Okay! We all live on a tiny piece of dust next to a very old star that’s eventually going to consume Earth. We’ve not be informed about our purpose but we know we’re all going to die. It’s not easy to deal with all of that and the other reasons to feel bad about the future. Negative thoughts use periods of vulnerability from stress, health, or other misfortunes and just penetrate the walls and take space we can use for, pretty much, anything else. By the time they reach us, it might already be late to act in the most efficient way.
Here’s my short list, listing multiple items that have helped me over the years.
- Walking. 1h outdoors is like 2h of meditation. Also helps with sleep. I didn’t start the 10k/day to improve my mental health but after doing it for several years, hard to not put it on top of my list.
- Sleep – the brain just works better when properly rested but it can’t do that if it’s fed with coffee and alcohol, or you’re not physically tired. So…
- No alcohol or coffee. I’ve experimented in this area and no amount of alcohol or coffee is good.
- Planning positive events ahead, just placing good things in the calendar. Planting them like seeds to grow in anticipation.
- Cats (and dogs btw) but cats work for me. Cats don’t care.
- Religion and spirituality – after all, we need a way to accept defeat.
- Awareness about thinking errors. Most of our fears are about stuff we have no control over. I think superstitions can be particularly harmful. People are universally afraid of black cats. Why?
- Reading books, fiction in particular.
None of that counters negative thoughts at the moment, and none of this is a measure against moments of grief and loss. But it helps over the long run.
I re-read some of my old posts in preparation to publish this one. I think they still hold.
Veselin.blog 