✨ How would it feel to fall madly in love with yourself? ✨

“What mental health needs is more sunlight, more candor,
and more unashamed conversation.” — Glenn Close

✨ WELCOME TO HOW TO HEAL YOUR MIND✨

I want you to know that you're not broken. You don't need to be “fixed.” You are worthy and enough exactly as you are, even if you’re struggling.

So let this guide empower you with the practical tools to achieve the inner peace, mental clarity, and calmness of mind that you inherently deserve.

It might be easy to know how you feel about your body. Whether you feel comfortable in your own skin or have areas that you want to improve, particularly when you pass by a mirror or you’re scrolling through social media and InstaModel bodies invade your feeds.

But have you ever stopped to reflect on your relationship with your mind? How do you feel about your own mental health? 

Do you feel comfortable alone with your own thoughts? Or are there aspects of your mental health that you want to improve? Depression? Anxiety? Low self-esteem? Imposter syndrome? Codependency? 

Now that I’m pretty far along in my own self-love journey when I think about my mind, I think of love. 

It lets me enjoy the sunshine, express gratitude, laugh for no reason, form connections with friends and loved ones, and through meditation and prayer connect with the Divine. 

But when I’m struggling, when I think about my mind, I think of fear. 

I think of fear because my mind can also engulf me in anxious thoughts, drown me in depressive moods, and trick me into believing that I’m all alone.

But luckily for me, and for all of us who find ourselves sometimes struggling inside a mind that we can’t seem to find our way out of, I’ve put together three essential self-soothing tools and practices that have helped me to heal my mind, find inner peace, and calm my thoughts. 

It is my hope that it does the same for you.

INSIGHT #1: Seek support from someone who is safe.

It might sound like a cliché, but the first step to healing your mind is seeking support and knowing that you’re not alone.

However, there are two extremely important aspects of asking for help that is rarely talked about. But don’t fret, we’re going to dive deep into those right now.

Aspect #1: Seek support from people who are safe

Not everyone in your life, and this goes for family, friends, people from church, etc., has the capability of being a safe space for your vulnerability.

It's not because they are bad people, but not everyone has the emotional intelligence or capacity to be a safe space for you.

If you feel worse, judged, dismissed, criticized, or any negative emotion after being vulnerable with someone, then they're not safe.

Also, if they suggest drinking, drugging, sexing, or any other form of numbing to “forget about your problems” then they're not safe.

Signs that someone is safe are that they listen without judgment, offer healthy ways to problem-solve, are trustworthy, and you feel calmer and more empowered after spending time with them.

Safe people can be your therapist, life coach, trusted friend, family member, spiritual advisor, etc.

Aspect #2: Seek support prior to a crisis

Oftentimes we wait until there’s a major life crisis, traumatic experience, or breakdown before examining the state of our mental health.

I would suggest seeking support before you hit rock bottom. Like anything else in life, the better we take care of something, the less likely it is to break.

The same goes for our minds.

Talking to safe people and having a trustworthy support system is like maintenance for your mind.

The better you maintain the health of your mind, the more resilient it will be, so when difficult moments do arise you will navigate them with a greater level of grace and awareness which avoids escalations into moments of crisis.

Make a list of 3-5 people who are safe for you when you're struggling, connect with them privately, and ask for their blessing in being a safe space for you when needed.

Also, ask them to proactively check in on you to see how you’re doing.

TAKE ACTION
Find your safe people.

If you don’t have at least 1-2 safe people, then write down three actions that you can take to find one. And then take them!

This could be calling a mental health hotline and getting guidance on how to find a therapist that’s right for you. 

It could also be mindfully expanding your friendship circle with people who are emotionally intelligent and non-judgmental. 

You could also start going to church or a spiritual place that’s in alignment with your beliefs and join groups that they have in order to meet people who could support you.

INSIGHT #2: Create self-awareness through curiosity.

The second way to heal your mind is to seek to understand it in a compassionate way.

This means getting curious about what your triggers are, why you have them, and what they are trying to tell you without berating yourself for having a human reaction to what your mind perceives to be a dangerous situation. 

It is simply trying to keep you safe. A powerful affirmation for when you’re feeling triggered is: 

“Thank you mind for keeping me safe. All is well now and there’s nothing to fear.”

Additionally, a pivotal way to cultivate this mindset shift is by keeping a mental health journal. A mental health journal is when you keep track of your thoughts, ideas, feelings, insights, and emotions in real-time. 

