Our Soul Needs a Mental Fitness Plan

The Three Fitness Plans You Don’t Want to Live Without – Part 2

In part one of The Three Fitness Plans You Don’t Want to Live Without, we discussed how our body needs a physical fitness plan.  In this post we pick up with the second fitness plan that you don’t want to neglect.

A Mental Fitness Plan
Mental health isn’t mentioned as often as physical health, but I would say it’s just as important, if not more important.  When you are mentally healthy, it’s easier to become physically healthy.  So what does a mental fitness plan look like?  Well, I am not really sure but I can tell you about ours.

A couple years ago, I said to Pamela, I am no longer going to church.  Surprised?  Don’t be; we attend service every Sunday, it’s the most important piece to our mental (soul) fitness plan.  So what did I mean by not going to church?  Well, we started treating each Sunday service like a conference or seminar, you know like the ones you pay to attend.  We never leave without having several take away items that can be applied to our life-our business.  We stopped going just to say we attend, but we now attend to get something out of each service.

The Unseen Benefit of Church
The best thing about church is that the topics are always changing.  It’s the one place you can go and learn just about anything, given enough time.  You should take advantage of what your church has to offer you and your family.

Your Mental Fitness Equipment
Of course going to church is just one of the tools in our mental fitness plan.  We have others: Bible plans, podcasts, books and blogs.  I’ll briefly share a little about each:

• Bible plans.  Using the YouVersion Bible App (a.k.a. The Bible App), we, at the beginning of each year, select a Bible plan.  Most of them are usually one-year Bible plans where you read through the entire Bible in a year.  If you’ve never done this, you should if you want to get the most out of your Christian experience.   Pamela and I don’t read the same plans, they differ because our personal mental fitness goals differ.
• Podcast.  Pamela’s not much on podcasts, but I love them.  I have certain ones that I listen to each week during my commute.  Life.church, Joel Osteen, A Minute with Maxwell, and This is Your Life with Michael Hyatt are a must listen-to for me each week.  
• Books.  We both have improved our appetite to consume books.  Pamela likes books that keep her attention. Me on the other hand, I have several reading habits.  For my commutes, I listen to audiobooks, at home I read from physical books, and in my office I read leadership books with a one-page-a-day reading rule.  As you can see, there’s a plan and we want you to develop your plans.
• Blogs and internet research.  Last but certainly not least are blogs and internet research.  We use the internet as a tool.  If you haven’t discovered yet, it’s not just for games, videos and social media.  It’s a great way to increase your mental capacity.  For me I follow blog sites that interest me and Pamela, she loves researching.  It doesn’t matter what the topic.
  

Now that we’ve reviewed five of our most helpful tools to stay mentally fit, it’s your turn to either: a) develop your own plan or b.) tell us how you stay mentally sharp.  

Today is Friday!
What does having a mental fitness plan make happen for you?  While I didn’t talk much about it, what’s the purpose for your mental fitness?  Maybe you want to learn a new skill or improve in an area.  Leave us a comment.

In my next post, we will discuss the last fitness plan you don’t want to live without, a plan you’ve heard the least about.