I really believe that our culture practically sabotages good mental health. I believe that there really is an epidemic of poor mental health. In this short essay, I touch on two "free" things that people can do to help themselves. There is more, but we are busy people.
Walking
I decided in 1980 that I liked walking to work/school. I still like walking/public transportation.
When I drive to work/school, I usually have the windows up so I'm completely enclosed and separated from nature. And the driving goal is to get to your destination without hitting someone or being hit.
Walking is different. I am bombarded by the weather and I am in close proximity to plants and sometimes even what little dirt that is not covered by concrete. I can smell the city - whatever it smells like that day. I speak to other people going to work, people coming home from work, neighbors walking animals and men leaving the shelter after breakfast. I can hear the ship horns and the noise of diesel trucks making morning deliveries. I smell the fresh baked bread on its way to restaurants. I hope for a whiff of coffee from a coffee packing plant. I hear the church bells at 8:00 a.m. (rather than a car radio.)
Cooking from Scratch
I have recently gone back to doing a lot of my own cooking. I had forgotten the smells of the raw ingredients and the textures and characteristics of raw many foods. So much of our food is processed to the same texture now. But manipulating the raw ingredients you can feel/experience all the differences in smoothness, density, colors, hardness, and toughness. It's a good feeling to really know your food, to experience different the colors and smells before preparation.
So much of of the experience of food is taken away from us because we cook for ourselves less and less. Maybe we overeat to compensate in an attempt to find that joy in food that we need on some level. Maybe we oversugar and oversalt to compensate for the loss of direct experience.
Separateness
In the world we live in we are more than not separated from each other and our environment. We enclose ourselves in vehicles to travel even short distances. We eat processed foods. Many of our furnishings are man-make materials, particularly plastics. There is a dullness, a samness - you can almost feel that something is not quite right.
I wonder if a high percentage of risky behavior could be explained by the "desire to feel something" and if those same risky behaviors would be reduced in numbers or at least intensity if people experienced the environment more.
Alive
Over the years, I have discovered and re-discovered that I believe walking and cooking from raw ingredients are good for my mental health. I feel more alive - life is less "drudgery" - I am experiencing the world as we were made to experience it. I am stimulated, but not overwhelmed by the experiences because those experiences were designed for humans.
Ahh! Good Mental Health on the Cheap!
Postscript
I wrote this article "in my head" while cooking in my kitchen in New Orleans.
