Working On Your Mental Health Can Make You Happier

Mental health is a topic that some people are fiercely passionate about, while others roll their eyes at the mention of it. But anyone who has struggled with anxiety, depression, negative thinking, low self-worth, or intense fear can attest to how important it is to work directly on what’s going on in your mind and body in order to truly enjoy life.

We proactively work on many areas of our lives without first falling into crisis. Physical, social, and spiritual health typically receive dedicated time and energy, but mental health often doesn’t get the same attention until we’re absolutely miserable.

We rarely think about training ourselves mentally to be more focused, grateful, compassionate, or in control of our attention and the content our mind dwells on. Yet research clearly shows that mind-wandering is associated with decreased happiness. Why? Because a wandering mind typically focuses on negative events from the past or uncertain events in the future.

Harvard social psychologist Dan Gilbert puts it this way:

“The ability to think about what is not happening is a cognitive achievement that comes at an emotional cost. A wandering mind is an unhappy mind.”

Yale professor Dr. Laurie Santos, in her Science of Well-Being course, which explains the research on how to be happier, lists “mind control” as one of the top five factors or practices that can significantly improve your happiness. That is top five out of everything you could do, based on high-quality research. Her definition of “mind control” is essentially the ability to shift out of the default mode of past or future worries and focus on what you want to focus on—what is important to you, what brings you joy, what matters.

Many of us have a clear understanding of the value in training our bodies to do things they otherwise couldn’t. But the same idea feels foreign or even wrong when it comes to our minds. Why should it be any different? We probably hold this bias because the results of physical training are visible, while the benefits of mental training, grieving, being understood, and developing new ways of thinking are less immediately obvious.

The good news is that you can work directly on your mental health and be better off for it. Research says you will be happier.

The apostle Paul, in Philippians 4:8, encourages us to guide our thoughts intentionally:

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

We cannot afford not to work on our mental health. And our families and loved ones certainly cannot afford for us to ignore it, for their sake as well as our own.

C.S. Lewis, in The Problem of Pain, speaks to the value of overcoming mental struggle:

“But some by heroism overcome even chronic mental pain. They often produce brilliant work and strengthen, harden, and sharpen their characters till they become like tempered steel.”

So do not be afraid to work on your mental health. It is just as essential to your life as your spiritual, social, and physical health. This work will make you happier, there is a Biblical mandate for it when done in a way that aligns with truth, and it will strengthen your character.