Zoryana Golovata. Professional Member of the American Counseling Association.
There are two topics that affect our lives whether we are interested in them or not: money and health have a special influence on a person.
These two issues affect our thoughts, actions and surroundings. The result of human interaction with information, circumstances, feelings and emotions is the basis for the formation of personality, which reflects our psychology of money, perception of personal happiness, prosperity and has an impact on mental and physical health.
How are the skills of psychological well-being and mental health formed? First of all, they need emotional literacy and are based on psychological stability and the ability to transform thinking. What is emotional literacy? It is the ability to deal with emotions to achieve one’s goals. Understanding that all emotions have their meaning. It is the ability to identify anger and aggression, anger and desire, to distinguish anger from fear. It's about researching the emotional state, studying the impact of emotions on your behavior and understanding the basic principles of "managing" them. According to the World Happiness Report, the number of negative emotions, including anxiety, sadness and anger, has increased by almost a third. Mental health problems around the world can cost the world economy $9 trillion by 2030. (Source: World Health Organization.)
How can we develop psychological resilience? Through the formation of the skill of flexible thinking, values and principles of personal psychological identification; the development of personal strengths and reforming weaknesses into growth zones; the separation of personal goals from socially significant tasks; and the ability to understand their needs, meet them in harmony and balance. The American Psychological Association (APA) has developed ten tips for building psychological resilience. Among them, the recommendation is to avoid the tendency to perceive crises as insurmountable problems and to accept that change is a natural part of life, to create effective connections, to form a psychologically stable environment. And here the main personal skill is the ability to accept what we cannot change.
Another basic element is the skill of transforming thinking. It is based on one of the main aspects of coaching—awareness. When we realize the essence of the subject, we can change this essence at our own discretion, we can make a conscious choice of reactions, work with prejudices and obstacles. Personal cognition does exactly what helps to identify and overcome barriers to growth, and ultimately makes positive change in the most effective way, potentially in all aspects of life.
Why is the institution of personal cognition so relevant? Having a lot of money, power or status does not help reduce fears, insecurities, worries, life problems and daily challenges that we all face. A third of the world’s population suffers from stress, and one in five experiences sadness or anger, according to the American Gallup Center.
What is the basis of stress and insecurity? That people have a bad sense about their future. It is easy to imagine a goal, it is harder to imagine this goal in the context of real-life situations that will appear as a result of achieving the goal. This affects business and investments, where we are required not only to take a number of actions to achieve results, but also to predict how we will respond to future circumstances. Any incomprehensible thing is worrying and it is natural.
What have we lost sight of? That what we cannot measure. Minimizing regrets in the future is difficult to rationalize on paper, but easy to justify in real life. Very often the result of unsatisfactory results is not the result of analysis, but the failure of imagination and thinking. Often the main problems begin when we try to solve the problem only with the help of money. Common things, such as people’s attitudes toward greed and fear, how people behave under stress, and how they respond to key motivators, usually remain static. But specific agreements, trends, specific achievements of individuals, have personal ways of finding answers. Priorities shift to communication, compassion, flexibility. Developing the confidence that you are able to solve problems and trust your instincts contributes to the formation of psychological resilience. There is a choice between being right and being happy or how to achieve both.
How to reach it? Working on yourself and constant studying (not evaluation, but personal study) of your reactions, emotions, behavior, relationships with loved ones, money, environment— is the first social norm.
We all want to talk to someone, someone we can interact with, someone we can work with comfortably without fear, someone we can challenge honestly and equally, everyone wants to be heard and seen. This is the second social norm.
The desire to control one's life, to be able to remain wealthy, to maintain one’s identity, to receive energy and to have harmonious relationships. This is the third social norm. And it’s all about the psychological level of wealth and mental health. It’s about constantly working with consciousness. It is one thing is to think about life and analyze it, but another is really to live it. Knowledge of how to develop yourself, to see yourself better and to create an environment which promotes psychological growth forms is the basis for mental health that creates the conditions for psychological well-being. These basic concepts are involved in the formation of a healthy and prosperous personality and society.
