10 Simple Things You Can Do Today That Will Make You Happier, Backed By Science.

Happiness is so interesting, because we all have different ideas about what it is and how to get it. It’s also no surprise that it’s the Nr.1 value for Buffer’s culture, if you see our slidedeck about it. So naturally we are obsessed with it.

I would love to be happier, as I’m sure most people would, so I thought it would be interesting to find some ways to become a happier person that are actually backed up by science. Here are ten of the best ones I found.

1. Exercise more – 7 minutes might be enough You might have seen some talk recently about the scientific 7 minute workout mentioned in The New York Times. So if you thought exercise was something you didn’t have time for, maybe you can fit it in after all. Exercise has such a profound effect on our happiness and well-being that it’s actually been proven to be an effective strategy for overcoming depression. In a study cited in Shawn Achor’s book, The Happiness Advantage, three groups of patients treated their depression with either medication, exercise, or a combination of the two. The results of this study really surprised me. Although all three groups experienced similar improvements in their happiness levels to begin with, the follow up assessments proved to be radically different: The groups were then tested six months later to assess their relapse rate. Of those who had taken the medication alone, 38 percent had slipped back into depression. Those in the combination group were doing only slightly better, with a 31 percent relapse rate. The biggest shock, though, came from the exercise group: Their relapse rate was only 9 percent! You don’t have to be depressed to gain benefit from exercise, though. It can help you to relax, increase your brain power and even improve your body image, even if you don’t lose any weight. A study in the Journal of Health Psychology found that people who exercised felt better about their bodies, even when they saw no physical changes: Body weight, shape and body image were assessed in 16 males and 18 females before and after both 6 × 40 mins exercise and 6 × 40 mins reading. Over both conditions, body weight and shape did not change. Various aspects of body image, however, improved after exercise compared to before. We’ve explored exercise in depth before, and looked at what it does to our brains, such as releasing proteins and endorphins that make us feel happier, as you can see in the image below.

2. Sleep more – you’ll be less sensitive to negative emotions We know that sleep helps our bodies to recover from the day and repair themselves, and that it helps us focus and be more productive. It turns out, it’s also important for our happiness. In NutureShock, Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman explain how sleep affects our positivity: Negative stimuli get processed by the amygdala; positive or neutral memories gets processed by the hippocampus. Sleep deprivation hits the hippocampus harder than the amygdala. The result is that sleep-deprived people fail to recall pleasant memories, yet recall gloomy memories just fine. In one experiment by Walker, sleep-deprived college students tried to memorize a list of words. They could remember 81% of the words with a negative connotation, like “cancer.” But they could remember only 31% of the words with a positive or neutral connotation, like “sunshine” or “basket.” The BPS Research Digest explores another study that proves sleep affects our sensitivity to negative emotions. Using a facial recognition task over the course of a day, the researchers studied how sensitive participants were to positive and negative emotions. Those who worked through the afternoon without taking a nap became more sensitive late in the day to negative emotions like fear and anger. Using a face recognition task, here we demonstrate an amplified reactivity to anger and fear emotions across the day, without sleep. However, an intervening nap blocked and even reversed this negative emotional reactivity to anger and fear while conversely enhancing ratings of positive (happy) expressions. Of course, how well (and how long) you sleep will probably affect how you feel when you wake up, which can make a difference to your whole day. Especially this graph showing how your brain activity decreases is a great insight about how important enough sleep is for productivity and happiness: Another study tested how employees’ moods when they started work in the morning affected their work day. Researchers found that employees’ moods when they clocked in tended to affect how they felt the rest of the day. Early mood was linked to their perceptions of customers and to how they reacted to customers’ moods. And most importantly to managers, employee mood had a clear impact on performance, including both how much work employees did and how well they did it. Sleep is another topic we’ve looked into before, exploring how much sleep we really need to be productive.

3. Move closer to work – a short commute is worth more than a big house Our commute to the office can have a surprisingly powerful impact on our happiness. The fact that we tend to do this twice a day, five days a week, makes it unsurprising that its effect would build up over time and make us less and less happy. According to The Art of Manliness, having a long commute is something we often fail to realize will affect us so dramatically: … while many voluntary conditions don’t affect our happiness in the long term because we acclimate to them, people never get accustomed to their daily slog to work because sometimes the traffic is awful and sometimes it’s not. Or as Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert put it, “Driving in traffic is a different kind of hell every day.” We tend to try to compensate for this by having a bigger house or a better job, but these compensations just don’t work: Two Swiss economists who studied the effect of commuting on happiness found that such factors could not make up for the misery created by a long commute.

