The Power of the 4 Pillars to Restore Mental Health

This cannot go on, do you agree?

A recent study on the pandemic’s impact and lockdown highlights the urgent need to restore mental health. Led by the Catalan Public Health Agency, the data shows striking changes compared to last year:

You can find more interesting data in the link. The study ended in September, so we do not yet have data on the second or third waves. We must remain aware that economic and social crises will follow this health crisis…

We must also acknowledge our collective fatigue and extra pressure. The current health, economic, and social crisis demands a lot from everyone. Personally, I clearly see how this crisis offers a unique opportunity to explore the limits of our capabilities.

However, pushing past these limits requires hard work and effort. In the Anglo-Saxon corporate environments where I have worked, a specific term is often used for this kind of tension—the tension of stretching yourself. It is the tension of overcoming your own resistance.

The word defining this change, this new adaptation, is “stretch.” This term is also used in biomechanics and biophysics. If I had to choose a more internal, soulful word for this concept, I would choose “excellence.”

(Note: I learned the true meaning of this word from one of my American managers. During annual goal-setting, he always asked for a bit more—a “stretch goal.” I never heard the term “excellence goal.” Yet, without internal strength and the drive to improve, there is no stretching, is there?)

Where is the line between mental health and illness?

How far can we stretch? Experience shows that **the day you decide to fully embrace life**, all resistance seems to fade. This happens when we stop listening and reacting to our survival brain.

We all know **the power of a person who puts their entire internal and mental strength toward a deep desire.** Therefore, we might think that *there are no limits when we have strong motivation*, such as our dream for the future. This drive can happen in adulthood, but it often manifests even more strongly during adolescence and youth.

While I trust their resilience and capacity for “stretching,” **I worry about the impact of this situation on the mental health of children, adolescents, and young people.** The study mentioned above notes that adolescents **now talk about vital distress** in 30% of their conversations. Previously, this topic made up less than 11% and was mostly related to school and family pressure. Today, we must focus on creating a compelling, meaningful future for everyone, especially the youth.

How we can restore mental health and change these trends

The study also highlights the **shortage of mental health professionals (psychologists and psychiatrists) in public healthcare.** However, it does not provide data on private practice specialists… 

In any case, I am convinced that **each of us can do a lot to prevent illness.** We can start by applying the skill of Self-Knowledge. This helps lighten the burden of anxiety and fear that naturally increases during times of high uncertainty.

Why do we need to change now?

There are several reasons, but I will focus on the two most important ones.

The first is our need to **preserve our mental health**. Resistance to change and a lack of acceptance of the external world show how little we know ourselves. Our internal world quickly loses balance, deeply affecting our mental health. **Consequently, the entire body** reflects this state of discomfort and mental confusion.

**We cannot leave our lives in the hands of medication forever.** Our bodies adapt to them, and prolonged use can make these treatments chronic, potentially triggering adverse reactions. Pharmacological and other therapies have their place, but they also have limits.

We are the only ones without limits, though we struggle to see it. This brings me to the second, equally important reason we need to change: **because we can change**. We are born with the capacity to progress, grow, and develop. This expansion and inner sense of progress are what make us happy.

A “sense of urgency”

Yes, **we need to feel that the time to leap and change is now**. It seems we still do not realize how responsible we are for this vital issue. We are too used to looking outward, asking others to solve our concerns and problems.

We focus our actions on what happens in the external world. We rush to find “easy” solutions that promise to be fast and comfortable. As a result, **we mostly react to the whims of a capricious mind.**

We do not control our attention. Because it is untrained, it simply follows the frantic activity of the thoughts we have fully identified with.

But how do we change? Listen to yourself closely

We need to listen to ourselves. Honestly, **we do not know how to listen to ourselves because we are fully identified with the mind’s stories.** Listening is not done with the mind. **Listening means tuning our ears and the brain of the heart.** And we are quite out of practice, aren’t we?

Our pain and suffering stem from our conditioning and the stories we tell ourselves. Searching for a “how” to escape suffering will remain a futile quest. We live 95% of our day from the mind. From there, we act by “thinking” and crafting responses to satisfy the needs of our persona—the one searching for safety.

**Listening is NOT a mental skill.**

In and from the mind, we only hear our thoughts, criticisms, judgments, and expectations. True listening enables an exchange of talents within a context of empathy.

Listening is opening the heart. This path of the heart is a risky adventure, I know. But I also know there is no other way to the truth. The good news is that this risk leads you, step by step, to fall in love with life.

What will make it possible to open up like this?

So do not worry about the “how.” Let the “how” come to you. It will come when you invest in yourself. By choosing to know ourselves better and awakening our curiosity about how our body and mind work, we can escape the mind’s tyranny and change our mental-emotional state.

But look closely: **how willing are we to train?** **Because true training knows no rest days.** Choosing to train means looking at yourself a little more each day. And we are not just talking about physical training. You already know there is much more to restoring lost balance.

The power of the 4 pillars that recreate health and life

**Research** on key health determinants and coping resources **makes it clear that we need to exercise and maintain four groups of essential elements.** To begin recreating our health—and thereby changing the flavors, colors, and vital energy of our lives—we must keep the following resources active and well-trained:

1. Meaningful activities
2. Existential motivations and meaning
3. Connection with inner feelings and emotions
4. Social relationships and support.

The training we offer at the School of Skills for Life and Health goes from the global to the specific and vice versa. Each group includes a set of skills trained using structured methods and transformative tools.

It is important for us to integrate learning and understand the connections between each group of resources. This ensures we progress, and that progress brings us deep satisfaction.

**Each of us learns according to our level of understanding of ourselves and the world around us.**

When well combined, our training helps us draw on our resources and view ourselves through the lens of excellence and “stretching.” This is how we care for you and appreciate your value in each of our courses. A testament to this is the result we achieve with the Course: Surviving or Living, Let’s Talk About Health

Through this course, as we adapt to change, we learn to move beyond the “survival” brain to progress to the level of “living,” acquiring skills in these areas:

• Stress and tension management
• Trust
• Self-Knowledge
• Emotional management
• Relationships and Communication

Bibliography:

• The Salutogenic Guidebook. Lindstrom and Eriksson. Ed. Documenta Universitaria 2010
• Frankl Viktor, Psychotherapy in Clinical Practice, Herder 2011
• Hanson, A. Workplace Health Promotion, Ed AuthorHouse 2007
• Mental Health Questionnaire (Catalan Public Health Agency): link to PDF