Three Practical Ways to Help Improve Your Mental Health

Grief can feel like a labyrinth with no exit, but I've walked that path and found a few keys that helped unlock the gates to a healthier mental state. In this episode, I share my personal toolkit filled with practical strategies that have been my lifeline through life's storms. You're not alone in your journey, and this episode of T Time Tuesday is like sitting down with a friend who gets it. 

We discuss how integrating professional guidance with the healing power of prayer and meditation, the stabilizing force of breathing exercises, and the endorphin boost from regular exercise can create a powerful trifecta for improving mental wellness. I'll also discuss the uplifting effects of music and how keeping your living space tidy can reflect and encourage a clear mind, along with the reflective process of journaling, which has been a cornerstone in my passage through grief.

 Keep the conversation going through our feed, stories, or direct messages.

Transcript

Tracey: 0:02

Hi, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello Child. I was just talking and did not push the button to go. Live Me and technology baby. Hi everybody, happy Tuesday. Welcome to T Time Tuesday. I am your host. My name is Tracey Massey. I am a certified grief coach and founder of Living My EmPOWERed Life. I teach people impacted by tragedy how to disrupt the cycle of grief and thrive in a new normal. Hello, hello, hello. Hey everybody over on Instagram, hey everybody on Facebook and YouTube, welcome, welcome, welcome.

Tracey: 0:50

T Time Tuesday is just my time where I come in and we chit chat with our peeps. It's a lovely, interactive live discussion. So interactive means share, comment, throw up some hearts, throw up some likes. Um, put a one in the chat if you are new here, welcome. Um, put a two if you have watched the live stream before. If you have, if you are watching the replay, say hello in the chat. Um, let me know where you are watching from, because I like to know where people are watching. And y? Y'all, excuse me because this last listen.

Tracey: 1:28

I took a nap when I got home from work and it was raining. The way that nap accosted me, it was divine. It was divine. So I am never before you long the length of this live stream. I usually try to stay on about 30 minutes because I want to honor your time as well as mine, but we can go longer if need be, if you have questions, if you have comments. Like I said, it's interactive, so let us begin. No question is a dumb question, so feel free to ask. All right, all right, all right. So let me just double check right quick to make sure we are live in Facebook, because it's telling me on this thing that we are live. I can't tell. So let me know if you can hear me and you can see me All that good stuff, because I talk to myself enough as it is. I don't need to be on a live stream on these internet streams talking to myself. All right, okay, okay.

Tracey: 2:29

So tonight we are talking about three practical ways to improve your mental health. Now, first, let me just say this live stream does not constitute a coach client relationship. Also, with there being Mental Health Awareness Month in May, I want you all to do your due diligence. If you are having issues with mental health, if you are feeling depressed, if you are having anxiety or if you're even thinking about harming yourself, I want you to find some professional help. There are amazing counselors and there's also emergency help if you need that. So do not be afraid to get the help that you need. Getting the help does not make you weak. It does not make you crazy, none of that. You are actually a stronger person for going to get the help that you need. Amen, amen, all right.

Tracey: 3:26

So let's get into it. It's going to be real quick, y'all. Let me grab my handy dandy notebook right quick. So these are things that I personally do.

Tracey: 3:36

I try not to teach something that I have not walked through, and recently I just went through my grief season. So if you're new here, I don't call them stages. I don't call my grief stages. I call them seasons because seasons change. Seasons are temporary. So February through May is the hardest time for me, because that's when I've lost some major people in my life, from my daughter, my mom, my godmother, who named me an auntie, a best friend, like so many people, in that short time span. So it can be hard from April through May, but I have learned over the years some amazing tools and gotten some help, and now I am here healing. I say healing because healing is always a journey. There are stages to healing as well.

Tracey: 4:28

So these are some things that I personally do, some things that I actually just did in this grief season that had helped me to get through it a whole lot better. Y'all, I did not take to the bed, I was not like, oh God, take me home, none of that. So I just want to share some of the things that I've done. So, number one and there may be a bonus there just may be a couple of bonuses, just so y'all know. But the number one thing that I do and that you can also do practical way to improve your mental health, I'm God's girl. I love my Lord.

Tracey: 5:06

Number one thing I do is pray. And well, tracy, what if I can't pray? What if I'm not talking to God? Got you Been there too? There are, believe it or not. There are people on YouTube who pray. There are people who have podcasts who are dedicated to pray. There are people who have music on Apple Music and other streaming services that just pray. So you can type in what kind of prayer that you need and just let that prayer play back into your ear. If you can't utter a word to the Lord, you can't say a word, just wave your hands.