4. Spend time with friends and family – don’t regret it on your deathbed Staying in touch with friends and family is one of the top five regrets of the dying. If you want more evidence that it’s beneficial for you, I’ve found some research that proves it can make you happier right now. Social time is highly valuable when it comes to improving our happiness, even for introverts. Several studies have found that time spent with friends and family makes a big difference to how happy we feel, generally. I love the way Harvard happiness expert Daniel Gilbert explains it: We are happy when we have family, we are happy when we have friends and almost all the other things we think make us happy are actually just ways of getting more family and friends. George Vaillant is the director of a 72-year study of the lives of 268 men. In an interview in the March 2008 newsletter to the Grant Study subjects, Vaillant was asked, “What have you learned from the Grant Study men?” Vaillant’s response: “That the only thing that really matters in life are your relationships to other people.” He shared insights of the study with Joshua Wolf Shenk at The Atlantic on how the men’s social connections made a difference to their overall happiness: The men’s relationships at age 47, he found, predicted late-life adjustment better than any other variable, except defenses. Good sibling relationships seem especially powerful: 93 percent of the men who were thriving at age 65 had been close to a brother or sister when younger. In fact, a study published in the Journal of Socio-Economics states than your relationships are worth more than $100,000: Using the British Household Panel Survey, I find that an increase in the level of social involvements is worth up to an extra £85,000 a year in terms of life satisfaction. Actual changes in income, on the other hand, buy very little happiness. I think that last line is especially fascinating: Actual changes in income, on the other hand, buy very little happiness. So we could increase our annual income by hundreds of thousands of dollars and still not be as happy as if we increased the strength of our social relationships. The Terman study, which is covered in The Longevity Project, found that relationships and how we help others were important factors in living long, happy lives: We figured that if a Terman participant sincerely felt that he or she had friends and relatives to count on when having a hard time then that person would be healthier. Those who felt very loved and cared for, we predicted, would live the longest. Surprise: our prediction was wrong… Beyond social network size, the clearest benefit of social relationships came from helping others. Those who helped their friends and neighbors, advising and caring for others, tended to live to old age.

5. Go outside – happiness is maximized at 13.9°C In The Happiness Advantage, Shawn Achor recommends spending time in the fresh air to improve your happiness: Making time to go outside on a nice day also delivers a huge advantage; one study found that spending 20 minutes outside in good weather not only boosted positive mood, but broadened thinking and improved working memory… This is pretty good news for those of us who are worried about fitting new habits into our already-busy schedules. Twenty minutes is a short enough time to spend outside that you could fit it into your commute or even your lunch break. A UK study from the University of Sussex also found that being outdoors made people happier: Being outdoors, near the sea, on a warm, sunny weekend afternoon is the perfect spot for most. In fact, participants were found to be substantially happier outdoors in all natural environments than they were in urban environments. The American Meteorological Society published research in 2011 that found current temperature has a bigger effect on our happiness than variables like wind speed and humidity, or even the average temperature over the course of a day. It also found that happiness is maximized at 13.9°C, so keep an eye on the weather forecast before heading outside for your 20 minutes of fresh air.

6. Help others – 100 hours a year is the magical number One of the most counterintuitive pieces of advice I found is that to make yourself feel happier, you should help others. In fact, 100 hours per year (or two hours per week) is the optimal time we should dedicate to helping others in order to enrich our lives. If we go back to Shawn Achor’s book again, he says this about helping others: …when researchers interviewed more than 150 people about their recent purchases, they found that money spent on activities—such as concerts and group dinners out—brought far more pleasure than material purchases like shoes, televisions, or expensive watches. Spending money on other people, called “prosocial spending,” also boosts happiness. The Journal of Happiness Studies published a study that explored this very topic: Participants recalled a previous purchase made for either themselves or someone else and then reported their happiness. Afterward, participants chose whether to spend a monetary windfall on themselves or someone else. Participants assigned to recall a purchase made for someone else reported feeling significantly happier immediately after this recollection; most importantly, the happier participants felt, the more likely they were to choose to spend a windfall on someone else in the near future. So spending money on other people makes us happier than buying stuff for ourselves. What about spending our time on other people? A study of volunteering in Germany explored how volunteers were affected when their opportunities to help others were taken away: Shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall but before the German reunion, the first wave of data of the GSOEP was collected in East Germany. Volunteering was still widespread. Due to the shock of the reunion, a large portion of the infrastructure of volunteering (e.g. sports clubs associated with firms) collapsed and people randomly lost their opportunities for volunteering. Based on a comparison of the change in subjective well-being of these people and of people from the control group who had no change in their volunteer status, the hypothesis is supported that volunteering is rewarding in terms of higher life satisfaction. In his book Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being, University of Pennsylvania professor Martin Seligman explains that helping others can improve our own lives: …we scientists have found that doing a kindness produces the single most reliable momentary increase in well-being of any exercise we have tested.

