Miguel Jontel Pimentel and Jay Shetty ON Seeking the Positive in Difficult Years

Mental health affects everyone, from artists, musicians, teachers, doctors, children, parents, or even yourself. Jay Shetty is breaking through the stigma surrounding mental health by providing a platform for people who battle mental health issues to talk and help raise awareness for others. He hopes that the hard conversations surrounding mental health will become more comfortable for you to have with the people you love and care about.

Miguel Jontel Pimentel (known as Miguel) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor who was raised in San Pedro, California. He began pursuing a music career at age thirteen. He joins Jay Shetty, a big fan of Miguel’s music, to discuss his journey with mental health and what he does to keep his mental fortitude healthy in the face of adversity.

The Importance of Mental Fortitude

What is mental fortitude, and what can you do to help build it? That’s the question Jay Shetty and Miguel addressed in a recent podcast episode.Mental fortitude is the ability to focus on and execute solutions when facing uncertainty or adversity. We have all had to tap into our mental fortitude during the challenges that 2020 has thrown at society. Whether on a conscious level or not, we have all had to adjust in some way, apart from our usual. “I would say this year has been probably the most challenging,” Miguel tells Jay Shetty. “This year has revealed some of the things that we all can shore up. For me, it's been mental fortitude, focus, and balance. These things have been at the forefront of my priorities.”

Routine is an excellent way to help you focus and stay on track. Starting your day with things that support a positive mindset like meditation, working out, a favorite quote or verse can be crucial in maintaining your mental fortitude. Self-care, self-maintenance, and compassion are things that lend themselves to mental fortitude as well. When you feel good about yourself, it creates a good base for you to draw from when challenges arise. In a pandemic world where unknown challenges occur every day, your ability to reorganize your thoughts and plans gives you the ability to overcome obstacles.

“When things are happening all around, and there's turmoil, you need to tap into your brain’s ability to organize and put things in their place,” Miguel tells Jay Shetty. “You can not spin out of control with your emotions.”

Building Certainty through Helping Others

Jay Shetty shares with Miguel that you have to create your own certainty through ritual or routine in uncertain times. “If you don't have that daily, then you're not going to find certainty from anywhere around you,” Jay Shetty explains. “I've been fortunate enough at this time to be happy, healthy, and safe, and so the way I find certainty in this uncertain time is through service.”

If your basic needs are taken care of, and you are able to help others in need, think of how you can extend yourself to that situation to be part of the solution. What can you do at that moment to help lift another person up? Miguel agrees that there is a sense of empowerment when you can help and put actions behind your words. That feeling far outweighs any accolades you might receive. The thankfulness of the recipient is more than enough to motivate you to continue to serve.

The Power of Therapy in Miguel’s Life

While working on an album about six years ago, Miguel found his emotions spiraling downward in pursuit of his music. He was emotionally unstable and had hit a tipping point, and his family sat him down out of concern for his well–being. They told him that they were not sure who he was when one minute he was up, the next he was down. His emotions varied to such drastic degrees that they felt like he was two different people. “I had to reconcile and realize that there were some changes that I needed to make,” Miguel shares with Jay Shetty. “I had a family and a support system that was not going to let me just do it, which was a massive blessing. I started seeing a therapist and started dealing with internal dialogue.”

Miguel realized that everyone has internal chatter going on. It comes from the reinforced mental habits that we have created throughout life. By taking on the outside chatter as your own, you create the internal chatter you try desperately not to hear. When you take a look at all the noise and decipher your thoughts and other peoples’ opinions - the media, friends, and family, or anything that distracts you from your ideas - you gain the ability to weed out what doesn’t lend itself to your success. You remove the limitations that others place on you, leaving you free to find and follow your purpose. While mental health issues are not an easy topic of conversation, Miguel attributes his push to seek help for his mental health struggle to his family and the community of people surrounding him. Not everyone has that same support. “In the South Asian community I'm from, discussing mental health is not normal,” Jay Shetty explains to Miguel. “As a South Asian man, rarely are people going to say that they are struggling with mental health because it is seen as a weakness or a lack of your manhood.”

Life used to be just about survival, making it through to the next day. As human culture continues to evolve, we have created connections with other people to see how they survive and thrive in their lives. “Our minds are starting to shift culturally as humans,” Miguel shares with Jay Shetty. We have the bandwidth to consider what living is and what thriving means for me. We can take our minds off just surviving.”

The more you can take a look inward, the easier it is for you to choose things that are less about survival and more about purpose and fulfillment. “I think we're just going through weird growing pains in humanity,” Miguel explains to Jay Shetty. “All of these different cultures and communities are starting to see history repeat itself, and they are asking ‘how do we do it better?’

”These realizations open the dialog on mental health conversations.

Living Life From a Place of Love Instead of Fear

When life is lived for survival only, it comes from a place of fear. Living life from a place of fear can be very de-energizing. We are all wired for survival. It doesn’t mean that you are a good or bad person. It just means that we have to uncoil the wire that has been there throughout history. When things come from fear, it is challenging for you to create anything beautiful or influential in your life. “When you're living from a place of fear, in a relationship, a job, a professional association, whatever it may, fear completely ruins the energy of this space,” Jay Shetty shares with Miguel. “Whereas when you're coming from purpose, that's coming from a place of love and service. These are natural frequencies and vibrational energies.”

Being Aware of the Mental Health of Those Around You

How can you break the cycle of humanity just thinking about survival versus living from a place of more profound well being? Take your parents, for example. Have you ever asked them how their mental health is or if they are working too hard and need a mental health day? Are your parents just working to provide a life of survival? “We can ask them, ‘Hey, Mom, Dad, do you need some help with your mental health?’” Jay Shetty explains to Miguel. “They might never have been asked that before. We can break this cycle and pass it on to future generations.”

How about your friends? Do you show concern for their mental health? When you are on the right path with your mental health, it becomes a goal to ensure that those around you are experiencing growth. Have you ever stopped to think about what that person needs in their journey to be successful? You cannot force things out of people, but you can guide them to finding experiences that will naturally help them find growth and success independently. “Remember that someone else may open up to something completely different,” Jay Shetty explains. It may not be the same thing you opened up to. I feel like you have to get close to that person and understand them.”

Miguel’s Take Away on Mental Health

Miguel has helped raise awareness about mental health through his music, work, life and learning. He didn’t come from a lot and credits his past for giving him the insight and support to deal with the mental health battles in his life. His wisdom surrounding mental health is something that we all can learn from.

“Everyone is dealing with a lot,” Miguel says to Jay Shetty. “Have a little bit of patience, and make time for yourself. Consider that no one has all the answers, and just be compassionate. Make time for yourself and breathe through everything.”

“We have the fortitude within us to be our best, even in the worst,” he continues. “It's not easy. I deal with it every day, and I understand that everyone has their own struggles, but it is possible. I know it's possible. Use those support systems. Reach out. If you're not talking to somebody, it can be okay. Every day is a struggle, but we're all here. We're all trying to do it, and it is possible.”

More From Jay Shetty

Listen to the entire On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast episode with Miguel on “Seeking the Positive in Difficult Years” now in the iTunes store or on Spotify. For more inspirational stories and messages like this, check out Jay’s website at jayshetty.me.