In the past century, we have seen a dramatic rise in the number of people struggling with psychological distress — our inability to cope with the many demands of modern life has a significant impact on our lives.
In today’s fast-paced and often stressful world, it can be easy to feel like you’re constantly on the back foot.
There are so many demands on your time, energy and attention that it can feel like there’s never enough of them to go around.
We place a lot of emphasis on efficiency and output rather than appreciation and reflection. We are prone to living as if we’re racing toward a finish line — without stopping to smell the roses.
With the best intentions, we often spend our days focused solely on work, tasks, and other responsibilities.
This can leave little time to nurture relationships with friends or family, let alone make time to explore ourselves or pursue personal creative projects that bring out the best in us.
As a result, many people feel exhausted or get sick frequently because they are putting their bodies under so much stress.
But we must not let the external conditions of our lives neutralise or crush our natural sense of richness.
We must have a way of seeing and thinking about things that makes them permanently significant — so they will continue to have meaning even when they are stripped of their material attributes.
This is what I mean by having a psychologically rich life: one filled with meaning despite adverse circumstances.
Research shows that people with high levels of well-being have stronger social relationships and better physical health. In other words, the things that make you happy also keep you healthy!
“The truly rich men are the ones who have health, loved ones and a work they love,” says Maxime Lagacé.
When it comes to living a psychologically rich life, many of us may feel like so many factors are outside our control.
Psychologists argue that the quality of your life is very much within your control. By adopting specific practices and principles in your daily life, you can bring more richness into your world and thus become happier.
The three pillars of a rich life
“I have a simple philosophy: Fill what’s empty. Empty what’s full. Scratch where it itches,” says Alice Roosevelt Longworth.
A psychologically rich life revolves around self-awareness, purpose and meaning. These three pillars enable you to grow and live a more fulfilling existence.
Factors like how often you feel positive emotions (such as joy or satisfaction), how much you enjoy your work and hobbies, and how close you feel to other people in your life (whether it’s through friendships or romantic relationships) can help you create a psychologically rich life.
A psychologically rich life is also about creating openness and connection in your day-to-day life. It’s about creating a sense of calm, safety and security in your immediate environment.
It’s about having time for yourself, expressing your feelings and taking care of yourself, being intentional with the small things you do daily to build a foundation of positive well-being.
In other words, it’s about making small changes that add up over time to create a more positive, healthy way of being.
A psychologically rich life goes beyond being merely happy; it consists in having access to your feelings (mindful), managing them in a healthy way (self-aware), valuing them (self-accepting), exploring them with others (connected), and expressing them creatively (self-expressive).
It’s also about doing the things that make you feel alive, grounded and connected to who you are. A rich life means feeling genuine joy, fulfilment, contentment and having a sense of meaning and purpose behind everything you do.
A Psychologically rich life is about knowing how to manage your emotions healthily, so they don’t hold you back from living the fullest version of yourself.
Emotional and psychological health are correlated with physical health, so a psychologically rich life leads to overall health and well-being. Your emotional and psychological health can be improved through increased mindfulness and self-awareness.
Start with openness to experience
You don’t have to disrupt your schedule or radically change your way of life to lead a rich life. Openness to experience, no matter how small, can do more for your psychological well-being.
“Openness to experience, Oishi and Westgate say, is often characterized by “vivid fantasy, artistic sensitivity, depth of feeling, behavioral flexibility, intellectual curiosity, and unconventional attitudes,’ writes Sarah Todd of Quartz.
An open mind to embrace life can open opportunities for a wide range of experiences: high-quality relationships with people who care about you, meaningful work that challenges and enhances your skills, time to relax and unwind, and opportunities to learn and grow.
Ultimately it comes down to how you think about your life. If you perceive life from a meaningful perspective, you will have more opportunities for happiness. When you are psychologically rich, you prioritise the health of mind, body and spirit over external appearances.
In a chaotic and stressful society, it can be challenging to develop a rich and meaningful life when there are a lot of external pressures or demands on your time.
But it’s worth the effort because it will help bring balance to your life, giving you more energy and peace of mind to handle external pressures or demands better. The greatest wealth is not what you own but the freedom to know yourself, understand your core needs and pursue what brings out the best in you.
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This post was previously published on Thomas Oppong’s blog.
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You may also like these posts on The Good Men Project:
White Fragility: Talking to White People About Racism | Escape the “Act Like a Man” Box | The Lack of Gentle Platonic Touch in Men’s Lives is a Killer | What We Talk About When We Talk About Men |
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