I still find it strange and fascinating that we have so many
well-defined options for getting and keeping the bodies we want, but so few for
creating the minds we want.
Sure, there are widely varying opinions about which diet
and/or exercise plan is the right one, or the best one; but there’s no question
that there are plenty to follow, and that most of them, if followed, will work.
But where’s the equivalent “emotional diet” or “mental
workout plan” that’s guaranteed to keep us happy, engaged, able to cope with
the world and other people and things that we need to do?
Because I want one. I want a checklist of things I can do to
be mentally and emotionally healthy. I want to be told how many hours a day I
have to do them, and in what order, and how many reps I need for maximum
efficacy.
Philosophers, religious thinkers, and the psychiatric
community aren’t a lot of help; they’ve largely spent their time arguing about
what ought to make us happy. If one doesn’t buy into the idea that the
highest virtue is pleasure, or surrender to God, or living in harmony with
nature, or reason, or mortification of the body, or [fill in your favorite
spiritual or philosophical belief], the instructions that follow about how to
reach that state of being are sort of useless.
Just as I don’t need to understand the mechanism by which
eating less junk food causes my body to become lighter or lifting weights makes
it stronger, I shouldn’t have to find a philosophy or religion to which to
subscribe in order to find a set of actions that leads to greater mental
health.
Similarly, my physical health isn’t culturally dependent;
I’m going to get fat and weak if I eat too much and work out too little whether
I’m an American living in the 21st century, or a Maori living in 100
BCE. So why should it be that what makes me happy, or mentally healthy, depends
on the culture in which I was raised? Sure,
there are cultural norms, and sure, fitting in with or breaking those norms leads
to internal conflict. But those norms are almost always control mechanisms,
meant to keep the population behaving in a way that works best for the ruling
class. They’re not usually things that, absent the pressure brought to bear by
others, are natural, or pleasing or, in and of themselves, creators of
happiness or peace or resilience.
What I’m saying, and what I suspect philosophers have been
struggling with since they had time to look up from their pre-historic plate
long enough to think thoughts, is that there should be a set of behaviors,
skills, and practices that lead all people to be mentally and emotionally
healthy, whenever or wherever they live, and in whatever circumstances they
face.
Perhaps I’m putting too much emphasis on a parallel between
physical health and mental/emotional health. But I find it so odd that we’ve
named and created (or are trying to create) therapies for every single physical
ailment, abnormality, disorder, discomfort, misalignment, or cosmetic flaw, but
barely understand what creates mental and emotional strength, comfort, and
flexibility.
And the worst part is, the lack of coherent thought about
what defines mental health, or happiness, or about what leads to it, is REALLY impeding
my ability to create leading indicators that guide my about what to do every
day to reach that state of internal health.
Would someone PLEASE come up with a unified theory of mental
health? Happiness? Anything? It doesn’t seem like much to ask.
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