Developing a Healthy Mind in a Messy World

Interior designers often say that the interior of your home reflects the interior of your soul. A home might be dusty and cluttered, with broken furniture, old memories, and boxes of things you don’t have the courage or energy to confront. You might be reduced to living in a small area of your house, held prisoner by decades of stuff.

It’s an enormous undertaking to begin clearing things out and sorting through the mess, but it is possible to change your lifestyle completely. In the same way, it is possible to develop a healthy mind even after decades of living under the weight of fear, shame, or some other crippling mindset.

Trash or Treasure

Developing a healthy mind begins in much the same way as tidying a cluttered house. You must take stock of everything in the house and decide whether it has any value or is garbage to be thrown out. Over the years, you have collected beliefs about yourself, some of them valuable and true, many of them hurtful and false.

Some people have treated you as though you were too much or not enough. You might have the weight of all of your past failures piled up precariously around you, threatening to engulf you in an avalanche of shame if you fail at one more thing. Your achievements, talents, and interests might be gathering dust in a forgotten corner, overlooked and undervalued. There might be framed pictures on the wall of a sibling who was celebrated and spoken of fondly while you were ignored and only caused disappointment.

It’s physically painful to confront some of the experiences cluttering your mind. What gets in the way of having a healthy mind is all the trash that other people have dumped there. You might have been told and treated like you are worthless, and that has impacted every choice you have ever made. It is time to start throwing the trash out, sweeping other people’s dirt from your floors, and finding the hidden treasures that still lurk in the dusty darkness.

Somewhere in your past, there was a teacher who believed in you, a friend who stuck by you, or a family member who truly saw and valued you. Their attention and affection were like a precious gift that you never felt you deserved.

Still, you kept it and hid it, afraid that it would be stolen or lost. Now is the time to bring out these memories, repeat the kind words that were spoken, and remember the loyalty and love that someone showed, even if it was brief. These are your treasures, given to you to remind you that even in the midst of the dirt and gloom, you have something precious because you are something precious.

A Healthy Mind in a Messy World

You might be in some kind of recovery, feeling as if you have made one too many bad choices. There is always time to begin making the right choice. Nothing you have done in the past takes away from the value you have always had. There are few things more respectable than facing your shortcomings, and it takes bravery to admit your weakness and get help for your sickness.

Maybe you are not recovering from addiction or substance abuse, but instead confronting your people-pleasing tendencies, or your low self-esteem. Maybe you are only in the early stages of recognizing the trauma you carry, or giving a name to your insecurities. The key to continuing is understanding this: it is about progress, not perfection.

The journey to a healthy mind is long, but you are already making progress just by reading this. Whatever path you are on, remember that it is not about becoming worthy of love, respect, dignity, and kindness. You have always been worthy of all of those things. Even when you mess up, relapse, lash out, withdraw, or fail, you are still worthy and always have been. You don’t need to earn your worth; you just have to have a healthy mind so that you can see it.

Help Is Available

One of the healthiest things you can do for your mind is to check in with a counselor or therapist regularly. Even if it feels as if you have things under control, it helps to get someone else’s perspective and encouragement. If you don’t currently have a counselor, or if you would like to find a new one, please consult our online catalog or speak with our reception team.