I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to live in harmony in the Lord. Indeed, true companion, I ask you also, help these women who have shared my struggle in the cause of the gospel, together with Clement as well as the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life. Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all people. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and pleading with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

—Philippians 4:2-8

One of my favorite authors is C. S. Lewis. I don’t agree with everything he says, but generally speaking, I really think God gave him a gift for breaking down spiritual truths into easy-to-understand pieces. In Mere Christianity, Lewis writes, “In reality, moral rules are directions for running the human machine. Every moral rule is there to prevent a breakdown, or a strain, or a friction, in the running of that machine” (page 69, 2016 Harper Collins edition).

I love this idea because it can be tempting to think the Bible is full of rules meant to keep us from having fun and enjoying life, but according to Lewis (and I think he’s right), those rules are actually a manual meant to help us as humans be as happy and healthy as possible. However, I don’t think this concept—that God cares enough to give us instructions on how to be happy and healthy—is something that happens exclusively in regard to morals.

All throughout the Bible we see instructions that show us how to be healthy in different ways. For example, God models how to be physically healthy by resting. We get another helpful hint for physical health in Daniel when the four young men from Judah request a different diet and they come out on top in Babylon’s version of the Presidential Fitness Test. 

The same thing is true of the Bible when it comes to our mental health. I did some research on the best ways we can improve our mental health. I tallied up what fifteen different articles—most of them secular—said about improving our mental health. Below are the seven most common ways and a few interesting facts about each.

1. Take care of your physical health
   Remember Elijah? When he was at his lowest, the thing he was led by God to do was take care of his physical health by eating, drinking, and sleeping. Think about how often the Bible mentions rest. It was part of the fabric of the culture God created when He handed down the law to the people of Israel, and that didn’t happen by mistake. Our mental health is intricately tied to our physical health because our brains are physical parts of our body, so one of the best things we can do to improve our mental health is to take care of our bodies.
2. Making sure you are connected to a community of healthy people
   Paul starts the fourth chapter of Philippians by making it a priority to preserve community because we are wired to need each other. We need social connection only slightly less than we need food and shelter and safety, which is why it’s not a surprise that Paul would pause in his letter to encourage the community to help these two ladies work through their conflict. Nor is it surprising that God would command us to not forsake the gathering of believers (Hebrews 10:25). It’s not because He wants to take up our Sunday mornings; it’s because He knows we need each other.
3. Mindfulness (Prayer and Meditation on Scripture)
   Outside of Christian circles, mindfulness can refer to meditation, especially when it focuses on how we are feeling or reacting to something. However, any practice that deals with focusing on our feelings and communicating them (like we would do if say, we were laying down all our worries before God) or calming our mind by focusing on something positive (like Scripture) can improve our mental health. 
4. Ask for help when you need it
   This can be hard to do, but that’s exactly what we are told to do in Philippians. The text literally tells us to lay down our worries and anxieties before God, asking for His help so they can be replaced with peace. In this passage, the request is made of God, but it is also important to be willing to ask for help from other people (especially mental health care professionals) if necessary. That’s part of the reason why having a community is so important.
5. Focus on positive things
   “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” This isn’t just a mildly good idea that we might want to try. This is how our brains were designed to work. The more you think of these things, the more easily and quickly your brain will default to thinking about them. The fancy word is neuroplasticity. It’s why some people are almost always optimistic and some people are almost always pessimistic. They’ve trained their brains to go in that direction.
6. Serve or help others
   One of the main themes of the Bible is that we need to care about others. We need to serve them, we need to be willing to help them, we need to put them first and us second. That’s because we were designed to be a blessing to others. A textbook I read while I was getting my teaching license broke down self-esteem into four components. One of those four components was whether or not we are able to help improve the lives of those around us. In other words, when we help others, we get a boost in self-esteem because we are doing what we were meant to do.
7. Go outside and enjoy nature
   When God originally made man, he was not designed to stay inside a house with four walls and blinds pulled down over the windows. We were designed to be outside caring for the garden and going for a walk in the cool of the day. As a result, being outside, soaking up some sunshine, and enjoying God’s creation can have a deep impact on our mental health.

It is such a testament to God’s goodness that He would take the time to show us how to be healthy mentally and emotionally through His Word. Sometimes life will be so difficult that we need to seek professional help, and that’s okay, but for most of our daily struggles, God has already shown us exactly what our mental machines need in order to function properly. We just need to make sure to follow the manual’s instructions.