We are reaching the end of this Philosopher-in-Residence’s Summer of Pseud and lo and behold, what better way to culminate an impromptu series than to reflect upon how we all feel?

Sentience is usually thought of as the characteristic that differentiates we members of Plankind from beasts or inanimate objects. It’s the capacity to feel things and have emotions. It’s what makes humans humans and planks of wood, planks of wood (most of the time)!

This fortnight, I wanted to talk about mental health, something that hitherto was often kept behind closed doors and not really given due respect in the same way physical illness has always been.

It is encouraging to see people being more open about their mental health and friends, family, employers and workmates reciprocating this dialogue in many instances. But, there’s still a long way to go.

I have a dream that one day you would be able to walk into a room and tell people your mental health was feeling terrible that day and it would have the same level of acceptance and support as if you did the same and said you had a terrible headache, or tummyache. Unfortunately, there is still some stigma and barriers to being open and talking about problems in this way.

I chose sentience as the topic to prompt this blog, since when mental health is poor, you often lose your ability to feel, or interpret emotions. This is anguishing enough, but to add insult to injury, you may have no idea when these functions will return, or like you have no power to help care for yourself. Below are my top 5 recommendations for being mindful of mental health and making sure you can be part of a support network.

1. Don’t ask people if they’re ok if they’re looking sad. Say something nice about them, and see what they converse back. Read the situation, and if it seems like they cannot accept the compliment or are shying away from the conversation, make an effort to do something with them so that someone with stronger social capabilities at the moment can make sure they aren’t slipping into isolation.
2. Practice Thank You Thursday and spontaneously tell someone else a nice thing why you value and wish to thank them.
3. Set yourself a challenge to give up gossiping (for at least one day a week if a full-on ban sounds too much).
4. Learn more about mental health so you can be an effective support of others and help keep yourself safe and well too.
5. Being nice is free. Think about someone who may be at risk or who doesn’t seem themselves. Think about how many times you’ve made the effort recently to check in with them or promote good mental health for them. Then try to do a little more.

Let us know how these work for you.

Next fortnight, I’ll be musing On Why – prepare your inner toddler accordingly!

Please get in touch with any particular aspects of this topic you’d like me to write about.

In the meantime,

Happy Planning

PS If you want some other free tips for your business life, check out the Working Well blog – out fortnightly on Wednesdays, courtesy of Make Me A Plan’s Productivity Expert, Penny Le Kelly. Browse the latest edition here:

https://www.makemeaplan.com/news/the-next-generation/