The following was written by Trip Hart of SoHaPP — the Science of Happiness and Positive Psychology:

How is your mind doing? Really. Have you taken time recently to assess your mental health? There are a lot of stressful events happening, from calamity in Ukraine, a potential new variant of COVID threatening, to “take your pick.” After two years of a pandemic, anxiety nationwide is shooting through the roof, impacting everyone’s happiness.

So what are you going to do about it? Can you actually improve mental wellness? You can, by being more Mindful.

Your brain is incredibly adaptable, capable of curing many ailments. You just have to direct it. How can you quiet the chatter, and bring peace to the mayhem of what’s going on in there? How can you be more “Mindful?”

There are many ways, so find the one suiting you best. Most people think meditation is the most powerful way to calm the mind. Meditation is a regular habit for many of the world’s leaders and top business professionals. Maybe it’s how they got there.

Tai Chi is often thought of as “moving” meditation, and yoga as “still” meditation. Walking through nature and purposefully feeling the ground meet your feet, and having all of your senses in tune with the world around you is being more mindful. Calming breathing techniques work too.

Discover this world of opportunity for yourself. Do what works for you, and then as luck would have it you’ll find something else.

When you practice being more mindful, you are bringing a “single minded focus” to your brain. You are training your mind, and this will spill over to other life activities. Warding off distractions and having a stronger focus on the task in front of you makes you much more productive. It even aids in creativity. Who wouldn’t want that?

Mindfulness needs to be habitual, “an always there” habit. Habits for Happiness (H4H) suggests how you can have this habit as part of your subconscious. It is done the same way H4H suggested in the last two articles of bringing more Positivity and Kindness into your character. Just a little bit, every day, for 30 days. Find the best way to make yourself just a bit more Mindful every day, for 30 days. It naturally becomes a part of your day, and then it naturally becomes a part of you.

SoHaPP, the Science of Happiness and Positive Psychology, has five suggested habits for better wellness.

The last two are being more Active and Grateful, which will be reviewed in the Courier-Herald at the beginning of the next two months. ‘Til then, help your brain rest. Go to www.sohapp.org for the science supporting our mental wellness, and for further guidance. Mindfulness will help with this conundrum of life, but you must direct your brain to get there.