Category: Health

5 Ways to Keep a Healthy Mind

One of the major challenges every Christian will face pretty early on in their Christian walk is attacks on the mind. Whether it is struggling with temptations or struggling with guilt of past sins, we are going to find that an important key to living a successful Christian life is in the way we mentally position ourselves for victory against these attacks. The rise in mental health related illnesses and death is evidence that a mental illness is a big part of the enemies strategy to keep people out of the fulness of God’s promise for us (John 10:10). Research estimates that 1 in 6 people experienced a common mental health problem in the past week. This means that most of us will ever so often face some form of attack on our mental health. Often when we think of a mental health challenge we think of white coats, straight jackets and anti-psychotic pills. Of course this can be the case, but mental health is far more than that. Just like being physical ill can be having either a mild cold or a severe heart disease, facing a mental health challenge can manifest on a broad spectrum of severity. Whatever the diagnosis, there are some basic things that you can do to take care of your mental health.

This post is a guide based on biblical principles, which work and have scientific congruence. As always I encourage you to seek medical advise, especially for more serious cases and to follow the advise already given to you by your doctor.

1. Catch the Sunlight
Exposure to sunlight naturally triggers the release of the serotonin hormone, which is responsible for lifting your mood and helping you feel calm and focused. Melatonin, is the sleep hormone which is triggered by darker lighting. Of course we need both of these hormones to live a healthy life, but because we have less sunlight in winter months, especially because we tend to spend more time indoors, where we are shielded from sunlight, we are more likely to experience a deep in serotonin level. A great way to combat this is to spend more time outdoors. As I mostly work from home I find that I don’t get out as much and by the time I do get out, the sun has already set. So, I have started opening up my curtains to get more sunlight into the house and I work under a bright white light.

2. Eating and Drinking for your health
At times when I get really dehydrated I get a headaches, which makes it really difficult to concentrate and if you add hunger to the mix, every activity because a little more difficult. It’s okay to abstain for a short period of time without food, but quite frankly it will lower your energy and dampen your mood. Words like “hangry” or “comfort food” are great examples of how food and water can affect once emotional health. Up to a couple years ago I used to do a long partial fast or a shorter absolute fast leading up to my birthday. I loved spending that time in prayer and meditation to seek God’s instructions and outpouring for the new year ahead. As much as I encourage anyone to implement this, my word of caution would be to apply wisdom to this spiritual activity. Don’t over do it. You are not trying to impress God with your ability to not eat, you are simply submitting yourself to a time of deeper concentration and devotion to God by separating yourself from things that can cause distraction or may be occupying a significant amount of your time. The purpose of fasting is not to damage your health, but to bring increase to you physically, spiritually, emotionally and mentally (Isaiah 58:8). There are different types of fasts that you can adhere to, that may be better suited to your health. I still fast, but I fast in a better.

Also pay attention to what you eat so you get the optimal amount of health benefits each time you eat. Whilst eating an extra-cheesy-sloppy-burger with a side of fries might be very comforting and filling it certainly isn’t the best contributor to your physical and mental health and may actually be contributing to your low energy and lack of concentration. Just like Daniel and his friends, you may need to learn how to say no to certain types of foods and yes to others. I assure you, you will reap the benefits.
Apart from eating your fruit and veg, I recommend adding supplements to your daily intake in the winter time. From late March to late September it is likely that you are ingesting and naturally producing enough Vitamin D, so you may not need to take supplements during those months. However, in the colder months it is possible to develop vitamin-D deficiency as we often don’t get enough from what we eat. Taking daily supplements can help keep our v-D levels up and lower our risk of health issues that can lead to seasonal mental illnesses and depression. Again check with your doctor to makes sure that your vitamin and mineral levels are as they should be.

