for a cause or otherwise “tackling” the problem that is the source of the anger.

In summary, it feels good to share your feelings with a friend.  Make sure to offer your friends the same support in return.

At Sheppard Chiropractic Centre we value all aspects of wellness.  Have you got your next maintenance appointment scheduled?  If not, contact us at (506) 635-8182 or (506) 847-7172.  We look forward to seeing you soon.