8 Mental and Spiritual Self-Care Ideas

Taking care of ourselves is a must if we would like to have a happy, healthy life. While most of us have our primary focus on our physical health, our emotional, mental, and spiritual selves should not be neglected either.

In the last few weeks, we have reviewed a few self-care ideas for improving our physical and emotional health. Now, the time has arrived to dive into some great mental and spiritual self-care ideas as well. These ideas will help you nourish both your mind and soul.

What’s the difference between mental and spiritual self-care?

Since mental and spiritual self-care are very similar to each other, let’s take a look at what these terms mean and how you can distinguish between the two before we get started with the concrete self-care ideas.

Mental self-care includes any activity that stimulates your mind, helps you declutter it, and also gives you stress relief. On the other hand, spiritual self-care focuses on taking care of your soul and nurturing your spirit.

Understandably, sometimes you may find it hard to differentiate these two aspects of self-care as they are only slightly different. It’s enough if you think about it this way: an activity that focuses mainly on your mental health can be beneficial for your spiritual health as well. And vice versa! For example, reading a book or practicing yoga can serve both purposes, don’t you think?

Mental and spiritual self-care ideas to feel your absolute best

For the above-mentioned reason, we have decided that we won’t divide our mental and spiritual self-care ideas into separate categories. All tips you will find below can help enhance your mental and spiritual self, the only difference is to what extent.

1. Meditate

Our first tip for taking care of your mental and spiritual health is meditation. If you have never tried meditation, you may need some encouragement to start to meditate. But believe me, once you get used to meditation and it becomes part of your daily routine, you won’t be able to live your life without it.

Maybe you have also heard that many successful people start their day with meditation. This is because they have realized that this healthy habit has numerous benefits for their health. Meditation can help you increase your self-awareness, focus on the present, reduce your daily stress, enhance your patience, and increase your imagination. But that’s not all! The benefits of meditation are nearly endless!

2. Journal

Journaling is a great daily habit to add to your self-care routine. It can help you process your thoughts, feelings, and emotions (both positive and negative, yay!) and deal with your problems and worries. Once you write all those things that crowd your mind down on paper, most likely, you will feel relieved.

If you are wondering which things are worth writing in a journal for your health, there are plenty of them. For example, you can write down your daily events, plans, goals, things you are grateful for, challenges, difficulties, positive affirmations, and many more. Or, you can use journaling as a technique to track your habits as well!

3. Practice mindful walking

Mental self-care ideas don’t have to be something extraordinary. According to research, people with mental health issues can also benefit from such a simple activity as walking.

If you also would like to enjoy the wonderful benefits of walking, the best is if you can practice mindful walking. When you are walking, walk slowly and pay attention to your surroundings. Breath in and acknowledge the fresh air, look at the sky and the buildings around you, feel the pavement or ground under your feet, etc. Mindful walking is a good way to nourish your senses and bring you back to the present moment.

Related read: What is Mindful Eating? And How Can It Benefit You?

4. Get started with yoga

When it comes to yoga, it’s much more than just a physical workout. It focuses on addressing your body, mind, and spirit as well. Yoga can help you make a connection with your body and all the emotions that you store somewhere deep within.

Among the best benefits of practicing yoga, you can find the following:

• Improved balance, flexibility, and strength
• Less stress
• Reduced symptoms of anxiety
• Feeling relaxed
• Fewer symptoms of depression
• Reduced inflammation
• Improved breathing
• Better sleep
• Back pain relief
• Energy boost
• Better mood
• Better quality of life

After seeing all these benefits, no wonder, if you would like to get started with yoga right away.

5. Connect with nature

Disconnect from your busy everyday life and connect with nature instead. Don’t know how? Simply go to nature, enjoy the fresh air, the smell of the earth, the beauty of nature, the sound of singing birds, etc. The important thing is to allow yourself to slow down, be present, and immerse yourself in healing. Try to spend time in nature as often as you can. Even if it means only a few minutes sitting in the sunshine!

6. Read something inspirational

After a long day, we can easily end up in our bed thinking about our day, the problems we need to face, and what we have to do the next day. The problem is that it can keep us from falling asleep and will just make us feel more stressed in the morning.

Rather read something inspirational before going to sleep. This way, you can fall asleep easier and at least your last thoughts will be positive. Also, don’t forget about your mornings! Read for a few minutes in the morning to start your day with a positive mindset.

7. Spend time with others

Human beings are social by nature. Thus, it’s necessary for us to be surrounded by people and connect with them for our well-being. Of course, it doesn’t mean that we have to be with others 24 hours a day. After all, we all have different social needs!

Depending on your needs, spend time with others. Make new connections, maintain your existing relationships, exchange ideas, share your experiences, laugh, give each other emotional support, help each other, and many more. The best is if you can find people who share the same hobbies and interests as you.

8. Put your phone away

Nowadays, we have a constant urge to check our emails and social media several times a day hoping to receive good news or getting a compliment on our photos. Unfortunately, it can lead to poor concentration, fear of missing out (aka FOMO), stress, anxiety, sleep problems, poor memory, and can even change your view of reality. I guess these consequences are enough to convince you that it might be better to put your phone away from time to time. At least, in the morning and before going to sleep!

Related read: Awesome and Easy Self-Care Day Ideas

The bottom line

Taking care of our mental and spiritual health is as much important as physical and emotional self-care. Thus, don’t hesitate to engage in these amazing spiritual and mental self-care ideas we reviewed above. However, the self-care ideas don’t end here. There are plenty of other ideas you can try, including praying, cleaning out your space, practicing silence (it’s one of my favorite spiritual self-care ideas!), investing in your personal development, or using the power of positive affirmations.

What do you do for your mental and spiritual health? Do you have other self-care tips?