#21: Masculinity, mental health and relieving overwhelm

February 15, 2020

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Your weekly round-up of wisdom, habits. This week: Masculinity, mental health and relieving overwhelm

#21: Masculinity, mental health and relieving overwhelm

Welcome to issue #21 of The Power Up, the curated email magazine from Man Body Spirit.

Every day I scour the Internet in search of wisdom, habits, inspiration and practical solutions to help improve the mental, physical and spiritual wellbeing of our readers, curating the best bits together in this neat little package – and delivered direct to your inbox.

This week’s selection includes some analysis of modern masculinity, and the lessons that more of us need to hear as we are growing up.

Also, a psychotherapist busts some of the common misconceptions her clients have about mental health, and I’ve found six practical ways to relieve the overwhelm we all feel these days.

I also share 25+ of the best mind, body & wellness festivals in Europe this year.

As always, I hope you find something interesting and relevant to you.
Enjoy.

Six packs, success and solitude: men in the media | Modern Masculinity

I start this week by highlighting the Guardian’s excellent series on Modern Masculinity.

Actually, it’s now into its second series of short videos in which Guardian journalist Iman Amrani explores a range of issues relating to 21st Century men.

In the well produced series, Iman meets men from all walks of life, from UFC Fighters, to barber shop customers, to schoolkids, to ad agency execs, tackling topics as broad as ‘what makes a man?’, media representation of men, faith, circumcision, and much more.

It’s highly recommended viewing if you enjoy the topics covered by Man Body Spirit.

Mind

5 things therapists wish everyone knew about Mental Health

Psychotherapist Amy Morin clears up some of those most common misconceptions she hears from people about mental health in this short piece in Psychology Today.

Body

25+ of Europe’s best mind, body and wellness festivals in 2020

If this grey, wet winter has you hibernating and thinking ahead to more enjoyable times to come, then you might enjoy the Man Body Spirit guide to Europe’s best mind, body & wellness festivals.

From yoga and meditation, to workshops, amazing food, music and much more, in some of Europe’s most beautiful countryside locations – this list proves you can have an amazing, life-affirming festival experience, without the major hangover.

Spirit

The things we don’t teach men (and how it ruins everything)

Matthew Fray is a relationship coach who leans on the lessons of his failed marriage and divorce to help others avoid making the same mistakes he did.

Here he introduces a short series on ‘The things we don’t teach men’, approaching it with the view that:
“Men think that being a good man automatically defaults them to ‘good husband’ or ‘good father’, if they are married or have children. I thought the same thing.

“(But) Good men can be colossally shitty husbands. You can have all the character and professional skills in the world and still demonstrate gross incompetence as a husband and father.”

Read on to discover more of Matthew’s lessons.

Bonus content

A guide to managing your time when you’re always behind : zen habits

Being behind on all the things we need to do seems to be part of our basic human condition.
Do you know anyone who feels they’re completely on top of things?

Most of the time, we feel behind — too many things to do in too little time.
We’re stressed, overwhelmed, busy, distracted… It’s a horrible feeling, but most of us feel it most of the time.

So what can we do? In this piece from the brilliant Zen Habits blog, Leo Babuta outlines six practical steps and mindset shifts we can all employ to relieve the anxiety of an overgrown To-do list.

Finding strength in a world obsessed with size | TEDxMileHigh

We see it in the media, movies, television shows, and magazines – for men and boys, strength is measured by physical size.

But when you’re a tiny kid from the tiny island of Guam, how do you find your place in the world?

In this inspiring talk and poem, Meta Sarmiento shares his personal journey and what it really means to be strong.

“If we can teach young boys at an early age to look beyond their physical attributes and to look inward to reflect on their abilities, their values, their passions and their knowledge, we might have a world full of boys and men who are less obsessed with proving strength through how much space they occupy, control or destroy,” he says.

Visit the Blog at ManBodySpirit.com

“No one is more dangerously insane than one who is sane all the time: he is like a steel bridge without flexibility, and the order of his life is rigid and brittle.”

Alan Watts

Thanks for reading, I hope you found some great value within this week’s edition. If so, please pass on a recommendation to your friends. If not, then please give me feedback on what more you would like to see. See you next time, Adam.

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#21: Masculinity, mental health and relieving overwhelm

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