1. Limit Negative Self Talk – We all have those moments when we hear the chatter in our minds telling us that we’re not good enough or that we won’t be able to accomplish our goals. I like to call it the “itty bitty shitty committee.” Some days the shitty committee is quiet and we are full of confidence and roaring like a lion and then two days later the shitty committee is screaming loudly and we feel like we can’t do anything right. Here’s what you need to know about your negative self talk… It’s all a lie, don’t believe the hype! The key is awareness. When you catch yourself thinking those negative thoughts, tell the committee you’re not having it! Look at yourself in the mirror and say “I’m good enough to have peace, success and all my dreams.” Replace those negative thoughts with positive ones and you’ll soon find that the committee gets more and more quiet.

2. Practice Mindfulness – In our fast moving world, it’s becoming critical that we have the ability to quiet our minds, get still and connect with our inner being. Finding just 5 minutes a day to practice meditation or some other form of mindfulness can make dramatic shifts in your level of happiness and overall mental health. People who are depressed are usually spending too much time living in the past and people who constantly worry are spending too much time thinking about the future. Mindfulness allows you to just be in the present moment and develop an awareness and appreciation for what’s happening right now. This year I gave myself the challenge to meditate for 365 consecutive days… #meditate365. I’m on day 18 and I can already see the difference. Join me and develop your daily meditation practice.

3. Let Go and Forgive – The start of a new is a great time to address any old thoughts, feelings or emotions that we are holding on to that don’t serve us in a positive way. Hurt from past a relationship, resentment from not getting a job or promotion, or bitterness from a negative interaction with a family member can fester inside us and negatively impact our mental health. One of my favorite quotes says “Hating someone is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.” Learning to let go and forgive is for us, not for the person that harmed us. Forgiveness is a process but a journey well worth the travel. Spend some time reflecting on whether you are holding on to any grudges or ill feelings towards anyone or any situation and start the process of releasing it.

4. Practice Gratitude – We often take the power of gratitude for granted. We all understand the concept of being grateful but practicing gratitude is a little more than saying I’m thankful for all that I have. Being deliberate and intentional about expressing your gratitude for what you have and the little things that happen in your life every day can make dramatic shifts in your emotional state. Your practice could be verbally expressing gratitude every morning when you wake up or after you meditate. It could be keeping a gratitude journal or gratitude jar and writing down what you are grateful for each day. Or you could join an online gratitude group and share what you are grateful for by posting daily in the group. I am a member of a gratitude group on Insight Timer and I enjoy making my daily posts as well as reading what others are grateful for.

5. Practice Self Care – Taking some “me time” every week can boost your positive mental health in ways you can’t imagine. We are so busy doing things for everyone else that we often forget about ourselves. I always tell my clients that you can’t serve from an empty vessel. You can’t be the best parent, spouse or friend if you are overworked, tired and emotionally drained. Make a commitment to designate at least one day a week that you will do something to show self love. This year I am working on this by designating Sundays as Self Care Sunday. It’s the one day a week that I am not allowed to do any work and must do something just for me. For those of you who fall in the workaholic category this can be challenging but the benefits far out weigh the challenge. Give it a try, you’ll be glad you did.

If you are a competitive tennis player, how well do you know the mental game?

The next question is, and how much do you practice it everyday?

Those are the first 2 questions, that you need to ask yourself today and write down your answers.

The mental laws are clear and simple, but yet most tennis juniors don’t know anything about them.

They never take the time to study them and most tennis coaches don’t encourage them to do it either, which is the main problem facing these kids today.

This is the reason why many of them never reach their full potential as a player, it’s very sad and true.

Why?

They work against the mental laws and they never take the time to step back, and look at the game for what it really is.

The main thing that I want you guys to take away from this article is that you have to know the mental laws.

Because tennis competition is ALL MENTAL.

So, become a student of the mental laws and stop trying to fight them.

The first thing you will discover is that

The fear thought will attract more fear for yourself in matches.

The doubt thought will attract more confusion and frustration.

Then you will find out that,

The power thought, will attract more power, to your mental game.

In other words.

“Like attracts like, with any thought that you have and hold in your mind. “

Just imagine if you could hold the POWER thought all day long, what type of tennis player you could become?

Well guess what?

You can and you should start holding that thought at this very moment.

Listen up, if you are a competitive tennis player, I want you to do this.

Stop reading this post for a moment, create a powerful image of yourself as a tennis warrior, playing fearless tennis in your matches and hold that thought for as long as you can.

