A Guide for Mental Well-Being

Taking Each Phase One Step and One Breath at a Time

Times like this can be stressful. Especially when it’s filled with so many uncertainties and dreadful news. It’s extremely important to keep your mental health in check. Today, we have a special guest writer, Cheryl Melody Baskin, here to provide tips on how to keep your mental well-being in check.

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About the Author

Cheryl Melody Baskin (aka Melody) channels her boundless creative and spiritual energy into a variety of endeavors, from practicing healing arts — including music and sound healing — to serving as a motivational speaker, an educator, an intuitive life coach, workshop facilitator and musician. She is the author of Heart-Dreamer: Stepping into Life, Love, Creativity and Dreams No Matter What (2019), Peace Begins with You and Me- A Musical Play with Life-Changing Messages for Every Generation (2020) and Shift of Heart – Paths to Healing and Love (2016). Follow her at: www.cherylmelody.com

As we learn how to step out of self-quarantine with the presence of COVID-19 still swirling around us, the traumatic side-effects of this pandemic may still be vibrating within our body, mind and spirit. As an intuitive coach whose focus is on healing, support, creativity and hope, I am here to share inner growth tools that can help us move forward into the world, one step and one breath at a time.

Remember the Basics

As you make new decisions that are best for your life during this phase of COVID-19, remember the basics. Make all your decisions mindfully, remain respectful of others and yourself, stay centered, and take positive action steps towards self-care. If you are a naturally social person, the many months of being at home may have made you feel imprisoned and stifled. You may now have the urge to burst into the world like a wild stallion. Go slow, anyways.

Be gentle and compassionate with yourself and with others. Call upon the virtue of patience. Enjoy the healing power of nature’s wonders, and send love and healing to yourself, to others and to our global community. Say a prayer for those who are ill, and to those who have passed on. Deep breathe. Return to the present moment. Here. Now. This. Look up at the sky. Straighten your posture. Repeat.

Keep a Grateful Journal

Keeping a grateful journal - mental well-being — Photo by Brad Neathery on Unsplash

Begin a “Grateful Journal.” What are the gifts that you have experienced from being home? What are the global gifts from this pandemic? What are you grateful for each day? What gives you small moments of joy? Do the grateful journaling activity daily. It will help to shift your body, mind and spirit into a positive state of being.

Craft Healthy and Positive Words to Redirect Difficult Moments

The words that we tell ourselves matter. When my husband had a heart attack and life felt hopeless, we came up with a positive affirmation, “I have the will and the strength to get through this.” These power words got us through his heart attack and is getting us through all the phases of COVID-19. We repeat our affirmation throughout the day, write it down on post-it notes, and visualize a positive outcome. Create your own power words and use them.

Release your “Inner Judge”

Everyone has a story, and each person’s reactions and choices are based on a life history and emotional wounds. Before we judge someone’s decisions on how they choose to go into the world with COVID-19 still looming, return to what is best for you and your life. Release your judgement of other people and return to the truth for your own life. Their choices may seem as if they are based on an egocentric energy, but that story is just a story and may not be the genuine reason for their choices.

“The Magic Wand of Golden Light” Technique

Wherever I am, I carry an imaginary “Magic Wand of Golden Light” within me. To begin my day, I wave my imaginary inner wand and allow its healing light to swirl all around me. After I receive its positive energy, I send its magical vibration to every person on every corner of the earth. I love thinking that I can be a source of healing, love and hope. Whether you choose to remain in your home or venture outside, send each person healing, light and inner peace. Inner visualization works magic! Use your energy to offer each person compassion, kindness, forgiveness and love.

Peace Begins with Me

If I find that I’m on an endless merry-go-round of negative thoughts, I visualize a big red stop sign with my compassionate and loving alter ego on it. She encourages me to stop obsessing and asks me to adopt a better attitude with new words to tell my best friend (me). “Hey, my friend. Snap out of it. JUST STOP! It’s not doing you any good to think like this. It’s self-destructive. Breathe. Love yourself. Shift to a higher vibration.” She also reminds me that at any moment I could choose to sing, play uplifting music, watch a funny movie, walk in nature, write in my journal, or enjoy social connection.

Tame Your Inner Noisy Voices

Once you’ve successfully redirected your unhelpful thoughts, take it one step further. We have hundreds of clashing inner voices going on at the same time – fear, grief, denial, hope, love, negativity, impatience, anger, resistance, pessimism, optimism, rebelliousness, depression – the list goes on. If some of our noisy voices aren’t helping us to thrive, we can say, “Oh, there I go again. Quiet down everyone.” What can I think and do that is healthy, uplifting, fun, giving, stimulating, creative, dream-making, satisfying and nurturing?

The coronavirus has created an enormous challenge that has rocked our world. Acknowledge that you are doing the best you can and give yourself a shout-out. As you move forward, continue to dream new dreams for yourself. Visualize your dreams and write them down. With every thought, feeling and interaction, visualize hope. It is the light on the other side of darkness. As my book, “Heart-Dreamer” says,

“Hopelessness is the worst disease of all, and dreams are a lifeline to hope. Keep your heart open and your eyes up towards the light. It is never too late to breathe in a new purpose, mission and dream.”

Now Let’s Hear from You

I admit that I have to work on controlling negative inner thoughts and focusing on more positive and encouraging ones. How about you? When it comes to mental well-being, what are some tips from Cheryl Melody Baskin that you found helpful?

If you found these tips motivational, make sure to go check out her motivational Facebook Community of over 800 positive people from around the globe if you’d like to connect with others to discuss mental well-being.

Make sure to check out some of her books: