Last week was Mental Health Awareness Week, which is particularly pertinent considering the current global situation. According to the Mental Health Foundation, mental health problems are one of the main causes of the overall disease burden worldwide. With some form of social distancing and isolation set to continue and a high degree of uncertainty around what the future will look like after COVID-19 (from personal job security to the wider economy), taking care of our emotional wellbeing has never been more important.
It is vitally important that individuals take time to think about their emotional wellbeing. It is no longer the taboo topic it once was, and people are starting to realise the benefits of looking after not just their physical health but also their mind. But this isn’t always as simple as it can seem. Our mind affects all aspects of our lives and our whole sense of happiness. It can help us, or it can trip us up repeatedly, often without us even understanding why.
We all recognise that we are a little different at work to how we behave at home. Some of us may notice that we feel differently at different times of the year, month or even at different times of the day. But there are fundamental aspects of us that don’t really change over time. These traits sit deep within us, below the level of conscious thought and behaviour and shape our daily thoughts, reactions, desires and choices.
It is now universally accepted that our wellbeing depends very much on the alignment of these core drivers – our traits – with how we are living our life. When the two are aligned we tend to thrive and flourish. But when they are not, we are likely to feel less well, less in control, and perhaps even more restless and anxious. Ultimately, the more we understand about who we really are, the more we can choose things that really suit us in life.
The Cambridge Code is a new digital tool that helps us to do exactly this. Like a DNA test of the mind, it allows individuals to look beneath the skin and see what makes them who they really are. It gives people more agency over their subconscious, and in turn their wellbeing and happiness.
Looking at traits from natural resilience and adaptability to innate authenticity and inner ambition, The Cambridge Code enables us to understand why we are likely to behave in the ways that we do and learn more about the situations we are likely to find stressful – and why. Knowledge or even just an awareness about these things gives us the power to make choices and decisions in a more informed way.
The tool gives insight alongside practical suggestions to work on self-limiting beliefs holding us back, as well as recommendations for intervention when it might be useful. It can be helpful not just when we are making decisions, but when we are processing them or reflecting on them too. Understanding ourselves and how we are influenced by outside stressors is important at any stage or time of life –both during stability and when facing a more turbulent environment, like we are living through with COVID-19 right now.
For example, understanding more about our innate adaptability is particularly relevant given the current uncertainty we are living with. How flexible is our approach to life’s ups and downs? How will we respond to a new normal over the coming weeks, months and indeed, longer term? Having an awareness of our natural responses to these types of situation gives us the chance to be prepared in advance, rather than waiting to react when we find ourselves feeling out of control. For instance, it gives us an opportunity to build up a set of mechanisms and strategies to make times of change feel less stressful – and these can be as simple as asking for help from others, to being able to articulate your own concerns and anxieties.
The Cambridge Code is a powerful way to get a pulse on your emotional wellbeing and take control of who you are to truly flourish in life. It brings a level of self-understanding that offers both an opportunity to make changes but also a sense of acceptance of who we really are. It gives us the chance to better align our life goals with our true potential. Through this we can affect positive change on our happiness and our wellbeing.