Tracey: 5:44

Ok, so that's one thing that I do, and also meditation, and not meditation in the spooky sense, but I meditate on the word of God, so I have. If you're not on my mailing list, this is a great time to join. I have a PDF scriptures for managing grief and these are scriptures that I meditate on whenever I'm being hit by a grief wave, and this is just a great reminder of who God is and who he is to me and what he says about grief, and it's really, really helpful. Along with the prayer and meditation, I also do breathing exercises where I'm focusing on my deep breaths, inhales, exhales, what that breathing does. It helps to regulate your heartbeat and it also helps to lower your blood pressure. So there are some great benefits to deep breathing and breath work. Also, along with and this is still number one, this is along with my prayer and meditation I also throw in a little exercise for a little razzle dazzle.

Tracey: 6:48

So sometimes I go on a prayer walk where I'm walking in the neighborhood because I don't know about y'all. I've never been an outdoorsy girl at all because I don't do bugs and I don't do stuff like that. I don't do creatures. I like cats and dogs, that's about it. Maybe even a bird, but if they get too close anyway. But being outside it just does something. It helps to, especially getting some vitamin D, because vitamin D helps with regulation of the blood pressure and regulation of mood. So getting outside if possible, so I would do a prayer walk where I'm just outside talking to God and I'll say things like God, thank you for the birds that sing, because that was a prayer that my daughter used to say God, thank you for the birds that sing, God, thank you for the trees. And I specifically pay attention to the little things in nature. You know, the little things that are big things, like noticing the trees. Every tree has a leaf. That is different. Every tree has roots. So just focusing on those things to help kind of regulate my mindset. So get up and get moving. So let's talk about exercising.

Tracey: 7:54

Number two exercising Move your body. Move your body for at least 30 minutes. If you can get in a little bit more, a little longer, that's great. And when I say exercise, you don't have to go out here and become a whole gym rat. If you do, that's great. If you don't. Just moving your body helps to release endorphins, it helps to lower your cortisol level, which is stress that builds up in your gut. But exercise has been shown to regulate mood. It helps to improve sleep Side effects. You might lose a little weight if that's what you want to do. So exercise is really good. Move for at least 30 minutes If you can get outside and touch some grass. I know people are saying that as a joke, but it really does work because all of those things that you're surrounded by nature, you're stimulating other senses and it just helps to get your brain focused into outside of whatever you were stressing about or maybe having a little angst about. So get outside, get moving, surround yourself with nature. Exercise, move your body Another way to move your body. This is something I really do enjoy doing. I love to dance, so sometimes I will put on some good music and just go to town Like I will be in here dancing by myself for about 30, 45 minutes or whatever my little heart's desire.

Tracey: 9:17

Fix your fix. Create yourself a playlist of some of your favorite music. Now, be careful. Don't be, you know, putting a knuck if you buck up there and you want to go fight somebody. Be mindful of what you're listening to, because your ear gates, your eye gates. Those things help. Whatever is coming in that creates an environment for you. So, if you want to be happy, don't be listening to sad songs, you know. Don't be listening to stuff that's violent. You want to go out here and hurt somebody? No, surround yourself with positive, lighthearted, good beats, good music, things like that. So create a playlist. I actually have a playlist that I call Stimulate that Mood. Yeah, I put that playlist on as about. Well, now I think it's up to two hours, so I don't dance for two hours, but I will put that playlist on shuffle and just get it. So create yourself a playlist.

Tracey: 10:14

Number three clean your space. Clean your space. Having clutter around you will clutter your mind. Space Having clutter around you will clutter your mind. Studies have shown that when you are in a clear, clean, tidy space, your mood improves. And also, cleaning your spaces is moving your body. So you can do two things in one. Remove the clutter, donate stuff that you haven't used in forever, those clothes that you can't wear you're not going to get back in them, sis Go on and donate them. Clean your space. Tidy up your desk so you can find stuff I know for me if I can't in my area, like right now, my room is a mess, my bedroom is a mess because I am doing spring cleaning and I don't know about y'all.

Tracey: 11:03

Whenever I'm spring cleaning, I make a mess to clean up the mess, and so right now, I'm transitioning some clothes that I can't wear anymore to go ahead and donate those. So everything is just like out of my closet so I can see what I have, and now I got to put all this stuff back, but in the meantime, everything is on the floor of my closet and I can't stand it. And for me, if y'all have been around me for a little while, I will go sit in my closet. That's like a safe space for me. I would just sit in my closet and write, or I used to do record my podcast episodes in my own closet. If you've been rocking with me for a while, you remember Closet Chronicles, so things like that. I got to clean my closet up because now I can't find nothing. So tidy spaces help to clear your mind. All right, any questions? So far, is this helpful? Can you still hear me? And I know there's a delay, so I'm watching Instagram and Facebook. So if there's a delay, I'm just. We're just going to hold on All right and for a bonus. Y'all ready for these bonuses? Ready for these bonuses, all right? Good, good, good.

