In Week 3 of GROW Mental Health Recovery’s six-week initiative ‘Create Hope and Stay Positive’ in the face of Covid-19, we will focus on the topic of making sure we strive to maintain a positive outlook.
Over the coming days we will continue the theme of ‘looking at the positives’ with a podcast, audio, recipe, a reading and further tips.
Listen to our Podcast for Week 3
John Lonergan and Caroline Crotty join Sile Tracey to discuss ways of keeping positive at this time
Week 3: Adopting a Positive Outlook
These are challenging times for all of us and it is important that we focus on the positives or to ‘control the controllables’.
Has COVID 19 given you an extraordinary opportunity to slow things down and concentrate on what’s actually important to you?
Here are some tips on how we can shift our outlook.
Natural Order of Growth and Breakdown
Natural Order of Growth and Breakdown
True growth or recovery for persons or society is attained by finding and respecting the objective order of nature which is found in all forms of life; with its inherent laws governing the processes of human growth and human breakdown.
To evaluate behaviour (one’s own and others’) in terms of this true natural order is to acknowledge an ideal standard of health as the objective rule of human action. This standard is the measure of what is right and wrong, healthy and sick, in the behaviour of all individuals, groups, organisation and governments.
Sleep Tips Audio
Caroline Crotty, GROW Mental Health Recovery Area Co-ordinator, provides some excellent tips and advice on the benefits of sleep, including how it helps us remain positive.
GROW Task
This week we are going to start with the GROW task to encourage you to take positive steps to stay connected. Here are some tasks that can help you adopt a positive outlook during the Covid-19 restrictions:
- Create a Gratitude Journal
- Remember – Not every day is good however, there is some good in every day
- Every day write down three things you are thankful for
GROW Recipe
Cooking is a great way to stay connected – by having your family join in or it is something you could discuss with your friends and recommend they try it out.
If you get a chance, why not try out this week’s recipe which will help the overall aim of growing your mindset through wellness and self-care.
Asian Kale, Purple cabbage and Carrot Salad – kindly provided by RéNua Natural Health
Brief: In challenging times it is important to focus on the positives and control the controllables. It is an opportunity to slow things down and concentrate on what is actually important to you
Suggestion: Create a beautiful plate of food. Many little steps involved to encourage mindfulness in preparing food. The various steps culminate in a colourful and delicious dish. Use a mix of familiar and new ingredients to challenge the chef to be creative, even if he/she does not have all the ingredients listed.
Rationale:
- This salad involves three separate steps which come together at the end to create a beautiful, colourful plate of food.
- The slow pace of preparation and assembly of this salad allows the chef to be mindful and focus of nourishing oneself (self-care). Massaging (rubbing) the kale and cabbage with the dressing is a soothing experience, allowing the chef to deeply connect with his/her food. It improves the texture and digestibility of tough greens – mirroring how we can break down tough barriers with simple techniques, care and time
- The recipe invites the chef to be creative in assembling the dish.
- The main ingredients are very familiar and easy to source. It gives the chef ideas that can be used separately and repeated in other salads.
- The lesser familiar ingredients are an opportunity to try something different but can be substituted if not at hand.
- Nutritional Profile
o Excellent source of flavonoids (antioxidants), betacarotene, healthy fats & fibre
o Good source of calcium, magnesium and protein
GROW Reading
For this week’s GROW Reading we have selected ‘Desiderata’. It is a passage familiar to many and is fitting for our theme of adopting a positive attitude. There have been many interpretations of the meaning of this poem, but it is basically advice about how to live a happy and contented life.
Desiderata
Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.
– By Max Ehrmann
GROW Wisdoms to boost positivity
To help with the theme of ‘Adopting a Positive Outlook’ members of the Sligo and Leitrim groups have put together the GROW wisdoms that they find useful in getting through these challenging times.
The members, along with Area Co-Ordinator Marie Hanley, wanted to share the following wisdoms to help others:
Growth is painful but permanently rewarding – James
Hope – The best in life, love and happiness is ahead of us – Kevin
If a thing is worth doing it is worth doing badly for a start and while I am improving – Loretta
Emphasise what IS rather than what isn’t – Seamus
You alone can do it, but you can’t do it alone – Oscar
I am more durable than vulnerable – Annette
Settle for disorder in the lesser things for the sake of order in greater things – Trish
Info Line
Contact our info line on 1890 474 474 for a friendly and trusted voice if you need to discuss any issues