We remember to work on our physical health but completely forget about our mental and emotional health.
Your Mental and Emotional Health Benefits Others
So many parents want their teens to change, improve their mental/emotional health, and behave better. They want what’s best for their teens, but their focusing on the wrong thing.
They would do better to look inwards and change, improve their mental/emotional health, and behave better themselves.
“As children develop, their brains ‘mirror’ their parent’s brain. In other words, the parent’s own growth and development, or lack of those, impact the child’s brain. As parents become more aware and emotionally healthy, their children reap the rewards and move toward health as well.”
-Dr. Dan Siegle
In other words, if you want your teen to be more mentally/emotionally healthy, you need to do the work to become more mentally/emotionally healthy.
I often talk about the power of being the change.
I remind parents that we cannot control our teens, and need to work on ourselves.
This is just evidence that the work that we do on our own mental/emotional health, though it may not change our teens, will help them develop their own mental and emotional health.
How To Improve Mental/Emotional Health
Everyone has different opinions on this, and I personally feel that no one can tell you the right answer for you. Discovering how to best meet your mental/emotional health needs is a process or trial and error.
But, since your reading this, you’re probably interested in what I do and recommend that my clients do.
- Increase your awareness.
- What are you thinking?
- What are you feeling?
- How are your thoughts related to your feelings?
- Practice allowing feelings and emotions.
- Are you sad? Allow it.
- Are you mad, happy, nervous, anxious, excited, worried? Allow them all.
- Avoid pushing them away or dulling them with distractions like entertainment, activity, and/or food.
- Identify the thoughts that lead to your feelings, both positive and negative.
- Do you feel happy? What thought created that feeling?
- Do you feel sad, frustrated, anxious? What thought created the feeling?
- Practice being intentional about your thoughts.
- This is hard, and the basis of most of my coaching. I recommend that you let me walk you through this in a FREE consultation.
- Basically, practice letting go of thoughts and beliefs that lead to emotions that hold you back.
- Then, practice developing and cultivating thoughts and beliefs that lead to emotions that move you forwards.
Want a better relationship with you teen? Then you need this FREE