Mental Health vs. Brain Health

Hey friends, you know I always want to join the mental health conversation— especially on this day. I’ve said this before but here it is again because I need the reminder too.

To me, “Mental Heath” is actually two related things that are often conflated:

1. Brain health. Lots of us have brains that have well worn ruts/behaviors that we call anxiety, or depression or mania or obsessive thinking, or addiction. I believe, based on my own experience, that medicines can be a helpful tool to calm an over-energized brain or stimulate a slow, depressed brain, to help promote sleep, and to reduce anxious thinking patterns.

But…there’s also…

2. Your Mind’s Health. Taking care of the health of one’s mind (or inner space) must be a priority for ALL. Whether or not your brain is on a bipolar spectrum, an anxiety disorder spectrum, or an addiction spectrum. We all need to think about our garden of thoughts: weeding, tending, choosing what to plant. It’s a daily practice of course, like all good things are. But once you start noticing your patterns, game on.

That’s all for now.

PS. Don’t you love these salmon asters? (A September flower.) And these purple figs. (A September fruit.)