What are your self-help techniques?

[massaki]

Like what things that you do to help yourself, stay mentally well or at a time when you didn't feel well, what things did you do?

 

I workout, i journal, i write about a paragraph for most of the things i do a day, meditate and listen to stefan.

[MysterionMuffles]

I do all of the above and more, but I've always had a problem with consistency. So I started to track my activities in a Well Being Checklist. You write out a chart for every week, on each day keep track on whether or not you've taken in any activities you believe help improve your well being. Then at the end of the week, tally up your score and see at what % are you really giving to yourself.

 

Here's my list 

• 30 Minutes of Yoga
• Reviewing my 10 Personal Commandments 
• Journal (written or audio)
• drink 2 litres of water
• 500-1000 words of creative writing
• Floss and brush teeth
• 30-60 Minutes of reading
• 3 Meals
• Play guitar for 15-30 minutes
• Wake up between 5am-7am

 

So far I've done them all the first 2 days,  but today I woke up at 8. I'm a recovering insomniac after all.

 

Apparently if you can physically track your well being in this way, it helps you get a better sense of how much you really do give a shit about yourself

[Wesley]

Working out, eating well, sleeping well, and regular journaling is the best stuff to do and should be planned out and scheduled into the daily/weekly schedule.

 

When I was focusing more on self-help stuff we also had a small group together to discuss psychology, self-help, personal issues and other things like that 1-2 times a week and I was seeing a therapist once a week.

[meta]

When I don't feel good, I take a step back. Blasting Mozart's Requiem in D minor Or Bach's Concerto for piano in D minor by Gould in the headphones at work our at home.

This music makes me connect with humanity beyond the bullshit.It always makes me think humanity is beautifull. It gives me hope and strength.

Nature helps me a lot as well. 

[TheLolGuy]

Additionally I try to challenge my unhelpful thought patterns as they arise in my mind. If I start self attacking or attacking others unfairly, I check myself and question how useful it is to me. It has really helped me to develop a sort of minds eye which keeps watch internally and investigates disturbances. I have found that with practice it reduces the regularity of these occurrences.

[Kevin Beal]

If I'm not feeling well, I will talk to someone about it or lie down on my bed and decompress until something comes up to process, then decompress again, then process some more, then repeat. Also getting some vitamin D out in the sun helps a lot.

 

My normal routine for self therapy is to wake up and do sentence completion exercises, go to work, take frequent breaks to stretch and walk around, and then journal a page or two when I get home. If I remember a dream, I'll write it down as soon as I wake up and then reflect on it when I get home from work.

[Magnus]

Both of my grandfathers (and at least one great-grandfather) died by suicide.  My mother was bipolar (and I believe was also a suicide, but no one in my family believes me).  I've been conscious of my heightened risk of depression, and out of necessity, have had to learn how to avoid emotional downturns. 

 

Here's my checklist of remedies for preserving my mental well-being.  When I start to have a problem, I start with No. 1 and work my way down the list until it goes away:

 

1. Lots of good exercise -- not the dull, plodding, boring stuff (like jogging or whatever), but short, intense movements, like tennis, basketball (not my thing, but some people like it), etc.  I like fencing, but it's very hard to find people who do it.  There's also Cross Fit (or its many variants).  The important thing is to include an element of randomness, or reaction to external stimuli.  If that's not available, I'll just do a few sprints and pushups and/or dumbbell exercises.  This is unbelievably important.  Our brains are made of meat.  They need more than just good thoughts to stay healthy. 

 

2. Check on nutrition -- start with eliminating any bad habits, like too much alcohol (a depressant), or too much starch/sugar (not a problem for me any more, but was a major bad habit when I was younger), and a decent multivitamin with breakfast (plus a Vitamin E and a raw-C supplement at bedtime).  There's an outrageous amount of vitriol, especially online, about vitamins and nutrition generally, but I think the basics are fairly easy to understand and implement. 

 

3. Social interaction -- humans need daily positive social contact.  Even if it's just chatting up a Starbucks barista or grocery clerk.  It's not a natural thing for me to do, but I've learned to do it, and it helps. 

 

4. Stay off the computer.  Get into the analog, non-electric world.  There's always plenty of yard work for me to do.  It's not the work that helps, I think.  It's the physicality.  Anything that involves manipulating physical matter, and doing it carefully. 

 

5. Something actively creative.  I have about 3 unfinished novels that I can be working on at any given moment, plus a digital piano stored under the bed, an easel and a set of paint supplies in another box under the bed.  If fiction, music or art aren't your thing, there's probably something.  Photography, sculpture, woodworking, boat-building, satirical taxidermy, driftwood carvings of ex-presidents ... As long as it matters to you.

 

My life and mental well-being are FAR from ideal, but so far, these five practices have kept the wolf away from the door.