From changing up your morning routine to rethinking who you spend the most time with, read these four tips to improve your mental health in 2021
Last year was one we’ll never forget. And as we head into the new year, unfortunately the coronavirus is coming too—a test for many of us as we try to bring a positive attitude into 2021.
We’ve rounded up some easy tips on how we can retrain our brains to focus more on the positive and pay less attention to the negative. From changing up your routine to altering your thinking, try out these four tips in 2021.
Keep a gratitude journal
For some, doing something as simple as writing down what you’re grateful for and seeing it spelled out in front of you can be enough to alter your perspective on life—that’s the power of gratitude journaling.
The method is a favourite of Oprah Winfrey, who has long advocated for its benefit in helping her focus on what she has already achieved and wants to achieve in the future. “In the process of building a television network, I got so focused on the difficulty of the climb that I lost sight of being grateful for simply having a mountain to climb,” Winfrey says. “Only when I began feeling gratitude for the opportunity to serve a new audience in a new way did a shift happen. Viewers started saying the most amazing things—things that aligned exactly with my vision of what Oprah Winfrey Network can be.”
Listing out a handful of things you’re grateful for everyday can help to increase your awareness of the little things that happen—getting an ice cream in the park, meeting new people or getting everything ticked off your to-do list.
Here’s an example of Oprah’s gratitude list from back in 1996:
1. A run around Florida's Fisher Island with a slight breeze that kept me cool.
2. Eating cold melon on a bench in the sun.
3. A long and hilarious chat with Gayle about her blind date with Mr Potato Head.
4. Sorbet in a cone, so sweet that I literally licked my finger.
5. Maya Angelou calling to read me a new poem.