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Gratitude Prompts

October 9, 2023 in Be Positive

According to Grateful, researchers at Harvard Medical School report, “Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships.”

However, Brianna Steinhilber writes that while practicing gratitude seems simple enough, it can be difficult for some, “especially if you’re a person who has a hard time expressing emotions, or you’re going through a rough patch that makes channeling gratitude difficult.”

Therefore, to begin, use a gratitude prompt. Gratitude prompts can tap into your creativity and help you recognize the things you’re grateful to have in your life. You can also use gratitude prompts as a conversation starter with others. And try writing them down by keeping a gratitude notebook or using an app!

Try these gratitude prompts:

  1. List five small ways that you can share your gratitude today.
  2. Write about a person in your life that you’re especially grateful for and why.
  3. What skills or abilities are you thankful to have? (You communicate well, you’re a good cook, you have an uncanny ability to dominate in Fantasy Football. Hey, it’s your journal).
  4. What is there about a challenge you’re experiencing right now that you can be thankful for? (This is a tough one, but you have learned something or grown from the hardship—how?)
  5. How is where you are in life today different than a year ago–and what positive changes are you thankful for?
  6. What activities and hobbies would you miss if you were unable to do them?
  7. List five body parts that you’re grateful for and why. (Those long legs help you reach items on the top shelf … don’t forget the little things.)
  8. What about the city you live in are you grateful for?
  9. What are you taking for granted about your day to day that you can be thankful for? (Can’t think of any? Your alarm clock, your coffee machine, the paperboy who delivered your newspaper, your friendly neighbor who always says good morning … and that’s before you even leave the house.)
  10. List 5 people in your life who are hard to get along with—and write down at least one quality for each that you are grateful for.
  11. What materialistic items are you most grateful for?
  12. Write about the music you’re thankful to be able to listen to and why. (We couldn’t make it five minutes on the treadmill without our beats.)
  13. Who has done something this week to help you or make your life easier and how can you thank them?
  14. What foods or meals are you most thankful for? (Bacon, egg and cheese on Monday morning, we’re looking at you.)
  15. What elements of nature are you grateful for and why? (The beach, a starry sky or one speckled with fluffy clouds, the sunset…)
  16. What part of your morning routine are you most thankful for? (A big stretch before you get out of bed, that warm cup of coffee, a cuddle session with your pet…)
  17. Write a letter to someone who has positively impacted your life, however big or small.
  18. What is something you’re grateful to have learned this week?
  19. When was the last time you laughed uncontrollably—relive the memory.
  20. What aspects of your work environment are you thankful for? (Supportive co-workers, flexible hours, great snacks in the kitchen…)

Don’t have time to write?  Check out one of these apps instead:

  • Grateful: A Gratitude Journal
  • My Gratitude Journal
  • HappyFeed: Graditude Journal
  • Gratitude Journal 365
  • Gratitude Journal: The Life-changing App

Answer one of the prompts above, and if you feel comfortable, share your response in the Comments section below!  Have your own prompt? Let us know!

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Learning to Run

October 5, 2023 in Be Positive

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Sometimes all we want to do when going through a hard time is to run away from all our problems. This can be especially true when dealing with a mental illness, when our thoughts and stressors keep building up and are impossible to escape from because they’re trapped in our heads. There are many ways to cope when dealing with these situations, exercising included. Running specifically is metaphorical, allowing you to feel like you are literally leaving your problems behind. There have been multiple studies exploring just how running can benefit your mental health, which include reasons such as increased chances of a better night’s sleep and increased productivity.

Working out, particularly when you’re not athletic, can feel extremely daunting, but there’s something about running long distances that sounds satisfying. Of course, this doesn’t have to mean that you can go online and find out when the next 26.2 mile marathon is and immediately sign up, but even little things like going for a fifteen minute jog on the treadmill or finding trails nearby to explore can make a difference. The latter is especially good for this time of year, when it’s brisk and colorful, which can also contribute to a more positive perspective.

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No one has (allegedly) ever made the decision to begin running and was then immediately able to run several miles the next day. The Internet knows this, and there are endless guides offering advice on how to start. Now that exercising has become more electronic, from FitBits to Apple Health, there are just as many apps to help you build your way up. These include programs like Couch to 5K, which alternates between walking and running, decreasing the former and increasing the latter week by week until you can fully run five kilometers (or 3.1 miles).

This isn’t to say that running is the only exercise, or even coping mechanism, you can use when your mental health isn’t the best and you need a distraction. It’s something that’s still possible, however, and even if those first few steps seem intimidating, they’re still attainable.

