As we reach the end of Mental Health Awareness Month, I’d like to reflect a little bit. I often reflect on the state of mental health; I try to figure out how we, as a society, view mental health and wellness. In the year since the last Mental Health Awareness Month, have we improved things? What does it mean to spread awareness, and are we doing a good enough job? There are many conclusions this month has led me to, but what I want to focus on today are next steps. How do we go beyond mental health awareness? How can we build a better world, focused on wellness and healing?
Continue readingmental health
MBNB Song of the Month – You’re Not Alone
Last month, I started my Song of the Month series of posts. Each month on the blog, I’m going to share a song with you. It might be a song I can’t stop listening to at the moment, or a song I have a history with. It could be a song I don’t know much about, or I’ve listened to a thousand times. Regardless of the reason, these songs have inspired me and my mental health, and I want to share them with you. Whether you’ve heard of them or not, I hope these songs give you more insight into my world and my approach to mental health. This month: “You’re Not Alone” by The Mowgli’s.
Continue readingFinding the Right Words
How would you describe yourself? What words would you use? Would you describe yourself using full sentences, or create a list of adjectives? When I think about the way I describe myself, my brain freezes. It’s not that I’m afraid of using the wrong words, of talking about myself in a way that’s disingenuous. Actually, it’s the opposite; I’m worried I won’t include words that would clearly state who I am. I get scared that there’s a part of me that will never be known, things that will never be shared.
Continue readingThe Vulnerability of Sharing Your Story
Oftentimes during Mental Health Awareness Month, people share their stories about mental health. They open up about their struggles, the challenges that mental illness can present. These stories can vary in experience, but there is a common purpose: to raise awareness. By sharing our stories, we are creating spaces that help other people share theirs. But sharing our stories is much easier said than done, and that’s what I want to talk about today.
Continue readingGetting The Help We Need
Wouldn’t it be nice if mental health was simple? If we could do one or two things, and that would solve our problems? I’d love that. One of the aspects of mental illness I dislike the most is how persistent it is. I’ll be going on about my day, trying to get tasks done, and then feel a flash of anxiety. Or I will get sad for no reason at all, as if the world is closing in on me. I know I’m not alone in feeling this way; for millions of people, it is a daily challenge. Some days I’m up to the challenge; other days…not so much. But regardless of what I’m able to do in that moment, I’ve learned something over the years that has brought peace and understanding in hard times. We can try our best to look after mental health, but it’s not only up to us. And more than that, it’s a myth that it ever was.
Continue readingFive Ways You Can Raise Mental Health Awareness Right Now
How can we raise mental health awareness? The answer isn’t as easy as it seems. Many people agree that it’s important to raise mental health awareness, but they don’t always know how or when is the best time. In my opinion, there’s no bad time to raise mental health awareness. It’s always a good time to talk about mental health, and you never know who it can benefit. In fact, I came up with five ways that you can raise mental health awareness right now! I hope one of these ways will help and inspire you to raise awareness, in your own way, this month.
Continue readingBy the Numbers: The State of Mental Health in the US in 2023
Every year during Mental Health Awareness Month, I find statistics and data that help show the state of mental health in the United States. Mental illness and mental health challenges are extremely prevalent in today’s world, and diving into the data is one of the clearest ways to show that. The more we can rely on the numbers, the sooner we can stop relying on assumptions and anecdotal evidence to talk about mental health. Here’s the most recent data I could find about mental health in 2023.
Continue readingMy Brain’s Not Broken Song of the Month – Don’t Matter Now
I love music. I love listening to it, having it on in the background, seeing it live, popping on a record. I love the way music can make me feel any and every emotion there is, sometimes without even trying. Most importantly, I love music because of the way it impacts my mental health.
That’s why, each month on My Brain’s Not Broken, I’m going to share a song with you. It might be a song I can’t stop listening to at the moment, or a song I have a history with. It could be a song I don’t know much about, or I’ve listened to a thousand times. Regardless of the reason, these songs have inspired me and my mental health, and I want to share them with you. Whether you’ve heard of them or not, I hope these songs give you more insight into my world and my approach to mental health.
Continue readingLosing Track of Where I Am
There are many ways my life has changed in the past few years. Many of those things are in my day-to-day life, but I also feel like the world is changing around me. From the way we work to the way we interact with the world, these changes mean that my life looks different. One of these ways is the ever-growing presence of multi-tasking in my day-to-day life. I’m not here to defend or attack multi-tasking (at least not today), but there’s no denying that it’s part of our lives. Not only is it easier than ever to multi-task, but I also tend to notice I can create more issues than I solve by doing so.
Continue readingFive Ways to Deal With Mental Filters
In Tuesday’s breakdown of mental health terms, I wrote about mental filters, what they look like and how they appear in our lives. Mental filters can go my many names, but what’s important to know is that they can impact the way we view the world. When mental filters go unchallenged for too long, they can change the way we think, the way we perceive what’s going on around us. Filtered thinking can become instinctual without us realizing and have a severe impact on our thought patterns. Today, I want to look at five things you can do when dealing with mental filters and filtered thinking.
Notice your mental filters
One of the reasons mental filters can grow into harmful thought patterns is because they go unchecked. My filtering went unchecked and unchallenged for years, to the point where I just thought that’s who I was. Mental filters have a way of clouding your brain, and making you think that’s just how your thought process is. Even if you can’t stop yourself from filtering, noticing when it’s happening is a big first step.
Replace the negative thoughts with positive thoughts (easier said than done)
When you’re able, try to replace the negative thoughts with positive ones. They could be positive thoughts about your situation or yourself in general; any positive thoughts are going to help. For a long time, I was under the impression that positive thoughts were thoughts that improved my mood or made me happy. With time, I’ve learned that while that’s sometimes the case, it’s not the only purpose of positive thinking. In this case, positive thoughts are directly challenging the negative ones, trying to find a healthy balance where your brain can rest. Even if it’s only occasionally, replacing negative thoughts with positive ones is worth trying.
Recognize your thought patterns
I’ll be honest – I don’t always know why I have the thoughts I do. Some things just pop in my head, never to be thought again. Other times, it’s like a thought can’t get out of my head for hours. Even though I don’t understand every thought or why it’s there, there are patterns. Over time, I’ve learned to recognize these patterns – what they look like, and what triggers them. I can’t always stop these patterns from occurring and I won’t recognize them every time. But the effort I put in to recognize these patterns, and try to combat them when they occur, will grow stronger over time.
Call it out for what it is
The terms mental filters, filtered thinking, or filtered thoughts aren’t as widely known as other psychological terms, and that’s something that needs to change. When we can name something for what it is – or name what we’re doing, what’s going on in our brain – we can lessen the damage or confusion around it. The times I’ve been able to recognize my filtering and call it out for what it is, I feel better. I feel more equipped to handle these thoughts and even though they might still make me anxious, the impact is lessened.
Separate the good from the bad
This might be the most obvious thing in the world, but not all of our thoughts are bad. In fact, for some of us the majority of our thoughts aren’t bad. But there is a fixation we can have on negative thoughts, where it feels like we have much more of them than actually exist. By separating the positive thoughts from the negative ones, we can compare and contrast how big of a challenge we’re up against. One negative thought has the power and ability to outweigh several positive ones, especially when we fixate on it. By actively trying to separate these thoughts, we can prove that more often than not, positive thoughts are buzzing around in our brain – it’s just harder to locate them.
What are your thoughts on mental filters, or filtered thinking? Have you heard of this term? How do you try to deal with filtered thinking? Let me know in the comments!
