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Good Mental Health Is Thinking About What Is Working Well In Your Life


With mental health issues such as depression becoming the largest global health burden by 2020, one has to ask why? In an age where technology has brought with it information and knowledge that we can access with a swipe of our fingers, why do we get stuck taking the next step?

It is a mystery currently being solved, but with the information we have right here, right now, the team at Brain9D know a thing or two about mental health.

One of the reasons why we believe that our mental health can improve and that mental health issues such as anxiety and depression need not be “managed’ but can actually be healed, is that we understand the brain’s neuroplasticity – that is, its ability to change.

Our brains continue to grow and develop no matter what our age which is contrary to what we thought over 20 years ago. Back then we believed that the brain was a fixed organism, whose pathways eventually faded out as we aged.

What is brain neuroplasticity?

Brain neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to modify its connections and rewire itself to accommodate a new internal and external environment. This occurs when:
  •       You learn something new, so that your brain has to create new pathways to learn and memorise this new information
  •     Your brain is injured, for example during a stroke, so it will go about creating new pathways to compensate for lost brain function by developing ways around the trauma.
If the brain can rewire itself and create new pathways, then this is very hopeful for all of us wanting to develop better mental health throughout our life, no matter what our age.

Learning a new skill changes the brain - the case of London’s Taxi Drivers

In a study conducted on London taxi drivers and bus drivers, it concluded that the hippocampus in the brains of taxi drivers was larger than that of bus drivers.

The hippocampus is important for long term memory and spatial navigation. Taxi drivers in London have to memorise thousands of streets and in fact it is part of their training to obtain a taxi license. Unlike bus drivers who stay on the same routes, day in and day out.

The London taxi driver developed a larger hippocampus to accommodate this new spatial awareness and memorising maps. It is also interesting to note that when taxi drivers stopped driving, their hippocampus began to shrink back to its normal size, much like a muscle that is not used.

This study shows us how brain develops to support whatever we focus on during the day, so it can be trained to support us in a new direction.

What does that mean for mental health?

If the brain can rewire itself to compensate for trauma and damaged parts, then it can rewire itself to sort out mental health issues.

In the case of depression, our brains develop a feedback mechanism that keeps us thinking about the past, with no hope for the future. Depression is debilitating and will stop you from being able to move forward in life. People have been engaged in therapies for many years discussing their past and its impact in current day circumstances, stopping them from being able to function as healthy adults.

However, what if healing mental health issues such as depression was a combination of discussing past issues with a therapist and at the same time making changes on a moment by moment basis to the way you are thinking and what you are focussing on?

If the brain is able to develop new neural pathways, which we know it is, and we know this is possible through learning something new, then how do we improve our mental health?

We can improve our mental health through learning how to think better

If our brain can change to develop new pathways to accommodate a new language, or a new hobby such as sailing, then our brain can change to accommodate how to think differently – consider this also a new type of skill.

The best way to start is to think about what is working in your life, rather than to focus on what is not working. With time you will eventually train your brain to look for what is functioning well in your life and build upon this. Just like when we are riding a bike, we go where our eyes go, the same goes for how we live day to day. We go where we focus.

If we can turn our thoughts to what is working well, we will continue in this direction.

Here are 5 mental health tips to help you get started

  • 1.     Keep a gratitude journal - at the end of the day write 5 things that you feel worked in your favour during the day, no matter how small they may be. This will gradually retrain your brain to look for the things on a daily basis that work well for you.
  • 2.     Make a mental note upon waking – think about what you would like to get done for the day. A simple mental note will do, or if you like lists, then jot them down. Not too many, maybe 5-7 things. It does not matter if they appear small things, they all count toward good mental health.
  • 3.     Dwell on your strengths - allow your thoughts to dwell on your strengths and what you do that is working well. We were never meant to be all things to all people. Otherwise we would not need an entire community of people! Respect your talents or if you don’t know what these are yet, then allow them to emerge by paying attention to what you are drawn to.
  • 4.     Allow negative thoughts - don’t worry too much about negative thoughts. The more you try and fight them, the stickier they get. It’s better to just accept they are there and then turn your thoughts to something better as they come up.
  • 5.     Create and produce – anything that makes you feel good. Cooking, gardening, drawing, sketches, writing (journaling), whatever you normally do in a day that you enjoy, do a bit more of this. Feeling productive and satisfied that you have achieved something of value is great for mental health and it is a completely natural need that all humans like to feel. It is important to do these things for the simple pleasure, not for any specific gain.
With these tips and some additional support through your therapist, you will start to develop better mental health. However it takes time, so be patient with yourself and appreciate the small changes that happen daily, which eventually lead to big changes in your outlook and wellbeing.

The Brain9D Team

Brain9D is an all-in- one brain health platform that tracks your brain’s changes, detects potential problems and provides avenues for improving mental health. Sign up today.
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