A Few Tips for Maintaining a Healthy Mind

Due to the widespread paranoia that plagues the world these days, largely due to the Covid-19 situation, it is useful to take a step back and do some healing. Fortunately, this kind of healing I propose here won’t require you to go to the doctor or buy anything. However, it is not free as it takes an effort and some willpower.

Specifically, I propose a few activities that you can do in your free time, be it with other people or by yourself. This list of tips is by no means complete but it's a good start and can help your mental well-being. The latter can also be of aid to your physical well-being due to the psychosomatic affinity of the two. So, let's start.

Physical activity

I find that physical activity is one of the best ways of maintaining a healthy mind, as well as one of the most underrated activities. The ancient Romans would say "Mens sana in corpore sano" meaning a healthy mind in a healthy body. Even if you subscribe to the idea that the mind is indeed a separate entity to the body, going well beyond the brain, it is still affected by the latter. So, physical activity can be a powerful form of mental hygiene. Also, it doesn't need to be strenuous; even a moderate hike can be a good option for it, as long as you do it consciously and without stressing yourself out.

Deliberate abstract thinking

This is one I came up with. It involves imagination applied in abstract forms like geometric shapes, concepts, etc. It's not daydreaming as the latter is unconscious. Deliberate abstract thinking is something else, which when applied regularly it can help your mental perception and clarity. After all, all these abstract concepts are emotionally neutral, so at the very least they help you maintain a sense of serenity. Also, this form of activity can help develop intuition and refine your perception.

Exposure to different points of view

This is probably the hardest thing to do nowadays as everyone is in a bubble of sorts. I remember a philosophy professor from my university days saying that he'd do this deliberately as a way to develop his tolerance to different viewpoints he didn't agree with. So, even though he was of a particular political inclination, he'd read texts from people who were of a completely different worldview. And when I say texts I mean whole books! Of course, we don't need to do the same but being able to read an article expressing a view that creates an impulse to reply in all caps using strong language, without doing so, is a good place to start for sure. Who knows, maybe that person is on to something, even if we wouldn’t want to be friends with him!

Critical thinking

This is something fundamental and utterly misunderstood. Critical thinking doesn't mean that we are mean to others using our mental acuity as a weapon. It doesn't involve debunking stuff (even though this may sometimes be the case since some views like the flat earth theory are invalid to the core). Critical thinking is exploring a statement or thesis from an unbiased standpoint, entertaining different positions towards it, and going with the one that makes the most sense. Of course, all this is subject to the information we have at our disposal. It could be that we are missing some important facts. If that's the case, we ought to be able to change our position once sufficient evidence to do so presents itself. That's one of the core ideas of Bayesian Statistics, something worth exploring.

Creative activities

Creative activities are also key to mental well-being. After all, they are poised to unblock the mind and take it to different directions that it wouldn't normally find itself in. Activities like the Arts, developing a new project from scratch, and even (proper) scientific research, fall into this category. Also, you don’t have to identify as a creative individual for this and the idea that there are certain kinds of people who are born with the gift doesn’t hold any water. Of course, some people can be more artistically inclined by others but creativity can be expressed in various ways since it is by its nature interdisciplinary.

Constructive communication

This is a big one as it's lacking today. Communication is not just expressing a viewpoint eloquently and hearing what the other people have to say. It involves interaction with that person and a willingness to change your views on a matter. That's why I use the term "constructive" with it. If both parties do that, communication tends to be beneficial to both and builds towards something. It is also an opportunity to test one's ideas and receive (constructive) feedback from others so that she can refine these ideas.

Exploring new ideas

Speaking of ideas, exploring new ones, be it through constructive communication or some other educational activity, is paramount for mental well-being. These ideas may be something you come across in a course, a book, an educational video, and of course a beBee article. You don't have to accept all these ideas at face value but just by being exposed to them and entertaining them for a while can have a beneficial effect on the mind. Otherwise, we risk becoming rigid and even fanatical about the ideas we have already embraced. As a bonus, exploring new ideas can help us maintain a more youthful lifestyle and engage better with the new generations. 

Meditation

Last but definitely not least, meditation can be a powerful aid to our mental well-being. At the very basic level, it can be a way for us to shut down / refresh the mind by focusing on something else (or on nothing, with some training). Much like sleeping, it can regenerate the mind, as well as the body, while helping the consciousness at the same time. After all, meditation is a large field and we don't need to be adept at it like mystics, to benefit from it and enhance our perspective. The latter is what I find most beneficial for the mind as it is often this sense of perspective that tends to drift if we let it.

What other tips would you add to this list? What do you find most useful for maintaining mental hygiene? Feel free to let me know in the comments below. Cheers!