Exploring the mind-body connection: 12 ways to achieve balance and well-being

Working to achieve more balance is so important because it empowers you to improve every aspect of your life. 

Balance gives you the focus and energy you need to go after your dreams. 

In this article, we’ll look at exploring the mind-body connection: 12 ways to achieve balance and well-being.

Come see how you can boost your well-being tremendously. 

1) Don’t be afraid to unplug

The internet can bring a lot of chaos in your life by overloading your mind with information and keeping you distracted from important things. 

Unplugging gives you the space to reflect, to enjoy the moment, and to ask yourself: How am I doing? How are the people around me doing? 

What do I love about my life?

Learning to unplug is especially important after we went through the pandemic. 

The lockdowns kept many people glued to their working devices with the work-from-home setup that blurred the boundaries between work and life.

Learn from those times and practice giving yourself a break from work and the internet. 

2) Just say no

Saying no can be hard, if not nearly impossible, for people pleasers (speaking from personal experience). 

It can be difficult to balance your needs and wants with those of others. But you need to learn to say no to sustain your energy levels for tasks that are truly important to you. 

Reflect on your to-do list and divide your tasks into categories:

• Which tasks do you want to do?
• Which ones do others need you to do? 

To achieve balance, you need both these types of tasks so you can maintain both your energy and your productivity. 

It’s an exercise of your emotional intelligence to say no so you can protect your mental health and focus on important tasks. 

And if that’s not enough, science shows that those with higher emotional quotients (EQ) are more productive and have better mental health. 

It’s a good habit to schedule your breaks and make time for things that you want to do. 

You just need to make sure that your break time activities truly replenish your energy and improve your well-being.

3) Eat healthy, exercise, and breathe

A healthy diet and exercise make up the core of maintaining physical health and, by extension, your mental health. 

Food can be medicinal if we let it be. 

A proper healthy diet will leave your body feeling nourished without leaving it too hungry or too full. It should improve your mood and your energy. 

Of course, it can be hard to find a diet that isn’t a fad or too difficult for you. 

That’s why it’s best to consult a professional nutritionist or dietician that can create a healthy diet plan tailored to your specific needs, preferences, and mental disposition. 

On the other hand, exercise is important for stabilizing both your mood and your energy levels too. 

It keeps your body feeling strong and your confidence elevated. 

Finally, one of the most important pillars of well-being is breathing right.

In fact, breathwork is considered one of the strongest and, at the same time, fastest ways to reconnect your body and mind.

I highly recommend watching this free breathwork video, created by the shaman, Rudá Iandê. 

Rudá is a well-known shaman who specializes in helping people reconnect with their true selves and deal with their problems from the perspective of balance and inner-outer alignment. Through shamanism and his own life journey, he’s created a modern-day twist to ancient healing techniques. 

Rudá’s dynamic breathwork flow encompasses years of his breathwork experience and ancient shamanic beliefs designed to help you relax and check in with your body and soul.

So if you want to use a shortcut and find a balance faster, check out his genuine advice below. 

Click here to watch the free video.

4) Cultivate strong relationships

It can be easy to forget how much you are loved and cherished by other people, as well as your own capacity to love and help others. That is why it’s important to be with the people you love, and that love you back.

For your and your loved ones’ mental well-being, it is crucial to arrange your schedule and find opportunities to spend quality time with them. 

This should let you access emotional aid from your support network while creating new happy memories to warm you during dark times. 

You should plan outings with friends, dates with significant others, and dinners with your family. 

Cultivate your connections and care about the people around you. Relationships are the heart of a well-balanced life.

5) Socialize and meet new people

Humans are social creatures; we simply cannot function properly without other people. 

Anybody would go crazy if they were kept in isolation for too long.

Closing yourself off from other people is very damaging to your mental health. However, socializing is no easy feat, and friends don’t come automatically, especially if you’re an introvert like me. 

For your own sanity, you should actively try to form connections with those around you, whether it be your co-workers, neighbors, or fellow yogis. 

With these connections, you can help lower each other’s stress levels and take a reprieve from being away from your loved ones. 

Every human being has a fundamental need to be a part of a group (or pair), and you need to socialize to fill this need.

