Understanding the realms of the mind
On World Mental Health day, I want to ask myself and all of you ‘how do you actually define a good mental health?’.
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As someone who has seen these mental health issues so closely, I was just pondering, are we actually mentally healthy? Is it just the absence of a disorder that needs to be fit in a criteria or something much more? For some, it might be the ability to perform to their best potential, for others it a luxurious lifestyle, or something as simple as happiness for the rest. Yeah, if everything in life goes as smoothly as we plan, then good health might be defined by success, money, luxury, absence of ‘illness’. However, the trajectory of life is not that smooth, so is its perception by each one of us.
Today, I am quite different from the person I used to be a couple of years ago. All thanks to the tough terrains that came my way. As a young ‘3 year old adult’ I used to curse myself, my fate and what not, for all the struggles and hardships. But now, when I look back, I see all that was indeed necessary to carve a grown woman out of this child. The tough times actually teach you the lessons no book can. When a river stream can produce so charming sounds on hitting the stones that come across its way, just imagine how beautiful man turns out when he is refined by his hardships . What came up as a challenging phase of my life, turned out to be the most important chapter. Because, this was when Shiva entered my life, when I had a first-hand experience with the realities of life, when I truly understood the importance of good health, the importance of the trivial things we take for granted and the true faces of those around me.
But still, the question remains…what is a good mental health? As far as I have realised….it is not merely the absence of a psychiatric illness. It is a dynamic state, where we actually feel ‘ourselves’, where we experience true sense of freedom, where we are truly what we want to be and living life the way we want it to be, when our worth is not defined by the opinions of others. That doesn’t mean zero days of sadness or worries. It simply means to go with the flow. Yes, there will be days when it feels overwhelming, when the days are hell more busy…but the mind then is not just swept away by the emotions. We ‘observe’ our thoughts…mean it, ‘observe’ & not ‘ignore’… acknowledge the thoughts and the accompanying emotions rather than suppressing them, and then move ahead. We don’t let our emotions control the mind, rather we choose our mind to be the master of all jacks. This what is called ‘Metacognition’ or the ‘Sakshi Bhav’.
How would you describe this state? Do tell.