Try it right now and then come back to this post after a few minutes.

(Pause).

How did you do?

Wasn’t very long was it?

No worry, try it again later.

Practice holding a powerful thought a little longer each time you do it, and you will get better at this thought training overtime.

The more you practice and study the mental laws, the better you will start playing the mental game.

It’s all about getting to know the mental game, through constant mental training.

You guys see what I am saying here?

Okay, got it, now do it everyday please!!

Think about it: you make time to service your car. You make time to take your pets to the vet. You even make time to clean your house. But how often do you make time to check in on the state of your own mental health?

With health care reform laws expanding coverage for mental health and substance abuse services, more and more Americans will be able to seek the help they need to manage stress, deal with trauma, and improve their lives.

If you want to be one of those professionals who help people look after their mental and emotional health, consider a career in psychology, counseling, or social work. We’ve broken down five popular mental health careers and their degree requirements to help you get started.

Careers

When you think of mental health, a psychology career most likely comes to mind. Psychologists use their knowledge of the human mind and emotions to help patients deal with a wide range of issues, from serious psychological disorders to addiction and recovery to couples counseling.

How to Start a Psychology Career

Requirements for psychologists vary state to state, but as a minimum, you’ll need a Master’s degree in psychology to practice. Some states will require you to have a PhD.

Marriage and Family Therapist Careers

The dynamics of husband, wives and their children are unique, which is why marriage and family therapists are a specialized group of mental health workers. They spend their time in school learning how to read and diagnose different family dynamics and treat each family member, not just one individual.

How to Start a Marriage and Family Therapy Career

The majority of marriage and family therapists have a Master’s degree in marriage and family therapy.

Guidance Counselor Careers

Growing up isn’t easy, which is why guidance counselors are hired by elementary, middle and high schools to help children and young adults throughout their educational careers. Guidance counselors make sure students are progressing mentally and emotionally, and will even assist during the college and career decision-making process.

How to Start a Guidance Counselor Career

Guidance counselors will need a Master’s degree in counseling to get started.

Rehabilitation Counselor Careers

Those who have physical, emotional or psychological disabilities need a unique kind of counseling. Rehabilitation counselors fill this need, using their skills to improve their quality of life and helping them live as independently as possible.

How to Start a Rehabilitation Career

Like the careers listed above, rehabilitation counselors need to have a Master’s degree in counseling or a related field.

Social Work Careers

Some of society’s toughest problems-child abuse, spousal abuse, homelessness, poverty, truancy-often go hand in hand. It’s the responsibility of social workers to help the men, women and children who are trapped in this complicated web of issues.

How to Start a Social Work Career

Social Workers need a master’s degree in social work to get started, and they generally also have a bachelor’s degree in psychology or a related field.

For more information on these careers and correlating degree programs, visit this health services career profiles page.

Define poverty. Poverty is the state of being inadequate or having a lack of. Poverty is often found synonymous with the words poor, debt, hardship and emptiness. Define fear. Fear is a state of mind. Fear is an uncomfortable emotion that causes a person to feel threatened or believe that something or somebody will afflict them or cause them some sort of pain. When you compare the two definitions of fear and poverty, you will see these two words almost carry the same synonyms. It is safe to say mental poverty is the state of having an unhealthy and poor frame of mind. In these troubling economic times, a lot of men and women are suffering from this mental disease.

The overall morale of people has dropped because of the economic recession’s effect on their livelihoods. People are losing their jobs which leads to people losing their houses, cars, families and etc. People are literally losing their minds which is the most important tool that we as people must protect and keep out of harm’s way. This mindset has been around for thousands of years so we can not just blame an economic downturn on it. We must take full responsibility for ourselves, our thoughts and our actions. We must stand tall, practice good self-talk and have a heart to heart talk with ourselves.

Poverty is a mental illness that if left untreated can hinder us from achieving our full potential. We were born into this world and formed in the likeness and similitude of The Creator. This simply means that we have infinite and unlimited abilities to conquer any challenge we put our minds to. Mental poverty can spread like an uncontrollable forest fire if you do not stop the mindset in its tracks. This negative mindset can be passed along to your progeny if you do not fight to control it. For some people, mental poverty has become a lifestyle. This negative way of life controls a lot of different communities worldwide. There are several reasons for famine around the globe and poverty of the mind is one of them. Mental famine clouds sound judgments, kills ambition, murders willpower and overthrows your ability to properly maintain self-control. Do an analysis of yourself to be certain that you do not have a poor state of mind.

