A Recipe for Positive Mental Health

• Balance is a concept that can be beneficial to every aspect of your life--but especially when thinking about your personal health as a woman.  Work must be balanced by play. Exercise must be balanced with rest.  Nutritionally, we must also bring our bodies into alignment and balance by nourishing ourselves with the right amounts and kinds of foods, the proper supplements that will enhance the the efficacy of the foods we've ingested, and the proper amount of hydration for our body weight.  When we apply the concept of balance in a conscious and deliberate manner daily, it helps us cope with the onslaught of challenges we face, and even find the humor in them.

• Bliss is fleeting, but its benefits can serve you long after it dissipates.  Keep a list of positive affirmations in your journal or a small spiral notepad and keep it with you everywhere you go.  Write yourself a note when you're feeling joyful and positive and later refer to it when life feels like it is sucking the wind out of you.  Remind yourself that every human condition and emotion is fleeting and subject to change.

• Recharge yourself!  Women must time to renew ourselves, and if you aren't quite sure how to best do that, employ the advice or services of a friend who is exceptionally good at self-care.  Ask her how she does it and adapt her answer to fit your life.  As women, we forget to take the time to do the things that will renew our energy source.  If praying will get it done, fall to your knees on a daily basis! Have a cup of tea. Paint your nails.  Pick up your guitar (or that hairbrush and pretend it is a microphone) and belt out the most stirring rendition of your favorite feel good song at top of your lungs.  Listen to or watch a stand-up comedian.  Perhaps a roll around the skating rink will do it for you, or just sitting down with a good book. One of my coolest memories of my mother is her telling us to give her "twenty quiet minutes" when she came in from work so she could get her head together and change into her mother hat.  This small action taught me that, as a woman, you have to demand that your needs get met along with the needs of others around you.  Whatever that thing looks like for you, do it!  It is so okay to do something nice for yourself and focus on just yourself for a nice minute.  I promise you that the world won't fall apart! Initially, you may feel guilty about it but "me" time, for a woman, is as crucial to well-being as any of the other things we do for others.