Welcome 2026 and Happy New Year!

Typically, when January 1st rolls around, people want to start the year off right. Adopting a new lifestyle that includes eating less carbs, drinking less alcohol and exercising more, are common resolutions.

But what about your mental health? How’s that doing and what can you do differently so that you’re less stressed, less bombarded with negative images and thoughts, less anxious or sad? What about working towards a quieter mind? Figuring how to replace the on and off switch in your brain with a dimmer switch and learning how to turn down the noise – both in your head and around you, is very important.

How about challenging yourself to sitting still, in a comfortable position, for five minutes of uninterrupted silence. Tune into your thoughts and the sounds around you. Do you hear chaos or shouting, are you thinking mostly positive or negative thoughts? Look around. What do you see? How connected do you feel to the space that you’re in? How grounded do you feel?

Other ways to tune into your environment and your thoughts include eating a meal or a snack without inviting stimulation – turn off the television and your phone. Don’t scroll through texts or emails during your down time. Listen to the sounds around you – the dishwasher cycling, your neighbour shovelling the driveway, the car driving past your house. Focus on the taste and texture of what you’re eating.

And when you’re out of the house – next time you’re in a doctor’s waiting room or on the subway, for example, look up from your phone. Unfortunately, you are not alone. My guess is that almost 100 percent of fellow patients or travellers will also have their phones in their hands, eyes down, likely with earphones planted firmly in their ears.

If you’re like the majority of us, then you may have missed an opportunity to observe the coming and goings of others, or even missed the opportunity of reconnecting with someone you haven’t seen in years.

Another challenge could be not picking up your phone for hours or responding immediately to a ping or alert that we’ve received a new message. For many this is very difficult. We get bored more quickly and may feel more agitated without some form of stimulation all the time. We feel that we are wasting time if we are just driving without returning phone calls, for example. We become restless. We need a fix.

As time moves on, continue to challenge yourself to longer periods without stimulation. Observe your response to it. Some of your symptoms may be similar to what an addict experiences during withdrawal – but surely not as intense. However, your brain still feels a drop in dopamine so you may feel irritable, bored, restless or fidgety. It’s like breaking a habit that your brain has been repeatedly rewarded from engaging in.

The challenge is to become more aware of your need to fill space and silence.

Unfortunately, our craving for constant sound and the need to be constantly distracted means that our minds and bodies are not often given an opportunity to be at rest. In fact, too much stimulation during the day might even impact our ability to have a good night’s rest, especially if that stimulation is close to bed time.

It also means that, ironically, our connection with people and our experience with socializing in person, looking around at people and observing or listening to others, is greatly diminished. This may lead to feelings of increased isolation and less of an ability to comfortably interact with people in social settings.

All of this leads to an increased disconnect on a personal level and more of a reliance on technology and electronic content to keep our brains occupied.

In addition, not sitting quietly, observing and reflecting on our feelings and thoughts does not allow us to know or continue to understand ourselves and others as well. In fact, some people may purposely shut out negative thoughts and feelings with outside noise. This too is not great in the long run because then our thoughts and feelings are contained or buried, not explored or released, so this may adversely impact one’s mental health.

At this time of year, consider how to improve not just your physical state, but your mental state of well being.