One must do deep soul-searching when seeking to eradicate mental poverty. There are several factors of poverty that one must take in consideration when doing a thorough investigation of your state of mind. Factors of poverty in one’s mind can be brought on by indecisiveness, procrastination, uncertainty and worrying. Being indecisive is when you do not permit yourself to do your own thinking. Indecisive people let other people think for them and the indecisive always straddle the fence. Fence straddling causes many people to stay stagnant and settle for a life of mediocrity. Procrastination causes people to put off what they should have done today and leave it for the morrow.

In some instances with chronic procrastinators, the next day never comes and the habit of putting things off become a permanent stumbling block. Life is filled with many risks and challenges which could make some folks feel uncertain of themselves. Uncertainty in your abilities is a form of self-doubt. Doubting yourself shows a lack of faith and self-confidence. Worrying can also lead to mental poverty. Remember, you can only control yourself and your circumstances. You can not control other peoples circumstances. The things you have no control over, learn to let those things go. If you do not let those circumstances go, they will drag you deep down into a rut along with them.

Mental poverty is self-inflicted. If you have an impoverished mindset, ultimately you must be the number one willing participant to pull yourself out of it. Even if it takes you getting in front of the mirror and having a heart to heart talk with yourself, once you put forth the action to free your mind from this negative thought process; the scales will start to peel off your eyes and layers of negativity on your mind will dissipate. You will start on the path of being a better, more positive and progressive person when you rescue your mind from mental poverty.

There are many mental benefits of physical activities, such as sports. According to recent research, it has been found that taking part in sports can have a positive impact on your mental health. In this article, we are going to take a closer look at some of the primary mental health benefits of playing sports. Read on to find out more.

1. Mood Improvement

If you want a little bit of relaxation and happiness, it’s time to engage in some type of physical activity. You can work out at a gym or go out for a brisk walk. This type of activity triggers certain chemicals in your brain. As a result of the release of these chemicals, you feel happy and relaxed.

Besides, playing with your friends in a team gives you a chance to unwind. The satisfaction you receive after playing your desired game gives you the motivation to improve your fitness level.

2. Improved Focus

Taking part in physical activity on a regular basis can help you sharpen your mental skills as you get older. In other words, it can help you improve your learning and thinking. According to research studies, if you engage in muscle strengthening and aerobic activities, you can enjoy a lot of benefits such as improved concentration.

As a matter of fact, if you take part in this type of activities for three to five times per week, you can enjoy a number of mental health benefits.

3. Reduction in Stress and Depression

If you are physically active, know that your mind will be able to fight stress. After all, you don’t want to experience negative thoughts throughout the day. Since taking part in sports keeps you physically active, you can experience a reduction of stress hormones in your body.

Apart from this, engaging in physical activities increases the production of endorphins. Basically, these are known as natural mood boosters. They can help you fight stress and depression.

Besides, the release of these chemicals makes you feel optimistic once you have done your workout. According to experts, there is a strong relationship between depression and sports.

4. Better Sleep

If you engage in a type of physical activity, you can improve your quality of sleep. What happens is that physical activities help you enjoy sound sleep at night. If you get plenty of sleep, it can improve your mental outlook and mode.

However, it is not a good idea to take part in sports in the evening. As soon as the sun sets, you should have your dinner and get ready for sleep.

5. Weight Maintenance

According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, taking part in sports is an ideal way of maintaining your weight. For example, weightlifting, cycling, and running can help you burn a lot of calories. If you stay within an ideal weight range, you will be less likely to develop a number of health diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol.

6. Higher Self-Confidence

With regular exercise, you can gain a higher level of confidence and self-esteem. By increasing your skills, stamina, and strength, you can improve your image as well. As a matter of fact, sports give you a sense of control and mastery. As a result, you have a feeling of pride as well as self-confidence.

This is the description of some of the primary mental health benefits of taking part in sports on a regular basis.

Many women who are victims of marital infidelity find that one of the hardest things to deal with are the mental images that keep recurring of their spouse and his paramour. It can often seem like a horror film. In this article, we will visit steps that will help you in overcoming an affair and the mental images that may be haunting you.

Many women who suffer from this have never even seen, nor have any idea what the other woman looks like, but mental images of the affair are still prevalent. Images of what she and her husband were doing together, usually with no knowledge or details of what really occurred. It is common that despite their best efforts, they simply seem unable to shut them off. Based on the fact that you are reading this, perhaps you can relate.