7. Practice smiling – it can alleviate pain Smiling itself can make us feel better, but it’s more effective when we back it up with positive thoughts, according to this study: A new study led by a Michigan State University business scholar suggests customer-service workers who fake smile throughout the day worsen their mood and withdraw from work, affecting productivity. But workers who smile as a result of cultivating positive thoughts – such as a tropical vacation or a child’s recital – improve their mood and withdraw less. Of course it’s important to practice “real smiles” where you use your eye sockets. It’s very easy to spot the difference: According to PsyBlog, smiling can improve our attention and help us perform better on cognitive tasks: Smiling makes us feel good which also increases our attentional flexibility and our ability to think holistically. When this idea was tested by Johnson et al. (2010), the results showed that participants who smiled performed better on attentional tasks which required seeing the whole forest rather than just the trees. A smile is also a good way to alleviate some of the pain we feel in troubling circumstances: Smiling is one way to reduce the distress caused by an upsetting situation. Psychologists call this the facial feedback hypothesis. Even forcing a smile when we don’t feel like it is enough to lift our mood slightly (this is one example of embodied cognition). One of our previous posts goes into even more detail about the science of smiling.

8. Plan a trip – but don’t take one As opposed to actually taking a holiday, it seems that planning a vacation or just a break from work can improve our happiness. A study published in the journal, Applied Research in Quality of Life showed that the highest spike in happiness came during the planning stage of a vacation as employees enjoyed the sense of anticipation: In the study, the effect of vacation anticipation boosted happiness for eight weeks. After the vacation, happiness quickly dropped back to baseline levels for most people. Shawn Achor has some info for us on this point, as well: One study found that people who just thought about watching their favorite movie actually raised their endorphin levels by 27 percent. If you can’t take the time for a vacation right now, or even a night out with friends, put something on the calendar—even if it’s a month or a year down the road. Then whenever you need a boost of happiness, remind yourself about it.

9. Meditate – rewire your brain for happiness Meditation is often touted as an important habit for improving focus, clarity and attention span, as well as helping to keep you calm. It turns out it’s also useful for improving your happiness: In one study, a research team from Massachusetts General Hospital looked at the brain scans of 16 people before and after they participated in an eight-week course in mindfulness meditation. The study, published in the January issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, concluded that after completing the course, parts of the participants’ brains associated with compassion and self-awareness grew, and parts associated with stress shrank. Meditation literally clears your mind and calms you down, it’s been often proven to be the single most effective way to live a happier live. I believe that this graphic explains it the best: According to Shawn Achor, meditation can actually make you happier long-term: Studies show that in the minutes right after meditating, we experience feelings of calm and contentment, as well as heightened awareness and empathy. And, research even shows that regular meditation can permanently rewire the brain to raise levels of happiness. The fact that we can actually alter our brain structure through mediation is most surprising to me and somewhat reassuring that however we feel and think today isn’t permanent.