3. Physical Exercise to work your body
Staying physically active is a great way of allowing blood and oxygen to pump through your body and brain. The adrenaline rush coupled with the dopamine rush that comes from achieving a health goal or from participating in a competitive sport is a good natural way of keeping your mood and spirits up. But not only does the dopamine and adrenaline that comes from exercising improve your mental health but, regular exercise will help you sleep better, which is beneficial to your mental health. A major blessing of the modern age is the ability to have access to a lot of lives necessities with very little work or effort. Unfortunately, it means that we don’t get enough of exercise in natural ways. In the pre- technology and industrial world, people used to walk everywhere, most people would grow their own food themselves and herd their own cattle. The physical excretion of a labour worker meant that they would sleep deep. Additionally, they completely relied on the sun as a source of light, which meant that they would go to bed early and wake up early to start work. The post technology world means that we not only sleep less, but we also don’t sleep well. Ecclesiastes 5:12 says this;

The sleep of a labouring man is sweet,
Whether he eats little or much;
But the abundance of the rich will not permit him to sleep.

This scripture is obviously comparing the life off a rich man with the life of a poor man, but the principle can be applied to this scenario of exercise. The context of this scripture is set in an agricultural scene. Even back in the days of the scripture wealthier people did not labour in the fields instead they hired people to do the more strenuous work. Wealthier people, were transported in chariots and carried around in seats between two long poles. I am very sure that the men who walked around carrying these poles on their shoulders where very tired at the end of the day. That same practice continuous today, the only difference is that you don’t need to be so rich to afford comfort anymore.

4. Make sure you Sleep well
The scripture above shows that wealth does not mean happiness and rest, in fact it suggests that people who are richer may suffer from sleeplessness, because they constantly worry about what they have. Rich people not only have a lot of valuable possessions, but they also tend to have a lot of mouths to feed. Being rich is not just about having a lot of money in the bank. It’s also about having access to basic necessities of life that some people might not have. If your primary concern is finding the perfect hair dryer, what happens next on your favourite soap opera or your next crypto currency investment, then I’d like to suggest to you that you are not poor. It may just feel that way, because you are spending a lot of money on the latest wants. My question to you is what is keeping you up at night? Are you constantly worrying about what’s next? What’s next on your agenda, what’s next on that tv show, what’s next on your wish list, what’s next on your to do list? We are living a life were we have so much to lose, but all these things that we have to lose don’t seem to have so much value. Could this false pursuit of happiness be robbing you of rest?

5. Pray about everything
A famous scripture in the Bible tells us to not be anxious about anything, but to pray about everything. Whilst, that may sound easier said than done, I find that it is a lot harder to live in perpetual worry and anxiety. God, the one who is all knowing, all seeing and all powerful, invites us to a therapeutic and soul detoxing session, where we can talk to him about every single concern. Whatever it may be that keeps you down, that worries you and that extinguishes that inner light we all have inside, God says tell me about it. Isn’t it wonderful that we have a someone like this we can talk about things with?

Here is a few lines from one of my favourite hymns for your meditation:

‘Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to take Him at His Word
Just to rest upon His promise,
Just to know, “Thus saith the Lord!

“Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
Oh, for grace to trust Him more!

S.A.D and the Winter Blues

During the Winter months it’s common to feel a little down, which is why I typically emphasise the importance of gratitude and take intentional steps to be thankful at this time of the year. I noticed a few years back that I tended to feel symptoms associated with anxiety at the start of Autumn. My first memory of this was about 6 years ago when I felt a sudden wave of panic at the thought of summer coming to an end. At the time I thought it was to do with a new academic year beginning and needing to work harder to get my certifications. I told myself that it would all be okay and the slight panic that I could feel rising subsided, but the dread remained. The cold season has never been my preference. Unlike Elsa, the cold has always bothered me. I chucked it up to personal preference and a twist of fate that I was born in Autumn instead of Spring or Summer.

It wasn’t until 2018 that I realised that there might be more to this than just the downsides to an introverted personality. I was crying every day for about a week and didn’t know why. I felt a deep sense of despair and hopelessness and I didn’t understand why. At the time, I was between jobs, moved homes and had just enrolled on a Masters program. Yes, all this was tough and tasking, but I had been through worse and didn’t have to deal with feeling unmotivated as a result. In the grand scheme of things everything was fine and I had everything that I needed. But I was still really sad. Rather than give in to the feelings, I resisted it, didn’t tell anyone what was going on, hid my tears behind forced smiles, and tried to get through it with positive confessions. “We walk by faith and not by sight”, “Faith over feelings”, “God is more real than what I am feeling”. It wasn’t working. I felt more emotionally worn out, with each confession. My constant smiling made me feel like a fraud. I was faking it, but never making it. I eventually broke out of it, and I will come back to what exactly helped me, but I want to highlight the importance of knowing what it is that you are facing.

