Healing Through Mental Illness

This is for any of you who may be feeling lost in your mental illness right now. Hopefully, this 5-step process will serve you in experiencing less anxiety and confusion, replacing it with inner calm and self-acceptance which will grow (even more) with time. Disclaimer: This practice has no scientific claims. Please continue to exercise necessary caution and steps to ensure safety and health.
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Transcript

Awesome.

Okay.

Um.

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This is for those of you out there who are in your own category in a sense,

Or so it may feel oftentimes.

Um.

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This is for those of you living day to day with mental illness and especially those of you who from time to time have the tendency to,

As the loved ones in your life so tenderly put it,

Lose touch with reality.

I know for me being one of those people,

One of you,

Hearing those words even after years of being in a place most would consider maintenance,

Um.

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It's still hits me somewhere tender when I hear those words from my loved ones.

And what can be quite scary disillusioning and rather lonely is when you begin to realize that maybe,

Maybe they're right in this case and you have begun to lose touch with reality a little bit.

Maybe that's in the things that you're seeing or hearing or fearing,

Right?

Maybe maybe it's just an excessive fear or paranoia if you will,

Around something or someone,

Right?

Now,

If I didn't make it clear with my earlier admission to dealing with similar mental health challenges just a couple of minutes ago I want to take this moment now to remind you that this is about as safe a place as can be.

Um,

You know not only was I put on this earth to coach,

To counsel,

To connect with those hurting,

Confused,

Feeling scared,

Needing guidance,

Just needing to talk.

But more than that I have been put through a unique set of circumstances in my life which has made my heart ache for those who are like us because there is so much fear and misunderstanding about mental illness,

Especially those that have the tendency to remove you from reality in the eyes of others.

But listen,

I know that you are not insane.

I know that,

I know that you're a human.

I know that sometimes it can be kinda fun when we go off on,

I don't want to call them delusions,

But on we'll call them journeys,

On our journeys associated with our specific mental illness and then sometimes it can be really really really quite scary,

Even life threatening.

Okay.

And in those times when you kind of feel caught up in,

In,

In in the journey that is pulling you down too deep for fear that you maybe won't be able to make it back or someone won't see you in time and pull you out or you just can't tell either way what's real and what's not anymore.

This incredibly brief five step process may help to guide you home,

Guide you back to your truth,

To your center,

Okay?

To the truth of who and what you are which is never scary which is never cumbersome or overwhelming but simple and delicious and thoughtful and present and in touch,

Easefully deliberate,

Okay?

So there is a difference there.

There is a difference there and that's okay.

So you're here and that's a beautiful thing because that means that you realize that you need some help and that's fantastic because we all need help in some area of our lives,

Multiple areas of our lives.

Typically,

I know I do anyway.

And the beauty of being human is that we're literally designed to be communal creatures,

To support one another,

To help one another.

So you're needing help,

Mirrors,

Someone else is needing help,

Mirrors,

Someone else is needing help and the chain reaction goes on and on and on and the result is this,

The fact that we're all human and that's just a core part of what it means to be human.

Because we all came from the same place,

Right?

So bits and pieces of us attached to one another,

Crave one another,

Connection,

Understanding,

Guidance and that's okay.

Now,

Let's dive into this super short five-step process.

I actually got this from one of my favorite all-time favorite books,

It's more of a workbook,

But it's a book.

It's called The Intuitive Way,

The subtitle being The Definitive Guide to Increasing Your Awareness and it's by Penny Pierce.

Now,

If you've never heard of her or this book,

I highly,

Highly,

Highly recommend it.

I will likely be going through the material and teaching it in a class here in the near future as well.

So definitely,

Definitely listen closely and if it feels like the kind of material that might support you,

Definitely reach out and let me know.

And I can either throw you the name of that book again or invite you into the course when it's ready,

Okay?

Now,

Let's begin.

This is called When You Can't Remember How to Let Go.

Number one,

Catch yourself in the middle of a fear response or addictive behavior.

When you notice yourself wanting to fight or going into avoidance,

Stay with the process.

Say it loud.

Whoops,

There I go again.

And I don't have to know or do anything about this right now.

It's okay to feel what I feel.

Don't punish yourself,

Okay?

Just take a deep breath and relax.

Step two,

Stay in the present moment and be with what is.

This isn't in the book,

But I just want to throw in quickly,

A sidebar.

