So how is your end-of-the-world life going? Things are pretty apocalyptic right now and it's downright terrifying. Are you wondering how to keep your shit together in the face of all this chaos?
Let's face it, even before 2020, the world seemed to be moving in a not very good direction and as a therapist, I can tell you, lots of people were already struggling. Anxiety and depression have been a growing problem for a long time but now experts worry we are in for a mental health tsunami thanks to the pandemic.
I am always looking for useful resources that can help my clients manage their anxiety and boost their mood, so I was happy to review Have a Magical Day - 7 Keys to Living Happy Every Day.
Written by motivational speaker, Wendell Miracle, who I had never heard of, its a short little guide book with, you guessed it, 7 practices to bolster mental health.
Now Miracle looks way to young to be a motivational speaker, but hey, if he has a sound message, I am willing to keep an open mind. He apparently experienced depression after losing his mother to cancer and developed his program to help others after he found a way to bring himself to a better state of mind.
He is clearly a religious person and that always makes me squirm, but even if, like me, you are agnostic/atheist, than you can still read the book without any issues.
Each chapter is devoted to one of the 7 keys to happiness:
1. Starting the day with gratitude
2. Practice altruism/kindness
3. Visualize success
4. Forgive others
5. Foster self-worth
6. Practice positive self-talk
7. Dance
Okay, so for starters, there is definitely evidence behind all of these things that they can help lead people to feeling more satisfied with life. I don't like to use 'happy' because happiness is an emotion and no matter what, no one can feel happy all the time. If you are human, you will inevitably experience the full range of human emotions.
Things like starting the day with gratitude and practicing kindness are pretty straightforward. But no matter how much you tell people they can make them feel better, there is no guarantee people will actually follow through with them. Sometimes it is a motivation issue, other times people just don't believe it will help THEM.
As for visualizing success. This is important in areas where we can control how we show up or perform: a job interview, date, sport performance, etc. But I find when my clients convince themselves they have to 'think positively' to control every outcome, this believe becomes toxic. Case in point, my fertility clients who blame themselves for not thinking positively enough after a failed IVF cycle.
As for forgiveness, it is definitely easier said than done. I have met some clients that really struggle to let go of anger but showing people the futility of holding a grudge can be helpful. As I tell clients, "anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to drop dead."
Now, if it were easy to improve one's self-worth, than I would be out of business. For many reasons, it is extremely difficult for a lot of people to let go of the narrative they have of themselves. So yes, this one is absolutely critical but just telling someone they need to do it is not enough. It takes a lot of work...and usually therapy to be successful at it.
Positive self-talk is one thing that can help bolster self-worth and it has helped some of my clients increase their self-worth. Others, no matter how much they say positive affirmations to themselves, they refuse to buy into them at all, and then it is pretty much destined to fail.
I do think dancing is a great idea...its kind of hard to feel miserable and dance at the same time, however, I would say any time of exercise is critical to mental health. Just move your damn body somehow every single day!
So do recommend Have a Magical Day? It can certainly be a helpful quick read if are just finding yourself dealing with a little existential angst about the state of the world for sure. But if you are truly struggling with depression and/or anxiety, its not a cure. With depression, in particular, the challenge is that while people may know what they need to do to get better, they often lack the motivation/energy/hopefuless to do anything at all.
Disclosure: This book was sent to me to review but all opinions on this blog are my own.
Comments
Post a Comment