I firmly believe that you cannot fight something that you refuse to face. Whatever it is that is troubling you be it a health issue, a bad habit, an addiction or even debt, if you don’t face it you’re never going to overcome it. This doesn’t mean we lose faith, or that we stop praying. It means that we channel our faith in a specific direction and pray specific prayers. For me facing it was knowing that this was seasonal affective disorder. Knowing this meant that I could channel my energy into taking care of myself in a suitable way, I can refrain from things that could be a trigger and open me up to relapse and I could better position myself in prayer. I know that SAD is not my portion or my inheritance in Christ, so I positioned myself accordingly. Because I knew what I was up against I could fight back in faith with the invisible weapons at my disposal. That is what the fight of Faith is; Fighting a battle that is not visible to the physical eyes, but will yield (positive or negative) results. I have learnt that invisible battles can leave very visible scars. I have had to learn to fight better and smarter.

Counter attack is my favourite way of dealing with issues like these. Winter blues and sadness in general, causes us to want to withdraw and isolate. A little down time and alone time is good and healthy, but it can lead to other things like self-piety, self-loathing, low self-esteem, increased sense of hopelessness and worthlessness, these are all friends of the enemy, which can be used to keep you away from joy, gratitude, healthy relationships and communion with people around you. Instead of giving in to the narrative of loneliness, spend time with people. Don’t go over board and plan an elaborate party, which may make it worse. Just find 1 – 3 people who you can sit with, talk to or engage in a mild activity with. Being with and talking to people is a great way to regain perspective.

One of the things that I find often happens when we feel down is that we lose clarity. We don’t have a clear picture of what we want or where we are going. This is because we are so overwhelmed by the predominant feeling of sadness, which distracts us from our objectives. A great way of counteracting this is by writing. Journaling has a way of organising our thoughts. When we write we not only think about what we want to say, but we also think about how we feel as we say it and how we want to say it. This is a good way of practicing to process our emotions. We all have emotions, but in order to learn how to control our emotions we need to process them first. I would suggest writing no more than 20 minutes daily, and encourage that you end each journal entry with a positive statement. This could be something you are grateful for, something you look forward to, or a good memory from the past.

The symptoms of depression, seasonal affective disorder and some other mental health illnesses, include physical and emotional tiredness, lack of motivation and reduced interest. Because of this people often develop feelings of inadequacy and worthlessness. A great way to combat these thoughts and feelings is to revisit previous achievements. The other morning I went back and read the devotional I completed and published last year. I was blessed by what I had written, I took my own advise and applied some of the scriptures that I had written down. The things you create through God’s creative power become a memorial for you. You realise that although you don’t feel it right now, there is a powerful deposit inside of you that can only come from God. Your life is a testimony! Go back and visit your moments of triumph, your personal victories, your achievements and your testimonies. You are definitely worth more than you have achieved, but you also need to remember that you are more than what you feel. If you journal and take notes of good days and also take pictures, I would recommend that you re-read older entries and look at those pictures again. Use them to remind yourself that better days are coming.

Whether it is SAD, depression, anxiety, end of year stress or anything else, you can overcome if you will chose to believe that you can. Get help facing it from loved ones and health professionals. Help is always available if you reach out for it.

Covid 19 and Where we Stand

There’s so much to say when it comes to corona, but I’ve had to step back and ask myself what God is saying. Really there are many things that have happened in the world since January and I have been asking and seeking God’s mind concerning where we stand as his creation and his people. On a personal level and on a Global level God has been at work shifting things, showing us some, concealing somethings in his infinite wisdom and also prompting us to deep prayer.

If there is anything I know that’s happening for sure in this season is that God is requiring deeper, longer and more earnest prayer, worship and praise from us.

What I also know with certainty is that God has called us to be a light and a voice of hope and peace, most especially at a time like this. We can allow the disruption of this pandemic to distract us and put us in a defensive zone or we can use it as a platform to be more active about our spiritual practices and more vocal about our Christian Faith. It will always be my prayer that people will not die, but live long and full lives and that when they do die they die peacefully without suffering and wake up to everlasting life in the arms of the father. Unfortunately, people die and suffer everyday, Corona or not, and it is important that regardless of how or when we die we make the very important and significant decision to  make Jesus Christ our Lord and saviour before we do.

