What Do You Do To Help Keep Your Mind Occupied?

@Ali11 @Denv12 Thanks so much. I had a difficult start to the day. Now feeling better. First day start some hobby. The forum has been great help. Now been a few weeks, I have been through a lot and worked through a lot.

@Meowmy @Denv12 @Ali11 @Supercoolguy @Diskonnekted - Thanks for sharing all your ideas! I reallly enjoy reading positive stuff like this. I am bipolar and for Me its particularly important to stay busy. One thing I used to do was making baskets. Unfortunately I havent been able to find the right materials here in Australia to make them like I used to when I was in America. I'll have to have another try at it and maybe change up my technique.

One thing I've been working on the last few weeks is building resilience. I feel this helps me think and react differently to how I used to. For me its around having small daily goals and feeling like I have some direction. It helps me feel a bit more balanced.

I hope are you are all having a great day/evening. Take care.

That's a great approach @Gazza75, small goals each day. Every goal we accomplish, no matter how small, gives us motivation to try accomplish another one. A good method for bigger projects is to just break it down into stages or chunks, so you can tick off each piece and get that feeling of accomplishment to drive you to tackle the next. Building resilience is a fantastic goal, how are you working on it?

Hi @Gazza75 . Its great news when we can help someone else.

Hi @Ali11 - In regard to building resilience, for me its a matter of being pretty mindful of it and not waiting for a crisis to happen. It's something I'm working at every day as much as I can. I recently attended a worshop that really made me open my eyes and think about it a lot. Prior to that and my mental health issus, it wasn't on my radar. Below are some of my notes.

VISION - foundation. Purpose, goals. Direction and purpose. Whats important and valued. Whats really important to Me? Family, friendship, independance, success, new experiences/openness (no judgement).

Overcoming obstacles make us better. Use a palm or lines. Think about 10 years in the future.

COLLABORATION (social support) - support networks, social context, manage perceptions. Get help when you need it.

TENACITY- persistence, realistic optimism, bounce back. Staying motivated, learn from mistakes.

HEALTH ; foundation. Nutrition, sleep and exercise.

COMPOSURE Regulate emotions, interpretation bias, calm and in control. Manage emotions. Take deep breaths.

REASONING - Problem solving, resourcefulness, anticipate and plan.

An interesting fact if you self evaluate your strength and weaknesses, research indicates that its better to work on our strengths rather than areas of weakness. Thats different to how I perceived things.

I might start a thread about this, theres a fair bit I'm missing out. That should give you a bit of an indication 🙂

Those are great notes @Gazza75, it's the combination of all those parts that puts us in control. What you said about working at it every day is right, it's a practice, preparation for the times we need that resilience. And asking ourselves about our values and direction helps us know ourselves, which improves our self esteem. You should start a thread, it could be really helpful for a lot of us

I might start a thread about this,--- yes please @Gazza75 and tag me please

hello @Supercoolguy , @Meowmy , @Denv12 , @Ali11

I am getting there , reading

have to get back to do jigsaw puzzles one day

Jigsaw puzzles can be quite meditative, can't they @Shaz51? You get into a zone with looking for patterns and connecting shapes

@BryanaCamp- Here's the info I mentioned before.

hi all on the thread, I love cooking while listening to music, it's a creative outlet.

Well done @Gazza75 , it's great that you've found a technique that is a new & interesting way for you to build resilience. I would find it hard to list my strengths - I've recently been through a lot of job interviews where I had to sell my strengths and I found it really hard.