Live It Now: Your Psychological Self-Care
Your physical well-being and psychological health are so intimately related that to a significant
degree they are expressions of each other. Yes, grave diseases can occur despite a healthy mental
outlook, and physically healthy people can experience psychological difficulties. But
overwhelming evidence demonstrates that physical health affects mood and thoughts, and mood
and thoughts affect physical health.
You can work to optimize your psychological health to benefit body, mind, and spirit, infusing
your life with mentally rewarding and stimulating activities that not only provide balance,
prevent the blahs, and add zest but also, if continued, form a lifelong foundation for optimal
mental health. Here’s how.
Get Real
Rate yourself from 0 to 10, with 0 being the low end and 10 the high end, on the degree to which
you now include or exhibit in your weekly life these elements of self-care:
Self-knowledge and self-control: ____
You make your inner world of feelings and thoughts and your relationship to the outer world a
source of ongoing contemplation. You seek self-understanding and systematically develop
your ability to consider and weigh actions before taking them.
Community: ____
You have a circle of trusted friends and participate in a larger social milieu. You look out for
and assist the interests of the community as a whole, not merely those of your circle of
immediate friends.
Generosity: ____
You are giving of your time and your self both toward others and toward yourself. You give
materially when this is advisable but more than that when asked you give that which is most
precious—that is, who you are.
Then examine your self-ratings. Are some unacceptably lower than you would like them to be?
Get Ready
Examine your schedule and create pockets of time for the activities that serve as building blocks
of self-care and for journaling about your experiences doing so.
Get Going
Engage in activities related to each of the areas you want to bolster for at least five minutes four
times per week. Immediately after completing the activity or at some other point the same day,
you will make an entry of at least five lines in your journal and reflect on your experiences.
Lock It In
Just as you monitor your eating choices every day for your physical health, pay attention to your
psychological health. One way to ensure that you are providing adequate daily nourishment for
your mind and spirit is to rate yourself on your self-care activities. Every four weeks rate
yourself between 0 and 10, with 0 being the low end and 10 the high end, on each activity you
complete. Record your scores.