Mental health is about cultivating the integral mind, which is the balance of the intellect and the intuition, and bringing out the creativity. Most modern people overly develop their intellect and forget to nurture their intuition and creativity. Mental health helps to increase our effectiveness in life by building on our intuition and creativity.

Mental health is also about transcending the emotions and resolving any entanglements. Our mind is in charge of managing all our affairs and actions. Emotions arise when our pre-conceived mind and belief systems conflict with the reality and we are not able to readjust. This is common, as we all have been conditioned by our culture, upbringing and past. Cultivating the unconditioned mind helps us to respond to the situation appropriately so that we are free to move beyond our old behavioral patterns.

The basics to improving our mental health include cultivating:

• Free from emotional entanglement
• Cultivate spiritual awareness
• Develop intuition and creativity
• Balanced personality
• Healthy intellect

Free from Emotional Entanglement: Emotions are a natural part of life that communicate and express the inner, but often unfamiliar, world. Understanding our emotions can help us to improve and grow, but these emotions can also block us from seeing the truth. We may be geniuses when helping others to resolve their problems yet paralyzed by our own. This is because we can be detached when we look at other peoples’ issues, but not when we examine at our own. Healthy emotions give us the stability to discover and resolve our own entanglements.

Cultivate Spiritual Awareness: Detachment often brings a clearer vision or a resolution to a situation. When we discover the source of the emotions or entanglement, there is the opportunity to clear it forever. If the root of these emotions remains unresolved, however, we may find ourselves repeating the same pattern in different ways. The most effective way to clear these patterns is to nurture self-awareness and the reflective mind. Contemplation, regular meditation and keeping a journal are effective ways to facilitate self-discovery and improve the self.

Develop Intuition and Creativity: The intuition and creativity are our high mind which comes from nurturing the quiet mind and open consciousness. To learn more about how to develop your intuition, click here for an outline of the workshop by Ed Sullivan “Develop Your Intuition”.

Balanced Personality: A healthy personality is a balanced personality. We are all born with certain talents and some challenges. Our inherent talent supports and builds our confidence and helps us to meet our challenges. Challenges are like rocks that can be either a stepping stone or a stumbling block. There is no need to be stalled by challenges. We can all learn from our natural abilities and later expand to a new field and develop new talents. The joy in life is a dance between following our passion and exploring new roads.

Healthy Intellect: Fear of the unknown often prevents us from achieving success. Intellectual learning helps us to acquire basic knowledge, and with practice, we are able to face the unknown and release the creativity which can be a source of joy. Yet a busy mind filled with excessive knowledge can inhibit the development of intuition and block our access to unlimited resources and creativity.

Our mental health is the key to bodily health, as the mind orchestrates all aspects of our worldly life. Our physical health, in turn, greatly impacts the mind, thoughts and emotions. Spiritual health is also largely dependent on the improvement of our mental health, as a peaceful mind enlivens a joyful spirit.

People often notice that when they exercise, particularly with tai chi or qigong, they become calmer and more effective in their current tasks. Meditation is another effective way to improve mental health as it helps us to let go of old emotions and allows the mind to become calm and aware. Other forms of spiritual cultivation and chi practice also help to nurture our intuition and develop the spiritual awareness which gently guides our actions and brings greater peace to our lives.