Mindset & Mental Health

I do not remember much about my childhood. That is what we say sometimes about our initial exposure and most critical years of life. Occasionally we may sum it up to a neutral phrase of our childhood being, "fine or normal." Some of us might feel that it "sucked" or had parents that should not have had children. Yet none of that truly conveys how you, the individual that you are today, came to be. How do we not remember or give ourselves the permission to deeply understand why we have the worldview or way of thinking that we do? Did you always think this way? Is your mindset you? It was formed so very long ago; it is more than likely automatic. Unfortunately, the automation in our processing of emotional experiences is what supports the disconnection from ourselves. It is what supports our lack of understanding when it comes to our own mental health. Very early on in life we start to put more energy into paying attention to others and what they do, slowly decreasing the energy and attention we give to ourselves. How do you ensure the health of your mindset? Can you tell the difference between assumptions, the stories you tell yourself and what is real? What do you do to make sure that your thinking is rooted in reality? How often do you think about where your thoughts come from? Mental health is about the well-being of the mind and all that is impacted as a result of the mind not being well. Experiencing emotion cues us in on how we have internally been impacted. In order to understand our mental health, it is imperative that we learn how to swim in and through the undercurrents of our emotional experiences. Our default emotional processing is whatever we learned and were exposed to while growing up. Paying attention to how and why we dance with certain emotions the way we do gives us the opportunity to change what has not and does not work for us. Understanding that our mental health requires a similar tending to and attention that a newborn baby does of their mother is of the highest importance right now. Our automated emotional processing is on overdrive and we keep blaming our mental health instead of taking care of it. To learn about your mental health means learning more about you and what shaped and formed your current mindset. Mental health is not a bad word. It is a word used to identify an emotional process happening within you.