Preserving the Health of the Mind

So many very worthy things to do,

But what is it now that holds me true?

To respond, establish, plan or prepare?

What creativity is there to spare?

Fitting the mind to the task,

Is all we really need to ask,

But sometimes we can put that in reverse,

Inviting the mind to choose what works.

***

A Journal Entry:

“I have four very worthy things to do, right now, that all need to be done. If I struggle for creativity there is something logical I can do. If I feel arty there are two things to explore. It is good for our mental health to allow our minds some say of what we think on (and do) when.”

Try it: invite your mind to choose.

In a Western culture that is spoilt by so much worldliness, we feel – ironically so – so far driven and out of control for determining what we will think and what we will do. It seems we have so much control over our lives until we realise our thinking is influenced, even determined, by many forces in our culture.

Preserving the health of the mind is about embracing that which we can control.

We have a semblance of control over a vast number of things; why not use it by feeling empowered? This is the sense of having what psychologists call an internal locus of control, i.e. “I cause things to happen; things don’t just happen to me.”

Preserving the health of the mind has to be about melding reality with empowerment. We don’t want to deny our realities as that would make us fools, but we also don’t want to be smacked down by our realities either. There are times when we can make the most of our moments and we feel empowered.

Feeling in control is, however, something we cannot have all the time. For the times when we are in situations that we cannot control, we have control over being patient enough to know that this, too, shall pass!

Preserving the health of our minds is a passion for those who may have experienced ill-health once, or times, before. We don’t wish to return to a such a compromised state of mind. Such a thing as preserving the health of our minds is, hence, wisdom. It’s the diligence and discipline to do what we can to prepare for a darker day by getting as healthy as we can now.

***

Preserving the health of our minds is one of our greatest investments. Now is the time to prepare. Now is the time to approach reality. It’s about feeling empowered because we can choose to wait out the time of struggle. Hope is coming. A healthy mind breathes on the vapour of hope.

© 2013 S. J. Wickham.