Mental Fitness

his past week we began a new endeavour, related to mental health, called, “MindFit”. In everyone’s opinion, especially those that participated, they overwhelmingly expressed that it was very successful and helpful event. Let’s begin with this question:

What is mental fitness?

According to experts, mental fitness has four main components. When one has the ability to strengthen any one of the four components, there is a positive improvement when coping with stress, overall health, and relationships. The four core components are as follows:

Emotional: Deals with, self-acceptance, self-esteem and resilience. Resilience is not so much about how to deal with strong emotions, but how you come out of it, in other words, the end result.

Social: Deals with, social companionship and support networks. Studies show that people who have friends, and participate in fellowship activities, have better quality of physical and emotional health.

Financial: Deals with, feeling in control of your finances, helping to reduce stress in your life. There is an; oecd/infe (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development/ International Network on Financial Education) 2020 international survey of adult financial literacy, that was conducted, revealed that only about 17% of surveyed adults self-assessed their knowledge as high, 53% suggested it is average, and 26% estimated their own knowledge as low. To most of us financial wellness is about having a certain amount of money at our disposal; but this is not true, because this is what our parents along with society have taught us. It’s about feeling in control of our finances, being able to handle setbacks, and being on track to achieve financial and life goals. In other words; godly stewardship.

Physical: Deals with, reducing the risk of chronic illnesses, developing and improving the health of your brain. There is a connection between our physical and mental health, both can be improved by exercise, diet, and proper sleep.

In the “mindfit” event, we primarily addressed the emotional/mental well-being of the four core components. Looking ahead, we will certainly address the other core components which will give an opportunity for other church ministries, such as Stewardship, etc., to become involved in events like this.

I believe this is a great opportunity for Evangelism with a very simple approach, involving church ministries to become more community focused, rather than just inwardly focused. We thank Dr. Jaqueline Peart, who is a Psychologist, helping us navigate through the presentations, as well, answer questions from the audience. I had the privilege of coordinating and presenting this event. We praise God for providing guidance to accomplish this awesome work, CPC for hosting the event, IIW for loaning us the

backdrop curtains, and also would like to thank Alma for her participation as Health Ministries Coordinator, Sandy as Registration Coordinator, Julie as Advertising Coordinator, and of course all those who participated, and prayed for the success of the event.

The event ended with a simple demonstration of foods for brain health, which was appreciated by everyone, as a future event outlook, such as; “Dinner with the Doctor”.

“For the Holy Spirit, God’s gift, does not want you to be afraid of people, but to be wise and strong, and to love them and enjoy being with them”. 2Timothy 1:7 TLB