6) Be mindful of your health

You need to be healthy to maintain both your happiness and productivity. This means you need to make sure you’re getting enough sleep, exercise, and healthy food.

You need to listen to your body as it keeps you updated on your energy levels and what you need to do to sustain it. Lack of sleep and overwork could easily ruin your relationships and work performance. 

Hunger, body pains, and lack of sleep could cause you to become unfocused, grumpy, and depressed. 

You need to take care of your body, which enables you to do everything you want and need to do. 

7) Set goals and priorities (and stick to them)

It’s good to name your realistic goals and the tasks you need to do so you can organize and understand them. 

That way, you can begin seeing which tasks are important and which tasks can be cut out. 

It can also help you see which goals and tasks can be accomplished in the short term and which ones can only be accomplished in the long term. 

With time-management skills, you can form a plan that makes even the most daunting goals achievable. 

With the right time-management strategy, you can create a workday that lets you both finish your tasks and have time to relax. 

8) Treat yourself regularly

The most important relationship in your life is the one you have with yourself. That’s why you need to go eat at that nice restaurant, watch a movie, or get your hair done. 

Set aside time to really take care of yourself. 

There is nobody that can work for your goals better than you can. That’s why it’s important to cultivate your relationship with yourself. 

Make promises to yourself and keep them. 

Treat yourself better. 

Like with other relationships, it doesn’t have to be extravagant. Even reminding yourself to drink more water goes a long way. 

9) Just be here now

Ruminating or fixating on negative thoughts is a big part of depression. 

That’s why practicing meditation, where you focus on your breath, is usually recommended for those suffering from clinical depression. 

Learning to focus on the moment will help you stop ruminating or fixating on regrets and negative self-talk. 

Best of all, it can also improve your concentration, emotional regulation, and self-reflection. 

You need to make peace with the fact that the past has passed, and the future is not guaranteed. 

Being able to live in the present is so important because the present is the only thing you can control.

10) Ask for help

Asking for help and opening yourself up to people can be difficult. 

Who among us hasn’t been burned in the past? 

However, the fact stands that you need other people to maintain your mental health, especially when your problems threaten to push your life off balance. 

It’s easy to get bogged down by your negative thoughts, biases, and preconceptions. 

That’s why it’s important to get help from your loved ones so you can navigate your problems with a more objective perspective. 

There are, however, times when your friends and family are far away or when you truly cannot bring yourself to speak to them about certain things. 

In that case, it’s good to reach out to mental health professionals or community support groups. 

11) Spend time in the sun 

Science has shown that sunlight increases the production of serotonin in your brain and wakes you up. 

As if that’s not enough, sunlight gives you stronger bones, better skin, protection from some types of cancer, and provides you with much-needed Vitamin D.

In short, getting a good dose of sunlight makes you happier, healthier, and more productive. 

It’s like a miraculous vitamin nature gives you completely free of charge. 

That’s why it’s a good idea to take some time off your schedule to go outside and maybe take a walk. Just remember to put on sunscreen. Charge yourself up with some star power! 

12) Stay optimistic

“Choose happiness” is an infamous phrase associated with toxic positivity. Obviously, you can’t just become happy with a snap, especially when you have a mood disorder. 

However, I like to think of choosing happiness as akin to choosing to go home. Sadly, humans don’t have teleportation powers and can’t go home in a snap. It’s a journey. 

You can’t become happy at will but let me tell you something. 

You can choose to take steps to become happy even if the journey looks long and foreboding. Here are some steps you can take:

• Reflect on your perceptions and see how you can add a more optimistic twist;
• Know that everything changes, including your mood or situation no matter how bad it looks;
• Quit the habit of insulting yourself or putting yourself down. Instead, practice thanking yourself for doing your best and giving your all;
• Cultivate relationships with people who make you happy and encourage your growth.

Final thoughts

Finding balance in your life isn’t about learning difficult meditation techniques or buying expensive planners. 

Balance means letting go of things that are unhealthy or unimportant in the grand scheme of things so you can spend your energy on things that are. 

Balance is about making space for the truly important things in life and budgeting whatever energy you have accordingly.