If indeed this is happening to you and you simply feel like perhaps you have “lost your mind,” take comfort in the fact that you are not going crazy. As humans, we often run “slide shows” or movies in our minds. We do this for all kinds of reasons; to remember past events, to anticipate what may happen in the future, and to make sense of the reality we are dealing with in the present moment. However, the fact that this is normal doesn’t necessarily make it healthy.

The problem with the mental images after the discovery of an affair is that you respond to them emotionally as if they were real. Every time these images flash through your mind, it’s like you are reliving the pain and trauma you experienced when you found out about the affair in the first place.

This makes it more difficult to heal from the pain and rebuild your marriage.

So let’s turn our attention to what you need to do to get rid of them. First there are a few realizations that you need to come to terms with:

· The images are not real. Even if you were unfortunate enough to catch them in the act, the mental images you are experiencing now are still in your head. They are not real.

· Your mind is your territory and no-one can control what goes in it. Only you can do that and you are indeed in charge of it.

Of course, these points may seem like obvious statements, but to indeed address the mental images you are experiencing from the affair, it is important to acknowledge these facts first.

Before I show you steps to curb these images, I have to ask you what may seem like an absurd question…are you sure you want them to stop?

This question may seem odd to you, but in many cases a woman who has been cheated on will cling to these images as justification for feeling the pain that she does from the affair. That by holding onto them and reviewing them repeatedly, that they have a right to feel the way that they do. You have to ask yourself if you fall in that category. If you feel like you may, you have to work this out before moving on.

Once you feel as though you are ready to overcome an affair and stop the mental images, then here is what you must do next (you will want to find a quiet spot to do this):

1. Calm Your Mind

Close your eyes and take a few slow, deep breaths. Allow your mind to unwind and relax. Feel the tension pouring out of your body with each exhalation. Feel your body begin to completely unwind. Later, I will share with you a resource that includes some breathing techniques that will help you in this step.

2. Bring the Image to Mind

When you are ready, bring a mental image of the affair that you have been struggling with to mind. Imagine it in as much detail as you can. Take some time to see the vision completely. It may be painful to do this, but facing this pain is your first step to freeing yourself from it and finally being rid of it for good.

3. Change or Alter the Image

Once you have the image in your mind in great detail, try to manipulate it. Imagine it as being on a DVD and see if you can play the image in reverse. Ask yourself if by doing this one simple mental exercise it helped you feel better at all. If so, do it several more times. Even envision it rewinding faster until it becomes a bit of a blur.

Pause your exercise and open your eyes. Evaluate the effects this rewinding exercise had on you emotionally.

Next, try to manipulate the size and shape of objects in your mental images of the affair. In your image, perhaps you see a lamp on a bedside table, or a dresser. Pick an item and mentally enlarge it or reduce it. Change its shape. You can even change its color if you so desire. See what change you make to the object makes you feel better.

Repeat this process with the sound that may be present in your image. If there is music, turn it off. If you hear people speaking, perhaps you can change their voices into cartoon characters. You can even decide to view your images from a different camera angle or perspective.

When you first read this, perhaps it sounds a bit silly to you. But what this exercise does is accomplish two very important things for you.

First, it gives you tangible evidence that these images are indeed occurring in your brain and they are not real. That you indeed control them.

Second, the exercise diminishes the emotional impact of the images. By changing the image, you develop new ways of thinking that are potentially less painful than what you have been experiencing, and might even provide you with a new resource for handling the situation.

The Mental Epic board is a classic of mentalism. More accurately, it is a classic of mental magic. The difference between magic and mentalism can be difficult to determine, however it will suffice to say here that the term mental magic covers tricks that both a magician and a certain kind of mentalist can perform before an audience. There are some mentalism tricks (or effects as they are usually termed) that magicians can not get away with and there are some mental magic tricks that some mentalists, due to their stage persona, can not perform. The Mental Epic board can be used by almost all magicians and mentalists.

The Mental Epic board comes in different forms but essentially they all work in the same way. What you have is a board, usually a chalk board or a white board that has between divided into six sections. That is two rows of three squares. Finally there are some kind of flaps covering the top three squares. These flaps are normally made out of wood but I have seen them as pieces of card or paper held in place with bulldog clips.