10. Practice gratitude – increase both happiness and life satisfaction This is a seemingly simple strategy, but I’ve personally found it to make a huge difference to my outlook. There are lots of ways to practice gratitude, from keeping a journal of things you’re grateful for, sharing three good things that happen each day with a friend or your partner, and going out of your way to show gratitude when others help you. In an experiment where some participants took note of things they were grateful for each day, their moods were improved just from this simple practice: The gratitude-outlook groups exhibited heightened well-being across several, though not all, of the outcome measures across the 3 studies, relative to the comparison groups. The effect on positive affect appeared to be the most robust finding. Results suggest that a conscious focus on blessings may have emotional and interpersonal benefits. The Journal of Happiness studies published a study that used letters of gratitude to test how being grateful can affect our levels of happiness: Participants included 219 men and women who wrote three letters of gratitude over a 3 week period. Results indicated that writing letters of gratitude increased participants’ happiness and life satisfaction, while decreasing depressive symptoms. Quick last fact: Getting older will make yourself happier As a final point, it’s interesting to note that as we get older, particularly past middle age, we tend to grow happier naturally. There’s still some debate over why this happens, but scientists have got a few ideas: Researchers, including the authors, have found that older people shown pictures of faces or situations tend to focus on and remember the happier ones more and the negative ones less. Other studies have discovered that as people age, they seek out situations that will lift their moods — for instance, pruning social circles of friends or acquaintances who might bring them down. Still other work finds that older adults learn to let go of loss and disappointment over unachieved goals, and hew their goals toward greater wellbeing. So if you thought being old would make you miserable, rest assured that it’s likely you’ll develop a more positive outlook than you probably have now.

Read more at: http://www.social-consciousness.com/2013/10/ten-simple-things-you-can-do-today-that-will-make-you-happier-backed-by-science.html

Change

The concept of someone changing and starting a new is always an fascinating concept, we all want to do it at some point in some form, and most of all when we decide to change, we immediately expect everyone else to move forward with us. Unfortunately this does not miraculously happen, not everyone wants to or can get used to the ‘newer’ you.

Some people prefer the old you, maybe you were a push over and now you stand up for yourself, maybe you used to be an addict, made mistakes and now you are clean.

There are just some individuals that cannot and do no want to get past it and will always remind you of who you WERE.

I struggle with this sometimes, because I know I have changed a great deal, but I know their are individuals who are not ready to let go of the old me, that want to keep their energies going by holding onto the past and refuse to acknowledge it.

On days when I let it get to me it frustrates me and gets under my skin, but deep down I know that anyone who personally cannot let you move forward must be left behind where they would prefer to be.

Its not easy to let go, change and move forward and you would think that most people would praise such a step, changing your mindset and the way you choose to live your life for the better, is a courageous and brave thing to do. So if you are reading this and can relate, know that I COMMEND AND SUPPORT YOU!

However, their will always be someone who is more comfortable holding a grudge and someone who believes you are faking it and incapable of change, my answer to this is not to fight with them or argue with them let them be because that only takes you to their level and back to the place they would prefer you to stay. Its takes SO much energy to hold a grudge and all those feelings are only detrimental and affects the person who chooses to hold it.

I am by no means a new and perfect person, I have just learned a lot from my mistakes and choosing to live differently going forward.I am acknowledging my mistakes and not acting like they never happened and that there is the difference.

When someone decides to change their life positively why not choose to commend them and encourage them instead of being miserable and cynical about it? How they ever going to be able to move forward with their lives if they are constantly reminded of what used to be?

Everyone deserves a second chance, but their are some, who only want to believe this, when they want that second chance for themselves.

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Mental Health and Mental Illness – Knowing the difference

freeyourmindcic

It is essential to learn and know the difference.

We ALL have mental health just as we have physical health.

The difference is that we have always been made to be aware that we need look after our physical health, a pain here an ache there, and we are aware that there is a problem and off to the doctor we go.

Then there is the easily given sympathy and well wishes that come with your complaints. Leaving our mental health as an after thought.

However mental illness sets in when our mental health isn’t well and looked after as it should be, but we are not as used to or as privy to noticing and noting those changes. The perception of anyone complaining about their mental health is usually met with stigmatised attitudes of just being dramatic, attention seeking and playing the victim. Which why 2 in 3 individuals…

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Mental Health and Mental Illness – Knowing the difference

It is essential to learn and know the difference.

We ALL have mental health just as we have physical health.

The difference is that we have always been made to be aware that we need look after our physical health, a pain here an ache there, and we are aware that there is a problem and off to the doctor we go.

Then there is the easily given sympathy and well wishes that come with your complaints. Leaving our mental health as an after thought.

However mental illness sets in when our mental health isn’t well and looked after as it should be, but we are not as used to or as privy to noticing and noting those changes. The perception of anyone complaining about their mental health is usually met with stigmatised attitudes of just being dramatic, attention seeking and playing the victim. Which why 2 in 3 individuals end up suffering in silence.

