Mental Health Awareness Month - KINDNESS

Mental health awareness month and kindness

English actor Stephen Fry once said, "If ignorance is bliss, why aren't there more happy people in the world?" The importance of mental health has been ignored for way too long, and that hinders the overall well-being of all our lives. Mental illness is more common than one thinks, and when you suffer from mental illness or examine your mental health, it is easy to start being self-critical and self-loathing. But the reason you feel like this is that, as Buddha said, all that we are is the result of what we have thought. The remedy to this is kindness - to have kinder thoughts and do more acts of kindness. Here we give you four mantras on kindness that you can choose for yourself, repeat it as often as you like, and start to love yourself a little more every day.

"In helping others, I heal myself."

Helping others is energy-exhausting. The mentality of lack has made many people become more and more self-centred, calculating and depressed. There are also more and more conceptions in helping others and giving like giving to others means less for me. But for centuries, many great souls such as Mother Theresa and Barack Obama have all been teaching one truth-in service, you find yourself and you heal yourself. Go out and do something good for others. You will fill the world with more love and hope, in turns you will fill yourself with more love and respect. Acts of kindness always pay off, and they can be done every day.

"I choose kindness."

Kindness is a choice. Ask yourself what your thoughts are on kindness and examine it, what does kindness mean to you and why should you choose it. Lao Tzu left us an answer, "Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love." Try this mantra whenever you say or do something, and act out of kindness. When you feel good about your decisions, your emotional health improves dramatically.

"Kindness is my philosophy."

This comes from the great Dalai Lama, "This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples, no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness".

"Today I will be kind to myself."

When you feel stressed or depressed, you tend to bear a lot of feelings of self-blame, which may result in all kinds of self-destructive behaviours, like smoking, drinking, gambling and so on. These are all unkind behaviours towards yourself. If you treat yourself like someone who really matters to you, you would understand that it is important to be kind to yourself. Be gentle on yourself, every day you can wake up saying this mantra to yourself and keep repeating it throughout the day. What would you do or not do if you were to be kind to yourself?

In this Mental Health Awareness month, make it a mission to be a little kinder to yourself and everyone around you, and give the world a little love.