If you want to read more about connecting running to mental health, check out this feature about the “Ice Breakers,” six people with mental illnesses who have formed a nationwide running group. They ran around the country in order to open up the conversation more about mental health.

Do you run? If so, why did you start? Do you think that it helps with your mental health? If not, would you consider running?

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Using social media to Diagnose Depression

October 2, 2023 in Social Media Guide

Often, we hear about the damage that social media is having on our mental health, from isolating ourselves to avoiding face-to-face human interaction to experiencing FOMO. This study however, tried to see how social media wasn’t affecting mental health, but instead how it can help diagnose mental illnesses, specifically with depression.

The study reviewed the Facebook statuses of 683 people who consented to have their profiles analyzed. Of those, 114 had been diagnosed with depression, so for each person who had been diagnosed, there were 5 others being compared to them who were not. The researchers used a time frame based around the months leading up to depressed person’s diagnosis, resulting in a total of analyzing over half a million Facebook statuses!

What did the researchers discover? By organizing those statuses and ensuing conversations into categories, they found patterns of supposed depression-associated “language markers.” These are words and phrases that had more negative emotional connotations, including sadness, hostility, and loneliness. Those who used these also were more likely to use first person pronouns like “I” and “me” more often too.

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Through these “language markers,” the researchers discovered that they were able to predict the depressed individual’s diagnosis with significant accuracy. This was especially true in the three to six months before the diagnosis. To the researchers, these statuses included words that overlapped with those often found in medical screening surveys for depression, implying that it can be adapted in a way so diagnosis can be done electronically.

The ability to screen for depression by using social media is also important because it allows for those who are vulnerable a more accessible opportunity to get diagnosed. For example, it can be difficult for a primary care provider to screen for it in a brief session. Also, by having the statuses and information already there can make it easier for those who are hesitant to reach out to submit it instead of speaking up if they’re uncomfortable.

The article makes sure to reiterate that the study had the participants consent to submitting their statuses for analysis and that they did not use data provided by Facebook. This should also hold true for potential future diagnosing. Between having mental health be a very personal issue and being in a time where social media companies have notoriously been selling data, it’s important that the choice ultimately lies with the individual in question.

Do you think that social media is a good indicator to tell when someone is at risk of a mental illness? Do you think that it’s a good idea for people to submit their profiles if they want to get screened for depression?

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photo of a group of people standing in a line facing down at their phones

Going Off the Grid – A Social Media Hiatus

September 25, 2023 in Social Media Guide

For most people, social media is an intrinsically large part of our lives. Young people can easily spend hours per day on various social media networks without even realizing they are doing so. Enabling phone notifications for these apps means that we log onto these networks multiple times a day to see the newest updates and posts, including comments and likes on our own posts.

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Social media has been proven to be a stressful addition to our lives – read more about the ways social media stresses us out here. I often find myself overwhelmed by the amount of social information being thrown at me via Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook, just to name a few social media networks adolescents and young adults use today. When I am feeling overwhelmed, I like to take what I call a “phone break” – a social media hiatus where I simply don’t look at any of my social media accounts. I have found this to be incredibly therapeutic and a way to clear my head.

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Here are some tips if you want to try going off the grid on your own:

  • Time Your social media hiatus can be as short or as long as you like. I typically log off my accounts and turn off my notifications from anywhere from 24 hours to up to five days at a time, if I can. You determine how long of a break you need. You can also just go off the grid and decide later down the line when you want to come back.
  • FOMO The fear of missing out is real, and the primary reason I always come back to my social media accounts in the end. When I do come back, I generally set some rules for myself – eg. I can check my accounts twice a day (once in the morning, once in the evening). Or after posting a picture on Instagram, I can only check the number of likes on it once an hour, instead of incessantly checking every five minutes.
  • Cleanse I like to use my time away from my phone doing things make me happy that I don’t generally have a lot of time to do. My social media hiatus is about me – about relieving my stress and starting fresh. If the weather is nice, I try to spend as much time outdoors as I can. If it’s not, I light some candles in my home and curl up with a warm blanket and a book. Bonus points if you have a nice fireplace to curl up next to this winter!

Have you ever gone “off the grid”? What did you think? Does taking a break from social media appeal to you? We’d love to hear your thoughts!

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photo of a concert. band is playing in the background while people are raising their arms in the foreground

New Music Monday

September 18, 2023 in Be Positive, LINKS

Music can help us in many ways. As several posts here have discussed, it can be particularly helpful when it comes to calming anxiety, providing an escape, or even helping us feel justified in moments when emotions can feel too overwhelming. Music players allow us to create our own playlists depending on our mood, or create ones for us depending on what we like. YouTube allows you to get creative, featuring not just songs, but remixes, mashups, and strange combinations that you can’t find anywhere else.

