In this blog we exchange a lot about intellectual aptitude.
After all, our paintings focus on the intersection of intellectual health and
training. But a crucial layer of any dialogue about mental form is a larger
dialogue about typical physical form. When it comes to health talks, they
usually revolve around physical health. From an early age, we are able to
articulate our physical experience. However, we are not so used to being in
tune with what we are feeling mentally. This is because we often think of
fitness as a single body aspect. But in reality this is no longer the case.
Fitness is just one aspect of fitness; mental health is equally crucial.
Think of it as an equation: physical health + mental
health = general health
So let's talk a little more about the intellectual form.
Discussions about intellectual fitness are more common today
than, say, a decade ago. Yet even today, discussions of intellectual fitness
regularly revolve around health problems or intellectual illnesses. When we
acknowledge something negative, it tends to become taboo. Conversations about
mental illness are extremely essential, but so are conversations about popular
mental health. Mental health is part of your regular health, not just when
there is a problem.
The World Health Organization defines mental health as
"
a state of well-being in which a man or woman realizes their
personal abilities, can cope with the ordinary stresses of life, can paint
productively, and can contribute to your network. " In other words, mental
fitness is an essential part of our daily life.
Think of a time when something in your body bothered you: a
cracking neck, a pain in your ankle, a blister on your foot, a headache. What
did you do to deal with this pain? Did you have the equipment and the means to
know how to take care of your body and reduce pain?
Now think about a time when something changed and made you
mentally upset: you felt sad or anxious, agitated or worried. What have you
done to control your mental health? Did you have the equipment or assets you
needed to know how to take proper care of yourself?
As a general rule, responding to our physical desires and
concerns is instinctive,
but responding to our
intellectual desires and concerns often requires extra effort. This is partly
because a physical issue like a headache is more pressing than feeling miserable
or restless, but also because we tend to think of better intellectual health in
terms of something that is out there. The best as a disease, we do not believe
is clearly part of our standard physical condition.
Ultimately,
we hope to change the way you think about intellectual
fitness. It is no longer something we need to be aware of when something
doesn't seem entirely appropriate, but something we have to think about
frequently. We need to try to satisfy our mental health desires in the same way
that we do our bodily health needs, knowing what we want to do to take care of
ourselves and taking steps to stay healthy, physically and mentally.
