New Year, New Me: 10 Tips to Renew Your Mind in 2022
If you’re anything like me, you probably started the new year with an impressive list of things you want to accomplish in 2022. Eat less junk food: check. Actually use that gym membership for once: check. Get a full eight hours of beauty rest every night: check. You’re ready to thrive this year!
It’s great to take care of your body 一 and at the end of the day, it’s all connected 一 but have you also made sure to think about how to renew your mind this year?
What does it mean to renew your mind? To me, renewing your mind is about taking care of your mental well-being. It’s about reconnecting to the things that matter most to you, resetting your worldview, and keeping your mind in a good place.
If you’re feeling stuck on how to renew your mind as we start the new year, don’t worry 一 we’ve got your back. Here are 10 simple ways to renew your mind and go into 2022 recharged and reconnected.
Meditate or pray
Taking just a few moments out of your day to meditate or pray can be an excellent way to renew your mind. Meditation and prayer lead to spiritual connectedness, no matter what your beliefs are. These practices can give you a little bit of space to listen to your heart and remember what you stand for.
Plus, mindfulness meditation (a secular practice that anyone can use) has been proven by research to be an effective antidote to things like anxiety and depression.
2. Practice gratitude
There’s no better way to give your worldview a much-needed shift than to focus on gratitude. Gratitude isn’t about pushing your painful feelings to the side and forcing yourself to be happy about life’s annoyances. You don’t have to be cheerful about everything, all the time.
Gratitude is simply about choosing to maintain your focus on the things in your life that truly make you feel blessed. Maybe it’s the big things, like a roof over your head or a hot meal. Maybe it’s the little things that seem insignificant at first glance, like the sound of the rain or your child’s laughter. No matter what you’re grateful for, choosing to focus on these things can renew your mind and give you a new perspective.
3. Take a break
Sometimes, what’s needed is a break. This could mean a vacation from work, a social media break, or simply 20 minutes in the middle of the day to meditate or read a book. So many of us run around in busy mode almost all of the time. It can feel impossible to renew your mind if you’re always on the go.
What kind of break is your spirit asking for? What do you need a break from? Make sure you schedule in big breaks, like vacations, as well as little breaks throughout the day. Rest is crucial for both your body and your mind.
4. Be playful
When you were a young child, you probably didn’t worry so much about how to renew your mind. Children are naturally innocent, and know how to enjoy their time without being instructed. Although children certainly can and do suffer, they also often view life as something to enjoy.
Try to regain some of that child-like spirit by playing more in 2022. Do something just because it’s fun. Being playful and enjoying your time, without the pressure to accomplish anything or be productive, can be a great way to renew your mind and recharge your energy levels.
5. Connect with your values
One of the best ways to renew your mind is by reconnecting to what is most important to you. What are your core values? What is your “why”? What’s the deeper purpose behind what you do every day? I always encourage my clients to know what their values are and what they stand for.
Without a “why,” it’s easy to become lost and directionless. You can renew your mind by remembering why it all matters to you, and keeping your focus on that fact. When you’re connected with your values, your mind is in the right place.
6. Challenge your thoughts
So often, our thoughts lead us astray. We might have irrational thoughts that make us believe that we’re inadequate or worthless. We might have violent or angry thoughts toward others, even toward people we love. The thing is that our thoughts can’t always be trusted. Thoughts are just thoughts 一 not facts.
You can renew your mind by challenging the automatic thoughts that you have. When you have a thought that makes you feel bad 一 like “I’m no good at anything,” for example 一 can you take a moment to examine the thought more closely? Ask yourself, is this thought really true? What evidence do I have that it’s true? What evidence do I have that it’s not?
7. Start a journal
Keeping a journal about your thoughts, feelings, and experiences can be a great way to make sure your mind is renewed. It’s so easy to get lost in the hustle and bustle of daily life, and a regular journaling practice provides us with an opportunity to touch back in with ourselves and our most important values.
Keeping a journal can also offer us a glimpse into how much we’ve grown over time. It can be hard to notice that you’re making small steps forward while you’re in the middle of growth. But when you can read back on words that were written by a past version of you, it becomes easier to notice how much wisdom you’ve gained.
If you feel stuck on how to start journaling or are just looking for extra-creative ideas, check out my new journaling guide, Story of My Life.
8. Join a community
Whether it’s a spiritual community, an interest-based community, or simply a group of friends who share your values, building community is one of the best things we can do to maintain a healthy mind. As author and activist bell hooks said, “One of the most vital ways that we sustain ourselves is by building communities of resistance, places we know we are not alone.”
Being surrounded by a community helps us to renew our minds because it reminds us of what we believe in. When you start forgetting your purpose or straying from your values, your community can always lead you back home.
9. Be cautious about information overload
We’re living in the age of information. For too many of us, checking our phones is the first thing we do when we wake up and the last thing we do before falling asleep. And every time we check it, we’re consuming information. Whether that information is news about politics or social media drama, it has an effect on your mind.
Take care of your mind by making sure you’re not overloading it with information. Be careful about what information you consume. Unfollow accounts that make you feel bad. Limit the news to a certain amount of time per day if you feel like it’s having a negative effect on your mental health.
10. Seek out support
Sometimes, your mind just needs a little bit of extra support 一 and there’s absolutely no shame in that. People go to therapy for all sorts of different reasons, from wanting help dealing with depression or anxiety to simply wanting a safe place to express themselves and get to know yourself in a deeper way.
If you’re ready to take this step, invest in yourself, and get support for your mind and your spirit, schedule a free consultation with me today. I can’t wait to connect.