Finding new music can be difficult, though. While the internet has an infinite of music to search for, it’s just that, infinite. Even finding music that is similar to what you currently listen to and actually like can be daunting, but the Internet is here to help, offering tools to help you find new music that’s refreshing, but also familiar.

If you’re looking for similar music to help with concentration and mental health, or if you just want to find new artists to listen to, here are a few websites that make the process a little bit easier:

Gnoosic The musical subset of Gnod (the Global Network of Discovery), Gnoosic has you enter three artists or bands that you like. They can be from any genre, and don’t need to match. From there, Gnoosic recommends you a new artist that they predict that you would like, a song of theirs to play from Spotify, and three options: “I like it,” “I don’t like it,” and “I don’t know.” Regardless of which option you choose, Gnoosic repeats the process, using your choices to narrow down their recommendations.

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Live Plasma Live Plasma looks rather simple at first glance. It’s just a search box where you put in an artist that you like. Once you enter that, however, the page suddenly fills with a web, the artist you searched for at the center. Though intimidating at first, Live Plasma recommends a few artists that they think are similar to your chosen artist, and then recommends ones similar to those artists, and so on. Even better? If you click on any of the artists, there’s a small play button that allows you to listen to one of their songs so you can see what kind of style they have.

TuneFind TuneFind is a little different than the other websites in that you’ve probably heard the songs that they’re listing already. You may not know what it is though and most likely heard it on a TV show or a movie. TuneFind allows you to look up that song that you found particularly calming or inspirational that played in the background during a scene on an episode last night: simply search the TV show or movie, find the relevant episode if it’s the former, and TuneFind lists the songs that played throughout. Sometimes, TuneFind makes it even easier and will list what specific scene the song plays in too.

How do you look for new music? Are there any resources you use to look for music to help with stress relief?

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Listening to Ambient Noise

September 15, 2023 in Be Positive, LINKS, Social Media Guide

Sitting in silence can be mortifying, but sometimes, listening to music isn’t that much of a help either – even though it can improve how we feel, sometimes it’s too loud and distracting. White noise can be the best options in this kind of situation; it’s an ever-present noise, but nowhere near loud to the point that it becomes overwhelming.

White noise is a kind of ambient noise, which, in short, is any sort of background noise. While white noise tends to sound more like static, ambient noise can also include the sounds of waves, rain, summertime crickets, or the conversations of people around you that you don’t particularly care to eavesdrop into. Ambient noise is kind of a reassuring, ever-present comfort, there to remind you that you aren’t completely alone, but gives you the space you need at the same time.

A Soft Murmur
A Soft Murmur

Whether it’s to concentrate on a task at hand or to calm yourself down during a particularly anxious and tense time, there are many places to find ambient noise to play on your computer or phone (Spotify has a number of playlists under the Sleep and Focus genres if you need a place to start, and YouTube has an infinite number of hour-long videos). However, for a more interactive experience, A Soft Murmur (a website and an app) allows you to adjust different kinds of ambient noise for a personalized noise that’s just for you. There are ten categories, ranging from rain to coffee shops to a singing bowl, all with different volume controls so some can be louder than others.

Here, you can pretend you’re on a beach, the sound of waves around you with the cackling noises of a bonfire nearby. You can recreate being in a coffee shop during a thunderstorm, people’s voices around you drowning out the rumblings of the thunder. You can also have some fun and find out what a singing bowl is, blasting it amongst the sounds of rain, birds, white noise, and crickets all at once. Whatever it is, the website not only gives you what you want to listen to to relax, but also the control that we sometimes need to feel.

Would you consider listening to ambient noise if you don’t already? Would you enjoy having the ability to play DJ and control what kind of noise you listen to?

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image of stonework floor with the word happiness painted in yellow capital letters. Above the word is a yellow arrow pointing forward.

Happiness Set Point

September 12, 2023 in Be Positive

There is an idea in psychology that we all have something called a happiness set point. A happiness set point is a term used to describe our general level of happiness, and it is unique to each of us. We all have different set points, and it is possible that some people, who seem to be happier than others, have naturally higher happiness set points.

Where does our happiness set point come from? 

Your happiness set point partly comes from your genes. It also comes from our upbringing and personality traits that we develop when we are young and stay with us throughout our lives.

Does our set point change?   

