Strengthening Your Mind

Real-Life Mental Health Equipment

Creating a Mental Fitness Plan – Part 2

You may or may not realize this, but one’s physical fitness is tied directly to one’s mental fitness. In other words, if you are not physically fit, then it also means your mental fitness has a challenge. When your physical fitness is off, this is an indication that one’s mental fitness needs some adjusting. What happens in one’s life, especially one’s body, is a product of what is going on in one’s mind. There is a Bible phrase I often hear, “a good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil store up in his heart.” ^[1] Whatever you have stored up in your heart is manifested in your reality. What you see before you is what has been stored up in your mind.

Therefore, we need to improve our minds or, better stated, become more mentally fit. To do this we need some tools. Keep in mind you more than likely already have many of the tools. That being the case, we need to make sure we are using the tools with the intent of improving our mental fitness.

Your Mental Fitness Equipment
I would like to share with you six tools a person can use as mental fitness equipment. Just like physical fitness requires weights, a treadmill, stair climbers, etc., there are tools we can use to improve our mental fitness. 

1. 1. Church attendance.
      This first one, church attendance, obviously is for people of faith. However, I would highly recommend it for non-people of faith. Here’s why. Most people of faith don’t get the unseen benefits of attending church. Churches and the really good ones give all their content away for free. You cannot beat that. They give resources away on every subject and matter of life from leadership to finances to health improvement to overcoming depression and the list goes on and on.
      
      Other unseen benefits of church include, but are not limited to, these:
      1. The topics are always changing and updated to be relevant.
      2. The location is always the same. You can go and just learn about anything. 
      3. Most of this content is also available online.
      4. They provide content from other subject matter experts in their area of their expertise.
      5. And did I say it’s free. Each week and sometimes multiple times a week, new content is available. This content given each week is good nutrition for one’s mind. If you want to improve your mental health, this is the quickest, easiest, and most effective way to do so.
         
         
   2. Bible plans.
      Tool number tool is a plan to read the Bible. There are people who have curated the Bible in such a way that one can find just about information on any topic. In using a Bible plan, designate a time you can commit to it, and two, select plans that interest you.
      
      Using the YouVersion App (a.k.a. The Bible App), one can pair practical personal development subjects with the Bible. Using a Bible curated plan, we elevate our mental capacity and give us what we need to reach our mental fitness goals. Keep in mind that your plan for mental fitness will differ from others because our personal mental fitness goals differ.
      
      
   3. Audio (Podcasts) and Video (YouTube) Content.
      Equipment for mental fitness number three includes audio and video content. These two go hand in hand due to the advancements in technology, ie. mobile devices. We can carry videos with us just as easily as we can audio. In other words, you can just as easily view content on the go in the same way you can listen to content on the go.
      
      Pamela is not much of a podcast fan as I am, so she is more interested in shorter videos (a.k.a. Shorts). I have certain podcasts that I listen to each week during my commute like Life.church, Joel Osteen, A Minute with Maxwell, and The Grow Leader Podcast, to name a few. I also have video subscriptions that populate my YouTube feed. A person now has the ability to get mentally fit on the go and everywhere you go. Why not take advantage of this gift? Here’s an added benefit: most of it is free. Why don’t we use this mental fitness equipment? The answer is simple. Jim Rohn says, because it’s easy not too. While the resource is readily available and easy to use, the truth is, it’s easy not to. It’s time you change this and find the content you like and use this equipment to take your mental health to the next level.
      
      4. Books.
      Books have been around for ages. I get that reading books is hard to do, especially physical books. It takes isolated time, intentionality, and dedication. However, even if you don’t have the time to physically read a book, reading books has become so much easier. In fact, books are available in video form on YouTube and via other video content networks. However, there are online audio books and podcast platforms available. Now you can stream audiobooks and other forms of spoken content. You can peruse audiobooks, find the ones you can enjoy, and at the same time improve your mental health. Improve your appetite to consume books to become more mentally fit, in the same way consuming an apple a day will improve one’s physical health.
      
      5. Blogs and internet research.
      Last but certainly not least are blogs and internet research. Get used to using the internet for more than entertainment but embrace it as a powerful tool. If you haven’t discovered it yet, it is not just for games, videos, and social media. It is a great way to increase your mental capacity. For me, I follow blog sites that interest me and Pamela loves using the internet for research. It doesn’t matter what topic the internet has it and if it does not, it is an opportunity for you to create it.

My mental fitness diet consists of:

• Bible App audio Bible content on my morning commute.
• A Physical Book, one page a day when I first sit down at my office space.
• An Audible Book and Podcast content during working hours on breaks and midday commutes.
• And YouTube videos on the weekend.

There is a prayer in the Bible that I’d like to pray over you with mental fitness in mind. “I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul [mind, will, intellect] prospers.” ^[2] I pray that your soul prospers. Your ability to prosper is connected to the prosperity and well-being of your mind. How’s your mind doing? What kind of shape are you in mentally? Let’s take our mental fitness to the next level.

Questions: what is the condition of your soul?

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[1] ‭‭Luke 6:45 NLT‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬, Bible.com, accessed October 4, 2023, https://www.bible.com/bible/116/LUK.6.45.NLT
[2] III John‬ ‭1‬:‭2‬ ‭NKJV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬, Bible.com, accessed October 4, 2023, https://www.bible.com/bible/114/3JN.1.2.NKJV

All Scripture references used by permission, see our Scripture copyrights.

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