Taking small steps to improve your mental health can have a huge impact on your overall well-being. We hope these free tips for good mental health will help you on your mental wellness journey.
- What's Your Peace?
Mental Health Colorado is inviting all Coloradans to think about the big and small ways we take care of ourselves, and how those small moments add up to improved well-being for each of us.Share how you support your well-being to be featured in Colorado’s What’s Your Peace campaign.
- Walking Mindfulness: Let Color Guide You
If you’re looking for a new way to transcend our often sedentary, distracted days, try a color walk. Set aside some time for a walk, choose a color, and then take note of that color wherever you go. Begin your color walk in your neighborhood or on a hiking trail, and then follow the color — taking note of its different shades and iterations — and see where it takes you. Don’t try to combine your color walk with other activities, e.g., listening to music or talking on the phone. Stay present and focus primarily on your sense of sight. You may observe small things you never noticed before, which provides a new perspective of your “same old” surroundings.Not sure where to begin, or ready to explore some new-to-you trails? Check out this statewide guide to snowshoeing and winter walking trails.
- Take Five and Free Your Mind
Give yourself the love you deserve. Take a five-minute mental health break with a guided self-love meditation app, podcast or video. Here’s one we like.
- An Easy Way to Cultivate Gratitude
Expressing gratitude is a proven way to bolster well-being. It helps us focus on the present moment and what we have, rather than what we’re striving for or what we lack.Consider cultivating gratitude in your life by sharing your love for others. Write a letter, email or text to someone you love, letting them know why you appreciate them. It’ll make you feel good. And, of course, you’ll make somebody’s day!
- 31 Tips to Boost Your Mental Health
Need a quick mental health break? Practice of one these 31 tips to inspire new habits and support your well-being.
- Walking Mindfulness: Let Color Guide You
If you’re looking for a new way to transcend our often sedentary, distracted days, try a color walk. Set aside some time for a walk, choose a color, and then take note of that color wherever you go. Begin your color walk in your neighborhood or on a hiking trail, and then follow the color — taking note of its different shades and iterations — and see where it takes you. Don’t try to combine your color walk with other activities, e.g., listening to music or talking on the phone. Stay present and focus primarily on your sense of sight. You may observe small things you never noticed before, which provides a new perspective of your “same old” surroundings.
- Dear Diary: It Hasn’t Been Easy
After two years of roller-coastering through emotions including fear, overload, gratitude, anxiety, hope, joy, languishing, and resilience, consider taking stock of things. Grab a journal or laptop and reflect on how you’ve changed or grown over the last two years. What do you want to take with you? What do you want to leave behind? This journaling exercise can help you turn the page as we (fingers crossed!) see the pandemic from the rearview mirror.
- 15-Minute Guided Meditation
Take a few minutes to help your mind find peace and balance, and cope with uncertainty, through this guided meditation. Do you have a free online meditation that you like? Share it with us at outreach@mentalhealthcolorado.org. We’d love to share it with other Coloradans.
- Get Moving: Easy Hiking Trails to Try
Physical activity counterbalances the symptoms of depression, according to experts. There are so many benefits to getting active and staying active, but after a cooped-up winter it can be daunting to begin. Now that spring is in bloom, here are five easy hiking trails across Colorado that offer natural beauty with low impact.
- Tune Out the Noise and Tune in for Wellness
Whether you’re on a walk, sitting on your patio, or just washing dishes, consider taking a deep dive into one of 21 great mental health podcasts. (We’re fans of Terrible, thanks for Asking for its mix of real-talk and humor, as well as Esther Perel’s incisive relationship analyses on Where Shall We Begin.) Hearing others’ real-life experiences can remind us that we’re never alone in our mental health journeys.
- 30,000 Free Relaxation Resources
Dharmaseed.org is a repository of more than 30,000 free, Buddhism-based guided meditations and dharma talks. Search for a subject that interests you – from exploring compassion to seeking enlightenment. Listen as Buddhist monks, nuns, and other dharma teachers from around the world share their spiritual teachings.
Mental Health Colorado is an advocacy organization, not a service provider. Please call 911 if you are experiencing a life-threatening emergency. For more other immediate needs, visit our mental health resources page.