Yes, but only temporarily. In general, our happiness set point has the ability to increase around positive (such as winning the lottery) and negative (you do not perform well on an exam) events. However, eventually our happiness will return to our natural set point (with the exception of a few life events). In fact, research has shown that “lottery winners and those who have undergone extreme hardship due to a health crisis or accident, within a year or so to return to the level of happiness they had prior to their life change.” Basically if something good happens, your sense of happiness rises; if something bad happens; it falls. However, eventually it all returns back to baseline.

Can I do anything about my happiness set point?

Yes! There is a way to choose to become a happier person. Huffington Post put out nine suggestions for taking control over your own happiness:

  1. Simply try.
  2. Make happiness your number-one goal.
  3. Linger on those little, positive moments.
  4. Choose mindfulness.
  5. Smile your way to happiness.
  6. Practice gratitude.
  7. Pursue happiness, find happiness – and success.
  8. Let yourself be happy.
  9. Practice compassion.

However, these are just suggestions. There are lots of other ways things you can try to raise the set point of your happiness.

What are other ways you might be able to raise your happiness set point? Try these out for a while and let us know if you notice any results!

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Stress Less – Change to Chill

September 7, 2023 in Be Positive, LINKS, Uncategorized

Photo by Omid Armin on Unsplash

School is starting and it seems like stress always comes right along with it.

It can be hard to STRESS LESS by yourself. Allina Health’s “Change to Chill™ Starter Kit” has some awesome resources for you to not have to chill by yourself.


WHAT IS CHANGE TO CHILL?
Change to Chill is a free online resource kit for teen mental health which:

  • Addresses what stress is
  • Teaches you about triggers of stress
  • Helps you recognize signs of stress
  • Gives you tools for coping with stress like meditation, mindful movement,
    how-to videos and guided imagery

TRY IT OUT:
Take a look through and see if you want to try any of the activities on your own. Or take the tools to an organization you are part of and suggest a group activity. There are small, easy activities, and guides for planning a large chill event too. Also, if YOU are too stressed to even THINK about how to help other people de-stress, look around you. There are definitely other people your age or adults at school, activities, and your community who are just LOOKING for ways to help! Ask them to get together a space and food and invite other young people – and the kit will give you the tools to do the rest!

How to Get Started with Change to Chill

Note: SOVA does not have any affiliation with Allina Health.

Did you try out anything in the Change to Chill kit? If you did, let us know in the comments below!

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Back to School

August 23, 2023 in Be Positive, Educate Yourself

It is that time of the year!  Stores are ready with “back-to-school” sales on all the products to prepare you for the new school year.   However, what does your mental health tool kit look like with this latest transition?

It is important to acknowledge this transition, and unfortunately it is one that is not talked about enough.  Therefore, to help with this, in 2023, Mental Health America put out a Back to School: Youth and technology | Mental Health America (mhanational.org)

-Information includes “How to find healthy online communities.”

-“Tips to avoid social comparison.”

– There is also information about affiliates by state.

The toolkit has resources for students, as well as materials for adults.

What do you do to prepare yourself for the new school year?  Are you going to try anything new this year?  Leave us a comment below!

Back to School: Youth and technology | Mental Health America (mhanational.org)

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Do You Use Social Media Less When Your Skin Breaks Out?

August 7, 2023 in Social Media Guide

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Do you ever get nervous about posting photos of yourself on social media when you’re in the middle of a breakout?

According to a recent survey of more than 1,000 adolescents, more than half reported that social media makes having acne harder, and about one-third reported that social media increased their anxiety about their breakouts.

Here are some more statistics about the ways these adolescents changed their social-media behavior when their skin didn’t look as great as they wished:

More than two-thirds of the adolescents said that they believe most of their peers edit or somehow change photos of themselves to hide imperfections in their skin.

Eighty-six percent of the adolescents said they have had acne, and among those who said they have acne, 71 percent said it negatively affected their body image and attractiveness and 67 percent said it decreased their self-esteem.

And half of all the adolescents said they did at least one of the following things to avoid people seeing the imperfections in their skin:

  • Choosing not to include a photo of themselves with acne
  • Deleting or untagging a photo of themselves with pimples
  • Asking someone to remove a picture of them with acne
  • Staying off social media to avoid posting and seeing pictures of themselves

Wow—that’s a lot of pressure!

Perfectionism is rampant in our culture, and social media can increase the pressure to look perfect.

Has social media made it harder for you to accept yourself as you are, with all the challenges that come along with being an adolescent? What has it done to your anxiety levels? What are your strategies for helping yourself accept yourself when you don’t look as awesome as you wish you did? Share with us in the comments.

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