You can journal on paper, digitally on your computer or phone, or visually through drawing or images. The intention behind the practice is to gain clarity on your thoughts and feelings by getting them out of your mind and into a place where you can have a healthier perspective on them. 

Mental and emotional benefits of mental health journaling are: 

* Managing stress through the emotional release of your negative feelings, thoughts, and fears.

* Identifying triggers by becoming aware of when you feel panicked, angry, or fearful. 

* Tracking symptoms of mental disorders so that they don’t escalate and also as a way to identify mental disorders during their initial stages.

* Uncovering negative thoughts and patterns of behavior so that you can identify the source, heal it, and break the cycle. 

* Reducing anxiety so that your thoughts don’t overwhelm you and it makes reflecting on your thoughts easier. 

When we come from a place of curiosity of trying to understand our minds and why we are the way we are it takes away the fear and replaces it with the tools to heal, soothe, and calm our minds.

TAKE ACTION:
Self-Soothe
Make a list of 10 ways that you can self-soothe in a healthy way when feeling mentally overwhelmed.

This could be a list of calming affirmations to repeat, journaling, breathwork, walking in nature, calling a friend, tapping, counting to 100, taking a bubble bath, drawing, a nap, etc.

INSIGHT #3: Cultivate an authoritative relationship with your thoughts.

Now that we have a safe support system in place and we’re creating self-awareness through curiosity, it’s time to cultivate an authoritative relationship with your thoughts. 

To be clear, although we are the authority of our thoughts, it’s important to remember to exercise this authority in a loving, graceful, and self-compassionate way. No self-judgment, criticism, or self-hate allowed. 

* However, please note that if you’re struggling with uncontrollable thoughts it’s best to seek the guidance of a mental health professional and use this guide as a helpful tool along the way. 

The first step to becoming the authority of your thoughts is to believe that you are the thinker of your thoughts. This means that you control your thoughts and they do not control you. 

An exercise that strengthens this belief is sitting in a comfortable position, turning everything off, or playing low meditation music and playing a mindfulness game.

Start by asking yourself, “I wonder what my next thought will be?” 

Then let whatever thought emerge and then through loving curiosity ask yourself, “Do I want to think this thought?” 

If your answer is yes, then say, “Thank you thought, I’ll keep you. Now, what else do you want to show me?” 

From there, let your mind, thoughts, and visualizations play. 

Remember, this is a game, so have fun and be easy with yourself, there’s no pressure or ‘right way’ to do it. 

But if your answer is no, then say, “Thank you thought, but you have no power here. I now release you to the Universe for good. I wonder what my next thought will be.” 

Sometimes you’ll have to say this command more than once and that’s perfectly fine. Just gently repeat until new, fun, and good-feeling thoughts emerge. 

You can also play this game as a journaling exercise by writing down your thoughts, affirmations, and answers. 

Soon you’ll realize that it’s actually your Higher Self, the You with a capital Y, who is observing your thoughts, thinking your thoughts, and most importantly, commanding your thoughts. 

If you have the power to change your thoughts that means that You are the authority of your thoughts - You control them! 

This also means that You are separate from your thoughts. So just because a negative thought pops into your mind, it doesn’t mean that is the truth of who you are. 

It is simply a thought. 

And luckily for us, we get to choose which thoughts we get to keep and which ones we get to release. 

This is so important because the thoughts we choose to keep become our beliefs, and our beliefs inform our expectations - how we expect to be treated, how expect life to go, and how we expect the world to show up for us. 

And it is these beliefs that will determine the quality of your life. 

Just like Oprah said, “You become what you believe, not what you think or what you want.” 

This means that your thoughts do not have any power over you, but rather, when you allow your thoughts to be transformed into beliefs, then you empower them to inform what you call into your life. 

So the next time a thought continuously pops in your head ask yourself, “Is this something that I actually want to experience in my life?” 

Then use the tools from the game, if the answer is yes, then let the thoughts play! If the answer is no, lovingly release it, and intentionally choose a better feeling thought. 

Stop giving away Your power to your thoughts. Command them through self-compassion and watch your mind heal and become the most powerful manifestation tool that you could ever have.  

TAKE ACTION:

PLAY THE MINDFULNESS GAME! Then head over to Instagram and tag me @candywashington, letting me know how it went!

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My courses are based on my own personal experiences, insights, and additional research. It should supplement your self-care journey and not be a substitute for a relationship with a licensed mental health professional.

TERMS & CONDITIONS

By purchasing a course, you understand that all sales are final since this is a digital product. You are responsible for the total purchase amount including all payments as there are no refunds. Please email assistant@candywashington.com with all questions or if you need help.