Showing the Light to those who Feel Hopeless through Incredible Reflections

Our mental health is a combination of three factors: thoughts, feelings, and behavior. These factors coordinate positively to ensure that you function at your optimal levels. Therapists use reflective mediums to help you identify your thoughts, feelings, and behavior. This therapeutic technique helps in the following ways.

• • It enhances your self-perception and understanding
• • It allows you to make decisions critically
• • You are aware of your habits and able to analyze them positively
• • It makes you more resilient to setbacks and failure

Let us discover some ways you can help yourselves by reflecting and, consequently, cultivating a positive lifestyle:

Journaling

Have you wondered why mental health practitioners recommend journaling as a therapeutic art? Well, journaling has surely proved as a powerful method of processing one’s difficult feelings and emotions. It can help you gain clarity about stressful situations. So, for example, say you had a chaotic and emotionally charged day. You come home and you feel agitated; you are overwhelmed with feelings of unease. You are unsure why you feel a certain way, yet you can’t seem to come to a resolution. When you pour down words in a journal, it acts as an organizing tool for you to clear your mind. You get an answer for the confusing emotions that were otherwise consuming you.

Journals help you reflect on your habitual patterns. Additionally, it assists you in reframing your thoughts in a hopeful light.

This is one reason out of many why journaling can be beneficial for you.

Ask yourselves Subjective Questions

Ask yourselves questions like ‘Am I on the right path?’ or ‘Is this what I want to do for the rest of my life?’ Doing this occasionally enables you to be curious about yourself without developing self-doubts. It helps you be mindful of your current situation. This keeps you encouraged to chase a healthier lifestyle.

Books: The Oldest Human Friend

Reading tender and heartfelt memoirs of authors who have beautifully summarized their journeys can be a great way to help you reflect. Empathy is crucial when it comes to manifesting positive reflections. We bring you certain memoirs and biographies that you can begin with:

• • The Body Papers by Grace Talusan
• • Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan
• • Somewhere between ‘JUST FINE’ and the Emergency Room by Sage M. Forman
• • The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness by Elyn R. Saks
• • (Don’t) Call Me Crazy: 33 Voices Start the Conversation about Mental Health edited by (Book Riot Editor) Kelly Jensen

Be Mindful of the Negative Self Talk

You should know that you are valued. Every living and breathing thing on this earth is born for a purpose. This purpose calls for you to wake up from bed every day and be excited about life. You wouldn’t want to hinder your progress toward your purpose with negative self-talk and doubts. Even during the times when you feel hopeless, instead of saying ‘I am worthless,’ say ‘It’s okay; it’s just a little setback. I will come back stronger the next time.

Knowing your emotions plays a key role in shaping the quality of your life. By being aware of yourself, you allow your mental and spiritual body to heal. Awareness helps you foster hopeful scenarios about yourself. When you feed your mind positive thoughts, it becomes a part of your life. By this, we do not mean for you to be critical about everything 24/7. By the end of the day, take fifteen to twenty minutes before sleep to align your thoughts with your best interests. This is a success hack that comes only with practice and consistency.