Death is the reality of life, but more real is the Faith we have in God while we live, which promises a life spent with him in eternity. There are only two choices, life or damnation and we continuously pray that people get saved and know the love of the Lord here and more so in death.

What to Pray

The focus of our prayers should be that God’s sends salvation for our mortal bodies, especially for those who have been affected and are vulnerable to the effects of the virus. But we should also pray that more people will come to the saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. A cure and knowledge of the cure to Corona could save many lives, but it couldn’t save a single soul. Only knowledge of Jesus Christ and acceptance of this knowledge will save your soul. Let’s not get so distracted by the pandemic that we forget the pandemic of sin brought to the world through two humans, that is still corrupting and killing not only souls but lives at an alarmingly fast rate. The effects of this pandemic is very real and I do not take it lightly at all, but more than anything it has woken me up to the reality of finite state of the human race and how fragile and delicate this life is. It is precious and fragile and we should take it very seriously and use it to build a legacy of godliness that is guaranteed to out live us no matter how long we live.

I sense that God is wanting us to pray for mercy and wisdom first for ourselves and also for the leaders of our various nations. 2 Chronicles 7: 14 comes to mind, which says that “if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and turn from their wicked ways I will hear from heaven and heal their land”. Scripture shows us time and time again that the key to healing and restoration whether for our bodies, filed of work or anything associated with us, is prayer offered up in humility and genuine repentance from evil. Our generation needs this mercy more than ever before. Daniel prayed for the captivity of Israel to be turned around and their lands to be restored, He prayed earnestly for 21 days and in that time he prayed for mercy for himself and for all of Israel. His prayer for mercy on behalf of Israel worked and brought the captivity of Israel to an end. It was the will of God then and it is the will of God today that we pray. Joshua Selman said that “Prayer is the highest form of humility before God”. This is very true. When we pray we refuse to lean on our own understanding, we declare to God that we need him and that we want him. When we add repentance to our prayer we surrender control and prove that our heart and action is in line with our words. Repentance enables us to draw near to God with our hearts and not just our lips (MARK 7:6). It also enables us to align our actions and heart with his will; genuine repentance leads us to seek out the will of the father (Matthew 6:33, Luke 12:31).

We must also pray for judgment over the corona virus and the spiritual forces that are propagating the activity of this virus. The scripture informs us that we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places (Epesians 6:12 NLT). The NKJV calles the evil spirits in the heavely places – spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavely places. Spiritual beings require, physical beings to effectively operate on this world. This is why when God redeemed us from sin and death he needed to come in human form live and die like us to restore us back to God. God had to reason and negotiate with Mary, Joseph (Jesus’ Parents) and Zacharias and Elizabeth (John the baptist parents) for his redemption plan to be fulfilled. God as a spirit being is always looking for who is available to be his physical vessel on earth. He is gentle and waits for us to let him in before he can use us. He will never use us without our willingness to be used for his good purpose. The enemy is not so. He will use whoever is vulnerable and susceptible to his evil suggestions and specially delights in those who openly and actively invite him to accomplish his evil work in through them. These are the people we must place under the arrest of the power of the Holy spirit. People have been spotted actively spreading the virus through unsanitary means, even after they found out they had the virus. Deliberately not complying with the advice of health professionals, going out in public places and contaminating public spaces. These are hosts of wickedness. People who have signed themselves up to the plots of the enemy. They may think they are doing the right thing for whatever reason, but they need to be restrained by spiritual means.

I believe that these are some of the foundational prayers that we need to pray at this time. We must be vigilant and keep our spiritual armor on. Our weapons of warfare are not carnal – we don’t use fists, knives or guns to fight our most dangerous battles we fight in the spirit with the weapons of praise, worship and earnest prayers. We fight from a place of Victory because we have already won. We skip right to the celebratory praise, worship and thanksgiving part because we are people of Faith and firm hope. We sing hymns and sound out our songs of the spirit. And we continue in this spiritual attitude because we know that all things will work together for good.