For me, mental health stands for anything holding us back from fully engaging in every moment and expressing the best of ourselves.
To do this we must go on our own journey beyond our own limits and set the inspiring example.
Bidfood’s ‘Square Root of Self’ campaign is an approach to mental health that uses food and diet as a vehicle for transformation. It represents a bold step in challenging the present relationship we hold as a culture with our bodies, and the planet around us.
After years of driving myself into the dirt and using food as a means to an end, I finally got it; health does not come from fitness, being does not come from doing, it is the other way around.
The body is not just a machine to which we give orders. It is an infinitely intelligent piece of life from which we can endlessly learn. And, what we eat and drink becomes not just fuel for our bodies but our bodies themselves.
If we want to unlock the potential of our bodies and our minds, then the compassion and respect with which we view what we consume and our surroundings needs to change, as does the way we view each other. What we eat, the love with which it is sourced and prepared, the gratitude with which it is received is all part of the new relationship. Universities are powerfully positioned to drive this movement for their students. The future really does hold such immense possibility.
The constant talk of pressure, stress, fear of failure and the general suffering amongst almost every individual in some way or another is the most obvious symptom possible of forces working against each other. But if we are willing to inspire one another to expand our boundaries we can definitely uncover more than enough space for every being and all their potential to live fully fledged as one in every moment.
Jonny Wilkinson is the creator of No.1 Living, an alternative soft drink, full of flavour, lightly sparkling and naturally rich in live cultures.
