When the five senses and the mind are still, and reason itself rests in silence; then begins the path supreme.
Although its getting better, there is still an enormous amount of stigma and shame wrapped around the subject of mental health and seeking out help. Often times its viewed as embarrassing and/or shameful when the reality is that its no different from talking to your physical doctor about a pain in your knee or taking your car in when the check engine light comes on. Zero difference. Anyone can benefit from talking with someone when the need to unpack comes up.
The feeling of disconnection and numbness that afflicts so many people’s lives comes from habitually absenting ourselves from our difficult experiences.
Like a mountain climber that is stuck on their rope and would rather die there that way, we’re terrified of sinking down into those places within us that we refuse to inhabit. The grief for what we’ve lost or never had, the longing for a worthiness that we don’t feel, the unknown of it all threatens to swallow us whole. So instead, we insulate in the form of alcohol, drugs, sex or material objects; or we find a way to exist in an anxious suspension above our fears and loneliness.
We can undermine our own efforts to move forward, remaining in fear of becoming self; because to walk the maze towards our next selves means we need to face all that we’ve neglected or abandoned, and relinquish that which no longer serves us.
Sacrifice is a show of trust in the unknown. Like quitting a job only to have a new opportunity appear that very afternoon, or ending a toxic relationship only to meet your true love two days later, there is magic in sacrifice. Life is calling you, and the severance of the tethers that bind you to outgrown thoughts/ideas/reactions is you answering that call.
#growth #personalgrowth #psychology #cognitivebehavioraltherapy
Sit with it
Instead of drinking it away, smoking it away, sleeping it away, eating it away, sexing it away or running from it in whatever manner,
Just sit with it.
Healing begins with feeling.
Your body is a physical manifestation of what you tell yourself.
Contentment within the emotions produces the like in the body’s systems. One’s immune system becomes strong, muscles can become strong and limber. This helps our emotional outlook and general well-being. We’re in a good mood when we feel good. Nothing seems impossible.
But should those same emotions become negative, producing quiet voices within us that speak “I can’t”, “I’m not good enough”, I don’t deserve”, the body also manifests physical forms of these emotions. Disease easily finds a hospitable breeding ground in consistent negative emotions. Which in turn then makes us more uncomfortable, more sad or angry – because we don’t feel well. The system becomes out of balance, and since emotions produce physical attributes in the body, the cycle that was once positive can turn negative, and the since the manifestations in the body support the emotional condition, we become sick more often. Chronic pain can develop. Headaches, body aches, fatigue. Just like a viral disease, the body can do harm to itself as a result of a consistent, negative emotional environment. Often, this is an old cycle; meaning that we learned this manner of walking in the world at a young age; so recognizing it can be tricky to do.
So what to do?
If you find yourself in a similar condition, talk with someone. It can be very helpful to have a third party’s support in looking to see if we are managing our lives compulsively or consciously. Get around some other people. Exercise is a fantastic holistic remedy; and is quite necessary as we all age to keep our bodies as well as possible. A Yoga class, bicycling, running, walking, a health club membership; all will change the body’s chemistry and produce positive results not only physically, but also emotionally from being around like-minded people and from accomplishing goals.
The first step can be difficult to take. But it can also make a world of difference in your life and in the lives of those around us.
William Schmidt Counseling 