<p>You view the world through your lens and that lens changes your mood, reactions, and how you go about your day.  How did you get the lens you have now? How has it changed? How can you change it to be however you want? What is the importance of knowing we all have different lenses? All that is covered in this week&apos;s episode! For this week&apos;s activity, take a pause when you have a reaction to something. Think about what that reaction was, and why you had it. It might not come to you right away but practice being aware that you can change your lens and then your reactions. <br/> <br/>I also started a video podcast. Check it out on YouTube! @merissaberge</p>

How to feel safe living on your own

Let's talk about life. Your life, my life, everyone's lives, and how we can learn from each other to benefit our own mental and behavioral health. Mental health is just as important as our physical health, yet it is not treated as so. This podcast is hopeful in breaking the stigma around mental health. Not every episode is heavy-hearted (suicide awareness, various mental illnesses, etc.), nor is every episode light-hearted (advice, funny late-night thoughts, etc.), but in every episode, there is something to learn. The content comes from a variety of sources whether clinical research or someone’s very own personal experience. We all go through hard times throughout life, so I want to teach you some ways to make those times a little less hard. Every week there will be a new activity for you to try that could be useful or enjoyable to better your mental health. It can be easy to fall back into the same, destructive pattern but I encourage you to recognize you are not stuck in that way of thinking. Each day you have the opportunity to adjust your way of thinking and what may be helping you could help someone else, so it is important to speak about it. This podcast is set to challenge and expand our way of thinking by allowing us to become more self-aware of ourselves and those around us: you can’t change what you don’t acknowledge, but you can’t acknowledge what you don’t know.