You know,

My favorite quote to this day of all time is life,

Or not life,

Excuse me,

Stress.

Stress happens when the mind resists what is.

Stress happens when chaos,

Pain,

Worry,

Fear happens.

Those are stress responses that are ignited by the inability to let what is happening be what is happening.

The stress response is brought on by our minds and our bodies.

You know,

When some part of us says,

This can't be happening,

This can't be happening,

For whatever reason,

We don't want this to happen,

We're not ready for this to happen,

We're afraid of this happening,

Well,

Our body is feverishly going to try and make it so that it's not happening in this moment,

At least in your perception of your reality.

But the fact is,

When something really and truly is happening in reality,

Right in front of you,

You're trying to maneuver around it,

Pretend that it's not,

Go plug your ears,

Close your eyes,

And go la la la la la la la la la,

Is going to create a painful experience in your body.

Okay?

Which manifests in a million different ways.

From sadness to rage to journeying off into a place that is just south of reality.

Everybody copes with stress in different ways,

But stress in itself is induced when we choose not to accept the reality that is in front of us.

What is,

Quote unquote.

Okay,

So back to the process.

So number two was stay in the present moment and be with what is.

Let life do what it's doing.

Here's a hint.

When you can be with what is,

You're instantly back to the top of the triangle.

Now the triangle is a visual aid,

Which should you choose to get the book or should you choose to enroll in the course that I'll be teaching around this material here shortly,

We'll go into that in a bit more depth.

But all you need to know is consider the top of the triangle a place of personal power.

This is where you get your freedom of choice back.

Okay,

Number three,

Let yourself feel complete and receive the benefit of your current involvement.

Draw conclusions,

Create a completion ceremony or let yourself become bored in the old form.

Number four,

Let your body release pent up energy through emotional catharsis,

Sports,

Dance,

Spontaneous movement,

Or sound.

Sometimes I will just start singing.

That's actually one of my main coping mechanisms,

I think,

Often without even realizing it.

Can you think of what some of yours might be?

Take a moment.

When you think of them,

Either put them in the comments below or go ahead and reach out to me via a direct message and let me know because I am curious what some of your coping mechanisms are and how effective they are for you.

Okay,

Number five,

So this is our final step,

Cultivate an appreciation of the pause that refreshes.

Love that.

Learn to enjoy suspending your mind until the new creative urge emerges spontaneously.

What this means is allow yourself to think nothing or everything.

Allow yourself to sit quietly,

Do nothing or everything.

The only rule is that you do not force,

You do not push,

You do not pry.

Whatever your mind,

Body,

Soul naturally moves into on its own effortlessly,

You move with it and let it be what it is.

That's what that means.

And it's really about letting go of your thoughts which perpetuates that stress response,

Right,

That's keeping you in that darker place.

So this process allows you to let go of your thoughts and just exist for a minute or two.

Just let go of all the obligation of having to be,

Do or have anything as a human and just go back to exist and enjoy it and be okay with it and realize that that's beautiful,

It's sacred and it's also incredibly healing for you.

And it's going to bring you back to that place of choice and critical awareness.

You can begin to notice the truth of your current events and how your physicality has been relating to it.

Have you been a little manic maybe?

Have you been a little overbearing or have you been in a completely different version of reality?

It all becomes clear here so that the confusion and frustration and that loneliness begins to dissipate at this space,

At this level in this space.

And that's that quick process for you.

And what I'd love to invite you to do is if you're struggling or feel like you may struggle in the near future or feel like you just need somebody to talk to who isn't going to judge you or tell the world what it is that you have to say or what it is that you have going on in your head.

Please reach out to me,

Send me a direct message and we can hop on the phone and talk about potentially getting together for one-on-one sessions,

Okay?

It'll be free.

This initial call that is will be free and that's because it'll be our time to have a conversation about what's going on with you,

Give you a feel for my style and if you feel like I can help you,

If you feel like I'm the one who is best suited to support you and you feel comfortable with which is the main thing,

Then and only then will we move forward with paid sessions,

Okay?

Until then,

And whether or not you do take action on that,

I highly recommend you go back and write down these five steps of this process and just keep them on a little card or something as a safety net,

As a reminder that you have options and that you're not stuck and you're never alone,

Okay?

Until next time,

I'm with you,

You're okay,

You're okay.

Bye bye.