Many people live with an Mental Illness for years not knowing it, just thinking that it is them, that is this life and struggle on and carry a clouded extreme negative view of life.

That is why we need more awareness around mental health and what is actually is to everyone. 1 in 4 people will deal with a Mental Health issue it is essential to recognise your trail of thought and where it is taking you. There is a difference between a bad day and wanting to end your life because of that day.

Natasha Benjamin of Free Your Mind states ‘for most of my life I dealt with a mental illness but didn’t know it, I just thought I was a little bit odd and attracted ‘bad things and that I just wasn’t meant to live a happy life. This view affected all areas of my life, including my friendships, family and even my employment. It wasn’t until I read an article on mental illness that it resonated with me and how I was feeling that I sought help’

Many people also live life similarly, so it essential for people to be educated on looking after their minds as well as their bodies, it is just as important if not more. Think about it, your mind processes all your thoughts from the moment you get up in the morning to the point that you go to bed at night, there fore having a healthy mind is extremely essential.

There is a difference between just wanting some me time, to becoming a total recluse and cutting everyone off. Its is the difference in extremes from a positive healthy outlook to the opposite that we need to be aware of. A change in ones mental health can affect anyone at any-time, it is an invisible illness which frequently makes other uncomfortable and the reason why many live with it undiagnosed.
It is important to be mindful and educated to recognise the difference.

 

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Does Social Media have an Effect on our wellbeing?

The internet is a wonderful thing.  It was designed for the free exchange of information, across borders and without boundaries.  It has irrefutably changed life for the better by spreading knowledge, fostering creativity and encouraging connectivity. Social media is the driver behind that connection, helping put us back in touch with old friends and maintain relationships with loved ones on the other side of the world or just down the road.  It’s about sharing and broadcasting your life online, conversing with friends and strangers, but crucially in an always on and always connected manner. Mark Zuckerberg’s vision for Facebook centres around making the world more open and connected and whilst the ambition to get everyone in the world online is admirable, it is also suffused with problems. Twitter users tweet 400 million times a day, whilst Facebook processes over 500 terabytes of new data every single day.  It’s an unfiltered, cacophonous  world full of tastefully instagrammed photos of food and babies, trite status updates and spoilers to your favourite TV shows.  In short, it’s a veritable minefield of the banal.

The internet has made connection so easy that it’s taken for granted.

And yet we’re addicted to these platforms, a problem that the proliferation of smartphones has exacerbated.  On average, we check our smartphones 150 times a day, with around 50 per cent of us updating our statuses or posting content via them whilst we’re on the move. And herein lies the crux of the issue.  We’re used to constant connectivity so being deprived of it is causing what is referred to as disconnect anxiety, with people experiencing negative emotional feelings when they are unable to get online. The internet has in effect become such an ingrained and important part of our everyday lives that it’s having a very tangible detrimental effect on our well being. And yet recent psychological research, published in the Public Library of Science ONE, revealed that connection via social media, in this case Facebook,  can also have a adverse effect on our levels of happiness. What we’re seeing here is a consequence of the performative nature of social networks.  Profiles often portray an idealised, highly considered version of ones true self, which can engender feelings of inadequacy amongst those looking on.  A friends life highlights and milestones might seem a long way off to many which can make them feel as if they’re missing out or being left behind. In this respect, social networks can act as an uncomfortable mirror against which we unconsciously measure ourselves and determine our own sense of worth.  They are also a reminder of the benefits of true social interaction, aka meeting up with someone and talking to them. The internet has made connection so easy that it’s taken for granted.  Whereas Zuckerberg et al might idealise the strength of the virtual ties that bind us all together, the reality is that technology is gradually eroding away at the real value of what it means to actually connect with someone else. With that, the age of the digital detox might well be upon us, and I for one welcome the prospect of a week or so away from endless photographs of yet another delicious burger. source metro

Lessons to learn from your past relationships

The only way you learn to be better in your future relationships is by learning from the past. Here are some of the things that you need to learn from…

Communication is important

The most crucial part about any relationship is communication. If you’ve had fallout with your ex or friend over communication issue, then for your future relationship know that it is the most important factor in a relationship. After all, you wouldn’t want to repeat the same mistakes.

Respect is needed

Another thing that you need to learn from your past is that due respect should be given to your partner. This is a two-way process. You respect your partner and in turn your partner respects you.

