How Faith Can Improve Your Mental Health
By Rich Blue
One of the biggest threats to mental health is your excessive preoccupation with yourselves. You get hurt and wounded by life and begin obsessing about your pains instead of keeping your eyes focused on that which is ahead—that which is greater than yourselves. One of the most helpful tips on improving your mental health is learning how to take responsibility for your perspective—your attitude toward or way of regarding something.
What is your point of view? A fundamental lesson for me regarding the importance of perspective came when I was in high school and learning to wrestle. My coach stressed a number of different principles. The aphorism related to the importance of perspective was, “Where your head goes, your body will follow.” Simple isn’t it. The central point was to always keep your head up. When you made the mistake of looking down, your body went down. What you are looking at is who you will be becoming.
If you are like me and place a premium on mental health, then you are going to want to be carefully monitoring your perspective.
Is your head up? What are you looking at? Jesus knew the importance of perspective relative to our mental health. He said, “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness.” (Matthew 6:22-23)
What are you focused on? Are you looking up at the light of possibility and hope or are you looking down and suffering in despair? You have the choice of focusing on the disappointments, the hurt, and the hardships or you can choose to adopt what Carol Dweck refers to as the growth vs. the fixed mindset. The fixed mindset is narrow, rigid, fear-based, and limiting. The growth mindset is positive and focused on our capacity to learn and grow from everything we experience in life. Life is not about earning our acceptance or proving our worth and value.
Dweck emphasizes that life is about looking up, keeping your eyes focused on the light, and seeing the opportunity to learn and emerge into your next most Christ-like selves. In fact, Carol encourages you to celebrate your failures as road markers on the way to human emergence.
Rich Blue, M.A., LCPC, IBCC, NCC, CLE’s Founder and Clinical Director, is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor with over 25 years of experience. Rich first placed his faith in Jesus Christ in 1972. He joined the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ where he served for seven years and later became Campus Director at Northwestern University. It was through this ministry that Rich first discovered his love for counseling. Known for his insight, compassion and a no-nonsense approach to therapy, Rich believes that Christ has an infinite love for all and each of us can be a vehicle for his love. As an avid athlete, he believes in competition, which brings joy and aliveness as the result of living life with dedication, purpose, and passion.