May is National Mental Health Awareness Month. Throughout this month, the team from the Aultman Medical Group (AMG) Behavioral Health and Counseling Center is sharing advice on improving our relationship with our minds and our emotions.

Today, Maranda Nowlin, LPCC-S, presents seven tips to accumulate positive emotions. Doing things to lift up yourself (and others) helps to increase your resilience to stress, reduces your vulnerability to emotional reactions and reduces impulsive actions.

Take a deep breath!

Act as though you are breathing in the smell of a flower and blowing out a candle. If you are new to mindfulness, repeat for a minute. If your mind begins to wander, gently bring it back. If you are familiar with mindfulness, challenge yourself to go longer.

Do something kind for someone else.

Contributing to others provides a feeling of joy. Hold a door, tell a stranger “hello,” pay for the next person’s coffee and engage in other small acts of kindness.

Practice daily gratitude.

List a few things that you are grateful for today, either on paper or out loud. Dig deeper than just the surface. Here is an example:

I am grateful for having a refrigerator stocked with food that I can access at any time.

I am grateful for the employees at the grocery store who work evenings and weekends so that I can access food.

I am grateful for the truck drivers who transport the goods that I have available to me.

I am grateful for the farmers who provide this food for me.

Drop someone a line.

Send a letter or text or call someone and tell them how much they mean to you, or talk to them about the difference they have made in your life.

Connect with nature.

Find a way to appreciate nature – go for a walk outside, look out the window, smell a flower, walk around barefoot, watch animals play or plant something.

Shift your focus.

It is easy to get caught up in the negativity of the day. Each day, think about the best part of your day. A great way to connect with your family at the dinner table is to ask each person to share the best part of their day.

Listen to some tunes.

Create a music playlist of songs/artists/genre that makes you feel good and elicits feelings of joy! Listen to it when you need a “pick-me-up” or listen to it daily for an instant mood boost.