Learn to let things go

It is very important to let some things go. The moment you try and hang onto issues that bother your relationship, you eventually end up falling apart. Not only does letting things go strengthen you as a person but it also keeps your relationship healthy and going.

Do not force

In any relationship, you cannot force the either person on anything. For example, if your boyfriend/friend does not want to go shopping with you, you cannot force him into it. This may create unnecessary tension between the two of you and end up breaking the relationship. If this has happened in the past, stay clear.

Relationships are a shared effort

Relationship is not something that should be shouldered alone. It is like a joint venture between two individuals. This is one of the most important lessons of life. Remember that you cannot make your relationship work out alone, you need to contribute to it equally. It is not that you have to chase, but you must show some sort of effort.

source Times of India*

The Write way to help

Founder – Natasha Benjamin featured in this months Wanstead Directory, talking about Free Your Mind, Writing, and Mental Health (PG 30 in the directory)

http://wansteadvillagedirectory.com/

Can Foods Affect Your Mental Health?

Some foods are your friends as they help in perking up your memory and cognitive functions. On the other hand, there are some foods which impact you mental health adversely.

Nutritionists recommend limited consumption of various edible items in order to restrict their ill-effects.

Excess consumption of sugary food causes neurological problems and is capable of hindering memory. Eating sugary products in excess also adds extra weight as it is calorie-dense. Too much of sugar can also interfere with our ability to learn. Avoiding food items high in fructose is advised to prevent the above side-effects.

Artificial sweeteners should be avoided too as they are very harmful and can interfere with your cognitive capacity and cause brain damage.

Eating whole grain is recommended by the nutritionists as it avoids arterial aging but consuming regular grains can have an ill-effect on us as they trigger quicker aging and also lead to memory loss and brain fog. Eating more of whole-grain is recommended.

People digging on junk food need to step down a bit as a recent research done at University of Montreal claims that chemicals in the brain get affected. Who would have thought happy meals could trigger anxiety and depression. The level of dopamine, a neurotransmitter, too gets affected by excessive intake of fast food which aids cognitive functions to take place in our body. Our memory, alertness and learning capacity gets affected by extremely fat-rich diet, hence such foods must be avoided. Reduction in production of dopamine causes Parkinson’s disease (PD) which decreases our speech and motor activities.

Some oils are extremely hazardous and sunflower oil tops the list. Food containing too much of chemicals, dyes, preservatives must be refrained. Fried foods lead to hyperactivity by affecting our cognitive functions and behaviour. This variety of food affects people of all age groups and leads to destruction of nerve cells in our brain.  

Similarly, Pre-cooked and processed food items affect our central nervous system and also lead to regenerative brain disorder like Alzheimer’s disease over the long term.

Trans fats leads to many health problems, they impact our brain reflexes and also make us prone to heart related issues like rise in cholesterol, risk of heart stroke and increase obesity. Consumption of trans fats over a period of time leads to brain shrinkage hence it should be consumed in limits.

Nicotine-rich food must be restricted as it limits the flow of blood, glucose and oxygen to the brain. It also leads to early aging, increases the risks of lung cancer, causes bad breath, disrupts the excretion of neurotransmitters and affects the brain function. Hence it should be reduced from the menu.   

Consuming excessive salty food damages our thinking ability, cognitive function and intelligence. It also impacts our heart and raises our blood pressure.

Proteins are crucial for us, they are the basic building blocks of our body. Eating over-processed protein rich diet like salami, sausages and hot dogs should be avoided as they insulate the nervous system. Your diet should include more of nuts and fishes like tuna and salmon as they are rich source of high quality protein.

Alcohol is popular in harming your liver over the long run and high consumption of it causes lack of consciousness, it influences our memory and our ability to think and is also known as “brain fog”. Binge drinking can disturb the balance of the brain. Nutritionists say these effects are changeable if we stop consuming alcohol or limit our drinking to one or two drinks weekly.

Everyone has a story to tell…

Free Your Mind are passionate about mental health, wellbeing, writing and sharing the journeys of your lives. Everybody’s story is important and you never know who you maybe inspiring and helping by doing so.
Please get involved, support and help to fight the stigma and spread awareness! 

We are looking for people to take part in our story telling campaign and you can get involved by entering your story here via the website http://www.freeyourmindcic.com/index-3.html or email me natasha@freeyourmindcic.com
Thank you