This time around, we’re chatting with Alan Lucas, a mental health expert, author and coach.

If you could recommend One Good Thing everyone can do to improve their mental health, what would it be?

Realise that you have the power to regulate your emotions. Think of emotions as your ‘energy in motion’ (e-motion) in your body that is responding to your mind, rather than thinking of emotions as just lots of different labels.

A simple starter exercise, for example, is rather than trying to ‘never get angry’, decide to give yourself 60 seconds to feel the rising emotional energy of any unhelpful anger, and then let it subside. Feel it moving in your body, your ocean of emotion. Bringing awareness in this way to the rising and calming energy moving as a response will help you learn how to better manage its flow.

Why is this your One Good Thing?

The quality of our lives is only as good as the quality of our emotions, so starting there is smart. Realising I have the power to take control of my energy in motion means I never beat myself up for feeling unhelpful emotions. I accept that I will get angry and frustrated at times, but I don’t let it linger too long in my body. I know that I can feel it and then let it pass. And with an increased awareness of my emotional state, I am able to catch myself earlier when emotional intensity starts to build. I can take charge and not let it rage or fire up so much.

One Good Thing: it’s time to recognise that you have the power to regulate your emotions