The effect is very simple to perform and, more importantly, very simple for your audience to follow. The mentalist lifts up the first flap and then writes a predication onto the first square before closing the flap. He, or she, then asks the audience to shout out any random object or idea. For example, the mentalist could have someone shout out their favorite animal, or any number, a color, sign of the zodiac, it really doesn’t matter what they call out. The process is then repeated with the second flap, and finally the third flap.

For the reveal, the Mental Epic board is turned around and the flaps are raised one-by-one to reveal that the mentalist has correctly predicated all the things randomly selected by the audience.

The Mental Epic board – verdict

How easy to perform: 2/10 (easy)

How easy for intelligent people to work out: 7/10 (difficult)

Suitability for stage performance: High

Suitability for small performance: High

Suitability for friends and family performance: Low-Medium

Conclusion

The Mental Epic is a classic of mentalism, and deservedly so. As you can see it scores highly in all aspects, except for performing in front of friends and family. The reason it scores low in this category is that to your friends and family it is impossible to put on a stage persona, they know you too well. You can use the Mental Epic with them but they will always just consider it to be a trick board. Instead of wanting to know how you did it, they’ll want to know how the board did it.

Our predominant Mental Attitude is not what we consciously think or even what we tell others we think or feel, it is the underlying emotion that we carry with us and is just out of reach of our consciousness. Thought with corresponding emotion will bring about conditions that correspond precisely to our Predominant Mental Attitude. If we entertain fear, if we hold thoughts of hatred, feel we are not good enough, have low self esteem or feel someone has the power to take advantage of us, then this is a fearful Predominant Mental Attitude. Disaster or any effect which will disempower us will be the result of this form of thought.

What is worse is that any form of fearful thought can and eventually will erase every step of forward momentum or positive effects that we may have spent years to accomplish!!! So what then is the proper method of thought? How are we to think to avoid losing ground mentally and circumstantially? What is it that every single person in the world really wants or is seeking in their life??? Happiness and harmony. Some probably thought I might say money and power, but if we can get to happy and harmonious as our Predominant Mental Attitude, we shall have everything the world can give. If we are happy, we make every soul we touch… happy. Now that is harmony!!! We feel that we can’t be happy without health, friends, nice surroundings, our necessities met plus the ability to provide ourselves with comforts and luxuries that we deserve. We are entitled to the best!

How do we get these requirements met??? By giving them all away first!!! Think thoughts of health amidst the turbulence of disease, give help to friends, appreciate every little thing we have at this very moment and give away thoughts of inspiration, courage, health and happiness to all. Just as a side note, many of us have certain people that we dislike or are uncomfortable with don’t we. Ones who in our estimation are not as deserving as we are perhaps? If we really want to feel the power that we share in action, we need to walk over and talk with them (get out of our comfort zone) and offer our thoughts of love and harmony and appreciation for them, (not out loud, unless you really want to, but just in our own minds). These ‘other’ people are really only us in disguise, “they are we”, and as unsettling or unbelievable as that may be, it’s the truth.

They are only another aspect of who we are (even though they have different points of view than we). By giving away this love part of us, we are setting in motion powerful thought energy (the cause of all things) and this, in turn, will bring about their wonderful effect to us and those we have given them to. We need no religious affiliation to do it, all we need is the desire to improve our own life, and by default we improve other lives as well. This is a very loving thing to do; it makes us a giant among people perhaps. Why do you think many of the multi billionaires today are giving away multiple millions of dollars to aid others? They now realize that ‘giving’ is the real power in the world and that what they give will return beyond their wildest dreams. We are spiritual energy; this is what we really are (so to speak). It is kind of like we are at the full peak of what we could be at any given moment, and to be able to allow more and more really good vibrations into our being, we have to deplete some of our energy by giving it to others.

In this way we create room within us to allow the flow of energy to refill us with exactly what we gave, only now it will come back to us one hundred fold. Now the only way we would be able to accept one hundred times what we gave away is if we could expand and become more than we were before, and this is exactly what we do spiritually, we expand our capacity of the energy of love in the same degree. It works the same way if we give away criticism and hateful energy as well, these also return to replenish our energy (one hundred fold) with the same as we gave and yes we do expand, but in the worst of directions. Thought is spiritual activity and as such is creative, but it must be consciously and constructively directed and thus done, will result in unlimited achievement. Consciousness must change, our Predominant Mental Attitude must change and we can do it by… deciding to do it; that is how simple life is. Do you think? A better question might be “In what way do you think?” What’s your Predominant Mental Attitude? Create Great Thoughts – With No Regard to Logic.