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So efficient and hushed are
our brains in their day to day operations,

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we are apt to miss

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what an extraordinary
and complicated achievement it is

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to feel mentally well.

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A mind in a healthy state is,
in the background,

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continually performing 
a near-miraculous set of manoeuvres

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that underpin our moods 
of clear-sightedness and purpose.

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To appreciate what mental health might be,

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and therefore what its opposite involves,

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we might take a moment to consider

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some of what will be going on in the folds
of an optimally-functioning mind.

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First and foremost,
a healthy mind is an editing mind,

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an organ that manages to sieve

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from thousands of stray, dramatic, 
disconcerting, or horrifying thoughts

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those particular ideas and sensations
that actively need to be entertained

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in order for us to direct
our lives effectively.

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Partly, this means keeping at bay
punitive and critical judgements

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that might want to tell us repeatedly
how disgraceful and appalling we are,

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long after harshness has ceased 
to serve any useful purpose.

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When we are interviewing for a new job
or taking someone on a date,

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a healthy mind doesn’t force us
to listen to inner voices

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that insist on our unworthiness.

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It allows us to talk to ourselves 
as we would to a friend.

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At the same time, a healthy mind 
resists the pull of unfair comparisons.

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It doesn’t constantly allow

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the achievements and successes
of others to throw us off course,

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and reduce us to a state
of bitter inadequacy.

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It doesn’t torture us

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by continually comparing 
our condition to that of people

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who have, in reality, had very different
upbringings and trajectories through life,

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A well-functioning mind

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recognizes the futility and cruelty 
of constantly finding fault

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with its own nature.

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Along the way, a healthy mind keeps 
a judicious grip on the faucet of fear.

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It knows that, in theory,

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there is an endless number of things
that we could worry about:

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a blood vessel might fail,

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a scandal might erupt,

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the planes' engines could
sheer from their wings…

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but it has a good sense of the distinction

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between what could conceivably happen

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and what is, in fact, likely to happen.

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And it is able to leave us in peace

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as regards the wilder
eventualities of fate,

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confident that awful things 
will either not unfold

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or could be dealt with ably enough

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if ever they did so.

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A healthy mind avoids 
catastrophic imaginings.

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It knows that there are
broad and stable stone steps -

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not a steep and slippery incline -

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between itself and disaster.

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A healthy mind has compartments
with heavy doors that shut securely.

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It can compartmentalise
where it needs to -

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not all thoughts belong at all moments.

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While talking to a grandmother,

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the mind prevents the emergence of
images of last night's erotic fantasies.

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While looking after a child,

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it can repress its more cynical
and misanthropic insights.

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Aberrant thoughts
about jumping on a train line

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or harming oneself with a sharp knife

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can remain brief peculiar flashes,

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rather than repetitive fixations.

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A healthy mind has mastered 
the techniques of censorship.

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A healthy mind can quieten 
its own buzzing preoccupations

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in order, at times,
to focus on the world beyond itself.

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It can be present and engaged
with what and who is immediately around.

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Not everything it could feel
has to be felt at every moment.

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It can be a good listener.

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A healthy mind combines
an appropriate suspicion of certain people

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with a fundamental trust in humanity.

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It can take
an intelligent risk with a stranger.

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It doesn’t extrapolate
from life’s worst moments

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in order to destroy the possibility
of anything good emerging

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with a new acquaintance.

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A healthy mind knows how to hope.

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It identifies,
and then hangs on tenaciously

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to a few reasons to keep going.

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Grounds for despair, anger
and sadness are, of course, all around.

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But the healthy mind knows

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how to bracket negativity 
in the name of endurance.

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It clings to evidence
of what is still beautiful and kind.

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It remembers to appreciate.

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It can, despite everything, 
still look forward to a hot bath,

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some dried fruit, or dark chocolate,

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a chat with a friend,

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or a satisfying day of work.

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It refuses to let itself be silenced

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by all the many sensible arguments

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in favor of rage and despondency.

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Outlining some of the features
of a healthy mind

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helps us to identify what can go awry

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when we fall ill.

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We should acknowledge the extent

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to which mental illness is ultimately
as common and as essentially unshameful,

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as its bodily counterpart.

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True mental health

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involves a frank acceptance of
how much ill health there will have to be

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in even the most ostensibly 
competent and meaningful life.

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And we should be
no more reluctant to seek help

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than we are when we develop 
a chest infection or a sore knee,

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and should consider ourselves 
no less worthy of love and sympathy.

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Our online shop has
a range of books and gifts

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that address the most important
and often neglected areas of life.

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Click now to learn more.

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Subtitles by Carol Wang