While most people especially the youth are heavily focused on physical health, they are hardly inclined towards the wellness of the mind. Here Sister Sangeetha BK , a veteran member of the Brahma Kumari community addresses the vital issue of the importance of spiritual well being from an early age and also shows the way to achieve mental tranquility for a holistic balanced body and mind.
Question: How important is spiritual/mental health for the youth?
Answer: Quality of thinking determines the spiritual health of any individual. Our actions are based on our thoughts. So if our thoughts are positive, peaceful, encouraging, our actions too will obviously be of that quality. The youth period of our lives is in a way, the start of the real life journey, where important decisions regarding relationships, responsibilities and career are to be taken. And if, at this point of time, the thinking pattern is negative, then it is bound to impact those important decisions. Thus if the young are spiritually powerful and mentally very healthy, his/her actions would be mature, constructive, and they will respond creatively to any change and in larger sense, have better control of their own state of mind.
Question: How does this impact the physical health of the young?
Answer: As per WHO 85% of the diseases of human being is psychosomatic, which means that 85% of the human diseases prevailing nowadays is because of the negative state of mind. Accordingly if the youth is mentally disturbed and spiritually weak, he is bound to be aggressive, impatient, reactive and stressed. To relieve himself from stress, he will resort to drugs, alcohol, smoking, which will further aggravate the present situation, which will in turn have an adverse effect on the person’s relationships. This stress, in total, has a strong effect on the physical health of the youth.
Question: How do we achieve mental/fitness?
Answer: Any fitness requires a regular exercise and certain precautions to be followed regarding intake of diet. Moreover, once we have achieved this, precautions, restrictions and regular exercise is a must.
Similarly for mental fitness one has to do regular meditation. Intake of positive information on a regular basis is a must. Thought is the food of the soul, and the information plays an important role in the creation of thought. Just as a choice of food is mandatory to keep oneself fit, similarly positive thoughts are necessary for mental fitness. So if our quality of information intake is positive then our thoughts are bound to be positive.
Question: Is there any specific exercise we can do to achieve mental fitness?
Answer: Daily meditation is one of the best exercises to achieve mental fitness. Moreover, daily intake of spiritual knowledge is the best food needed to achieve mental fitness.
Question: What should we guard against in our daily life so that we can be more spiritually mentally fit?
Answer: To be spiritually mentally fit, one should guard against all the negativities such as anger, attachment, greed, ego and hatred. These emotions are like unnecessary fat which gets accumulated in the mind and makes the mind functioning weak and ineffective
Question: What is the right age to start talking to children about spirituality?
Answer: The time when a child starts experiencing any mental pain like anger, stubbornness and reacts to situations is the right time to start talking to a child about spirituality. So just like for playing cricket, we first undergo coaching, before taking any job, we first go through that training, similarly we should we should talk to the child when he starts to exhibit certain signs.
Our basic nature is to think and then act. Actions are based on our quality of thinking. So if our thoughts are peaceful, happy, encouraging and pure then we are mentally healthy which directly results into positive actions. The youth period is the most important phase of life as it’s like start of the life journey. Most of our habits good or bad are formed during this time, so it is best to start your journey towards spiritual, mental and physical health early to have a holistic and healthy life.
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