Written by Susan Kuepfer

4 Main Categories of Mental Health

According to a report created by NEF (www.neweconomics.org), the general population’s mental health is broken into four categories: Flourishing, Moderate Mental Health, Languishing, and Mental Disorder.

There are five steps to move from languishing up to flourishing and to maintain a flourishing state:

Connect: With the people around you—family, friends, colleagues, and neighbours. At home, work, school, or in your local community. Think of these as the cornerstones of your life and invest time in developing them. Building these connections will support and enrich you every day.

Be Active: Go for a walk or run. Step outside. Cycle. Play a game. Garden. Dance. Exercising makes you feel good. Most importantly, discover a physical activity you enjoy and that suits your level of mobility and fitness.

Take Notice: Be curious. Catch sight of the beautiful. Remark on the unusual. Notice the changing seasons. Savour the moment—whether you are walking to work, eating lunch, or talking to friends. Be aware of the world around you and what you are feeling. Reflecting on your experiences will help you appreciate what matters to you.

Keep Learning: Try something new. Rediscover an old interest. Sign up for that course. Take on a different responsibility at work. Fix a bike. Learn to play an instrument or how to cook your favourite food. Set a challenge you will enjoy achieving. Learning new things will make you more confident—as well as being fun.

Give: Do something nice for a friend or a stranger. Thank someone. Smile. Volunteer your time. Join a community group. Look out, as well as in. Seeing yourself—and your happiness—linked to the wider community can be incredibly rewarding and creates connections with the people around you.

Exercise: Look back at your last week. On a scale of 1–5 (1 = did little or nothing, 5 = did tons in this area, would be almost impossible to do more), evaluate how much time you spent doing each of the actions above. Choose one area (with a clear action) to improve for next week. Be very clear what action you will take, when, and what you need to make it successful.

How might you incorporate this into your 10 daily habits?