Shift Your Focus

How do you get out of a mental rut? By finding a happy and healthy distraction! To take a break from stressful thoughts, change your mental channel by spending time with content that you find healthy, engaging and enjoyable. Of course watching your favorite movie won’t solve a nagging concern - but taking a break from thinking about something that’s bothering you might help you see the problem from a fresh perspective. 

We’re not saying you should watch Disney movies every single day (unless you want to!).  But when much of our entertainment is “bite-sized” articles, or short videos designed to overstimulate, it makes sense to take time for warm and aspirational content.

Activations

  1. Reading: Curl up with a good book.  It could be fiction, nonfiction, self-help… whatever you enjoy! Here’s our book list 

  2. Movies: There’s never a shortage of uplifting movies to watch.  Here’s a list of some of our favorites.

  3. Research interests: What are you interested in?  Passionate about?  There’s nothing like diving in and learning more about your interests.  YouTube, Reddit, TedX and your local library are good places to start.

  4. Listen to some inspirational music: Check out Jewel’s Mental Health & Inspiration Playlist on Spotify

  5. Quick Mental Health exercises - like this one on Self-Compassion

Resources

Virtual Reality

Innerworld, an online immersive peer to peer mental health community invites people to connect, share, heal and grow. Their built-for-wellness worlds give you unlimited access to a social VR mental health peer support community.

Videos

Articles

  1. Why Inspiration Matters x Harvard Business Review

  2. How Watching Movies Can Benefit Our Mental Health 

  3. Top 75 Growth Mindset Movies & Videos for Children

  4. Cheat Sheet for Coping with Stress

Hotline information: If you are in crisis please call the mental health hotline and dial 988. You can also text ‘HERO’ to 741741.