“Hello dear reader,
I understand how pressing these unpresidential times we are currently facing, due to COVID-19 can challenge our well-being and mental health. Thank you for all you are doing to keep our nation safe, especially NHS staff, teachers, local shops and supermarket staff and all key workers. This year’s Mental Health week is especially important. It is my hope you will use this time to reflect, unwind and really be intentional about the state of your mind. Please do have a look through our resources and get involved. Wishing you all a great mental health week. Stay safe and take great care of yourself.”
Karen Jones – Founder of Bennu & General Practitioner
This year’s mental health week theme is ‘Kindness’ and with all that we are all facing, both individually and collectively as a nation and world, this topic is so important. Kindness to yourself and others can go such a long way and can be sincerely beneficial to your mental health. In this month’s blog post, we are going to break down our best kindness practices.
What is Kindness?
Officially, kindness is defined as “the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate” or “a kind act.” That being said, kindness is ultimately unique to you! Different people will have different interpretations of kindness and how it is shown and received. For example, you may see kindness as keeping the door open for someone after you, however, someone else may consider this to just be good manners and rude otherwise. Or you may think its kind to receive a spontaneous phone call from a loved one saying they are thinking of you, whilst you are at work, whilst others may find this distracting and ill practice. Kindness comes in various shapes and forms however; we all could use some more kindness in our lives.
Self – Kindness
Here at Bennu, we put an emphasize on self-kindness. Self-Kindness is when you are friendly, generous and considerate to yourself. It is like giving a random act of kindness to you from you. Self-Kindness is a great mindful practice, as it is you developing a relationship of love, care and trust with yourself. As you are being intentional about taking care of yourself this will have a positive roll on effect to your overall state of mind.
So how do we show ourselves self-kindness?
As mentioned, self-kindness is unique to everyone. Kindness may be taking time out to unwind, going on a few days break to reflect (of course what covid-19 regulations allow) and this may be taking days break creating you own space at home, playing your favourite game or it could even be starting a course.
In order to discover what self-kindness looks like for you, we have formed some questions to guide you below.
- What are some of your favourite things to do?
- When are you most happy?
- Are there any hobbies or skills you would like to develop?
- Are there times you feel yourself needing a break? What would that break consist of?
- What do you wish you had more time for?
We have listed some of our own self-kindness practices for inspiration purposes.
Mindfulness
This can be expressed in the form of meditation, yoga or religious practices. Mindfulness is when you focus your mind on a given thought, place or feeling. It is a way to calm your mind whilst elevating positive thoughts.
Bennu will shortly be releasing a short meditation…click here if you would like it sent directly to you
Shutting off social media
Turning off your social media post notifications and taking a step back from social media daily, weekly or whenever you feel necessary, can help with anxiety and also aid a better sleep too. Your social media accounts will always be there to sign back into, so do not be afraid to click ‘sign out’. You may find it does you a world of good.
Booking time with family, friends, people you love and can support you.
Self-Kindness can simply be being intentional with who and when you are going to spend time with your loved ones. Even if is a month from now, knowing you are going to see someone you hold dearly, gives you something to look forward to. Be
sure, to slot out time in your diary for this!
Not taking too much on
At times, we can take too much on than we can handle and feel overloaded. It may be work, helping family or friends or maybe you have a full schedule that you are finding difficult to keep up with. Go through your schedule and see what you may have to let go of. It can be tricky if you love doing everything on your schedule. Saying ‘no’ is sometimes the best form of self-kindness. ‘Know your limits’.
Just Relax!
Self-Kindness does not have to be complicated. Simply put, just relax! It may be a bath, a tv show, enjoying your favourite beverage, listening to music, reading or a walk… whatever makes you relax and feel comfortable, providing you with the opportunity to rest your body and your mind…You are on the right path to ‘self-kindness’.
We hope that this post has been helpful to you. As always, we would love to hear your thoughts in the comment section and our social media platforms listed below.
For therapy queries please get in touch here.
We will have useful links and other resources listed below.
Take great care of yourself
Bennu
Useful links on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
NHS Information on Coronavirus (COVID-19) – https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/
UK Government Information on Coronavirus (COVID-19) – https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus
Useful Links For Mental Health
https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/nhs-services/mental-health-services/
Emergency Mental Health Help
You call UK emergency services by dialling 999
