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What makes for a healthy mind platter

| HeatherJoy Campbell |
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One of my mum’s enduring mottos in life was “have a little of what you fancy”.

Perhaps that’s why I’ve been drawn to grazing boards when it comes to catering for family get-togethers. Their self-serve nature accommodates everyone’s tastes—sweet or savoury—as well as individual appetites, and they speak of communal joy.

This time of year, particularly, I need to make wise choices when it comes to my mental wellbeing, too. It’s easy to be swept up in the hype of all that (supposedly) makes the festive season. It may be marvellous: it may also be fraught. I’ve written before of merry-minded ways to beat the blues. Let me share today the importance of what I like to think of as my mental wellbeing grazing board: a healthy mind platter.

What is a healthy mind platter?

Nutritionally we know our bodies are not well-fuelled on a diet of salty, sugary, fatty, highly processed foods (even if our tastebuds say ‘more!’).

We function best with a variety of vegetables and fruit, legumes, nuts, whole grains, unsaturated fats and protein. Then there’s what are called ‘brain  foods’– including leafy greens, fatty fish (or as I do, a flaxseed oil supplement for Omega-3) and berries.

Some years ago, Dr Dan Siegel and Dr David Rock devised the concept of a healthy mind platter for optimum brain health.

They contended that a combination of  7 daily mental activities provided the ‘mental nutrients’ needed to function best.

 7 daily mental activities for mental health

Here’s what makes up a healthy mind platter.

  1. Focus. Choose a task that requires your concentration and focus.
  2. Play.  Do something spontaneous, playful or creative. Enjoy!
  3. Connect with another person. Talk to someone, somehow, every day. Ideally face-to-face or pick up the phone or Facetime a friend.  Texting and emailing do not count.
  4. Be physical. Get that heart rate up. It’s great for the brain too.
  5. Be reflective. Meditation helps develop the grey matter and strengthen the immune system.
  6. Recharge the battery doing not much at all. No more feeling guilty watching a TV show or flicking through a magazine. You need some of this time!
  7. Sleep. When we’re super-busy it’s easy to scrimp on zzzs.  In doing that, we fail to give our brain time to consolidate learning, recover from experiences, and reset.

The healthy mind platter—like those grazing boards—has variety and balance. Isn’t that what we’re all looking for? You can read more specifics here.

Laughter Yoga’s place on my platter

Contrary to popular belief, I don’t do Laughter Yoga 24/7. Daily, yes! It’s part of my wellbeing regimen because it is:

  • light cardio
  • playful
  • meditative
  • connecting
  • relaxing.

I also go for a walk or swim most days, move to music doing Ageless Grace for a few minutes daily when not running sessions in that practice, get lost in a book, volunteer, cook, watch TV,  play Waffle/Wordle/Strands, craft, and sleep—in between work, family ‘stuff’ and occasional house cleaning!).

If you’d like to explore Laughter Yoga as a means of tending to your healthy mind platter, consider joining a laughter club session, in-person or virtually. You’ll find information about ‘laughter club’ in-person and online sessions here.

Perhaps you’d like to organise a private group session for your friends, co-workers or community. Happy hour never felt so healthily good! For that contact me and I can put you in touch with a local certified laughter yoga leader.

Heather Joy Campbell is a global ambassador of Laughter Yoga International and Queensland’s leading trainer/facilitator. She combines laughter yoga exercises and evidence-based science of happiness techniques in tailored sessions for workplaces, aged care, neighbourhood centres — wherever there’s a need and request (online and in person) and seeks to grow the practice and practitioner base in this big Australian state.