Tracey: 12:22

This is one of my favorite things to do and that is journal. I love journaling because I can go back and look at my progress. I can literally see where I've written prayers and God has answered those prayers. I can literally see where I was like so bummed out and so sad in one space and then maybe a few months later, I'm in a different space. I've been keeping journals since I was about 13. I am far removed from 13 now, but I've gotten away from it. But then, when my daughter passed away in 2006, I had gotten back into it and I literally have the journal still that someone had given me in our church. She had given me the journal the day before we were supposed we were to funeralize my daughter and I pulled that journal out and I read the entry that I wrote that night and I can literally see the tear stains on the paper and I read that, those passages, and I'm like, wow, god, you did your big one. You did your big one there. But there are also moments where I can see where I was angry with God. I can literally see my relationship with God grow and shift and change. So journaling has been a major part of my healing process.

Tracey: 13:48

I also write about my gratitude. Sometimes I don't even have the words to say, like if I'm having a huge grief moment or a grief wave has hit me, I'll just write in my entry. I ain't even have the words to say, like if I'm having a huge grief moment or a grief wave has hit me, I'll just write in my entry I ain't got it, it's just something. It's just like today was a rough day. There are passages where I've had really, really, really bad days and because I didn't want to remember exactly what that day was, I would just write God help me not to remember this day. And then I would just like scribble just illegible stuff, just scribble words. That's becoming a popular thing now, but I remember doing this in 2006. Anyway, but yeah, just scribbling words, because I didn't have the words to say or I couldn't formulate the words or I didn't want to remember it. So you can journal any kind of way If you don't like writing.

Tracey: 14:39

Blogging is a good thing. You know, we all have cameras. We all have these wonderful phones. Sometimes I would like. If I'm out somewhere and I have a thought or something happens and I'm like, oh, I want to remember this moment, I'll pull out my phone and just blog it and so that becomes my digital journal. So there's so many ways that you can just express yourself in a healthy manner.

Tracey: 15:05

All right, any questions, any comments, any issues? All right, there's a delay, so I'm going away because I can see myself over here on Instagram and it is probably about two sentences behind what I actually said, which is interesting. Yeah, it's funny. It's funny. I wish you guys could see what I see. Oh, got to preach. Anyway, any questions, any concerns, any issues, any ideas? So let's just share. Was this helpful for you? Let me know if this was helpful for you.

Tracey: 15:43

There are very practical ways. I mean, it's like simple stuff, but the simple things are the things that help get you into a better healed, healed healing place. Like you got to take baby steps. Like, matter of fact, you got to crawl before you can even walk, before you can run. So every baby starts out with just sitting up and doing that little y'all know that little baby rock thing before they actually start crawling. If you're in that space, it's okay, eventually you will get moving, but every baby step counts. So even if you're taking the most smallest step on your journey, you're doing something. Don't let nobody tell you any different. And then so, all right, this is a quick live, let's see. Do I have any updates? Yeah, I do so.

Tracey: 16:36

If y'all have been following, if you've been following me on instagram or tick tock, then you probably saw the video of, uh, the young man that was showing up at my doorstep. Y'all, we're good, you know. I know some people hit me up like you need to be safe, you need need to move. Y'all listen, I need you to read between the lines, okay, because I can't say what I want to say for community guidelines, but we are good over here. Okay, we're good, we're good. But it was a good thing to know the neighborhood officers that are assigned to the area. They are like my friends now. So we're good.

Tracey: 17:21

What else? Charging Station Podcast is back. I took a little hiatus. Y'all know how I do this time of year I'm taking my break, some good self-care. But the Charging Station Podcast is back. New episode drops on Thursday.

Tracey: 17:35

I am sharing my story of finding my sister. So if you've been following me. You kind of know the story, but you don't know everything. I had to save some stuff for the podcast, so we're starting a new series. I'm actually calling it Branches. I know that was good. Y'all take that in. That was good.

Tracey: 17:54

So that new series has started and I'm just sharing the story of finding my sister going through this DNA testing and finding new siblings. And actually my sister and I will meet for the first time pretty soon and so hopefully, the episode that you know closes out this part of this chapter. She'll be my special guest. I hadn't asked her yet. So, sister, if you're watching this, just be ready to be on my podcast. So that's that and I think that's it. I think that's it. So quick, live, quick, very quick. I want to give you your time back, but before we close out, thank you so much for joining.

Tracey: 18:45

If you have topics that you would like for me to discuss, please email me at helloandlivingmyempoweredlifecom or you can DM me and we'll research it and we will cover it next week. And I, oh, I got a new book, y'all. I got a new book and I'm so excited for it to get here. It's a subject that I have been deep diving into for a while. But this book right here, I think, is just going to take it to another level. So I can't wait to share it with y'all and teach it, you know, after I read it and take all my notes and everything, because the researcher in me is like giddy, all right.

Tracey: 19:23

So that's that y'all I'm getting off of here, because it's been a good 20 minutes and I want to go and start relaxing, actually curl up with another book. But if you don't have any questions or concerns or issues, or hearts and minds are clear off, I'm going to bid you adieu. But before I go I want you to always remember god loves you, I love you. It ain't nothing you can do about it. Boom oops. See you next tuesday. See you in the feed, see you in the stories. Dm me if you need me. Good night,