In the past month I’ve seen two people who say
they need to go to the Mayo Clinic. They say the name like it can work
miracles. Their illnesses aren’t accidents. They are self-imposed addictions,
possessions, where they are holding their own bodies hostage because they find
themselves bringing up to their mouths another cigarette or can of beer or forkfull
of chemicals that are in the guise of food. It is all an illusion, a mirage
they can’t see through.
There was a patron I knew who was named Mr. Mayo. He used to
say “The past is history, the future is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is
why it is called the present.” He said it over and over – every time I saw him.
He probably said it to everyone he saw. He said it like it was a divine
revelation.
Maybe that is the true Mayo Clinic. Maybe that is our miracle
cure. That idea, corny as it is.
Not a 10 hour bus trip to a hospital that may or may not have
a cure. But right here, right now, to be here as is, painful as that is, to not
run away from who we are, as individuals, as a nation.
Home » Encouragement (Page 2)
Category Archives: Encouragement
Panic attack
Remember to breathe from your abdomen. It takes time to make that natural. Shallow breathing is normal, but it tells the brain that things are in crisis mode.
Get 8 hours of sleep.
Eat more fiber and no processed sugar. Natural fruit is fine, just don’t go overboard on it.
Go for a walk.
Stretch. Yoga is helpful.
Don’t watch or read the news.
Make art.
Connect with God through prayer.
The panic attacks are physical. They are not “real”. They feel real because you are in your body and you feel them. You can learn to observe them and see them as a sign that you are going off track. Refer to the list above. What is being neglected? Do that.
I have to do all these things every day to feel human.
Mental health and the pothole
How mental health works –
I saw this pothole.
It was on my route every day to work. I decided to fill it with rocks from my walk. I can only carry a few at a time (in a plastic grocery bag). So I will gather rocks and fill it little by little every time I go for a walk.
It took a week to get to the point from where I saw the problem, figured out the solution, and started to commit to it. It is a slow process, but that is how it works.
A little later –
It has been days since I have last worked on this. I have left myself a note on the dining room table and a large rock at the end of my driveway to remind me that I need to keep working on this task.
It doesn’t matter that I haven’t done any more work in several days. It only matters that I continue the work. While this may look mostly complete, it is not. It is shallow. I need to add more to it. I have found a place at the end of the road where they have recently repaved so I am not taking rocks from anybody’s driveway. But to get these rocks requires that I walk all the way to the bottom of the hill and then carry the rocks, small bag by small bag, up to the top of the hill.
This too is mental health.
Do what you can with what you have, even if it is small. Something is better than nothing. Keep going.
Also, rains will come and wash some of this away. Cars will drive over it and knock some of the rocks out. I will need to check it every now and then to make sure that it is whole and add more to it.
That too is part of mental health.
Days later….I found a small (palm-sized) box to scoop the rocks into.
It can’t be a big box because I have to carry it. So I walked down to the bottom of the hill to gather the rocks and then I looked up. Here’s the view looking up the hill.
I can’t see the top from here. But I know it’s there. The trick is to just keep on walking towards the goal even if you can’t see it.
When I get to the top I see that cars have driven over my filled-in pothole, kicking out some of the rocks.
So some of my work has gone away. This is not a “do it and walk away” project. This requires diligence.
People may try to take away from your happiness intentionally or otherwise. But all that you have done doesn’t go away. That was a lot of exercise just putting those rocks there. That is not erased. And I got a lot of encouragement from starting a project and persisting in it.
But then sometimes you have to admit that the task is bigger than you are equipped or trained to handle. The rocks I put there were now scattered on the road. The road isn’t a smooth surface for walking anymore.
So yesterday (7/26/18) I contacted a professional (the city government) – to fill in the pothole.
This too is mental health.
They fixed it on Friday, 7/27/18
mental / emotional / spiritual health
We talk about having a “go-bag” for natural disasters. How about having a plan in place for mental / emotional / spiritual problems? Do you have a daily practice that keeps you grounded and stable? What can you share of that to help others? Many of you know that I have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder for nearly 20 years. I have committed myself twice, and am in recovery. That being said – I have also been married for 14 years, held the same job for 17 years, and have excellent credit and health. All of that happened after my diagnosis. There is a LOT that I do to keep myself sober – mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually. Mental/emotional/spiritual health is an inside job and requires as much work as physical health – if not more so, because our society doesn’t value it. Perhaps it is time to. We have lost too many people to suicide, to substance abuse, to mass murder. We have a mental-health epidemic going on. Sanity starts with each person, making tiny daily steps on a consistent basis, towards getting stronger. It isn’t easy, but it is essential.
Things I do –
No substance abuse – this includes the usual suspects but also I severely limit caffeine and sugar of all sorts.
Daily exercise.
Reading the Bible.
Making art.
Doing worksheets for my emotional health.
Doing family of origin work.
Return, not repent
I frequently drive by this train trestle on my way to centering prayer. I finally decided to take the time to stop and photograph it. This required that I drive past it and park at the entrance to a neighborhood and walk back. There is no shoulder to the bridge I stood on so I had to be very mindful of traffic, and pray they would notice me. I had not planned to do this so I wasn’t wearing bright clothing. Army green is a neutral in my world.
I admire the effort required to write this, and I love the colors and font. The word on it – repent – is problematic. The English word “Repent” has such weight. The original Hebrew word is “tshuvah”, which means “to return”. It isn’t about “paying for your sins” but turning away from them and walking towards life. Every moment of every day we have a choice – to choose life or choose death. And every time we make an unhealthy choice, we get the opportunity once again to turn around and get going in the right direction again. It isn’t about penance at all.
Consider when the Psalmist says in Psalm 103:12 –
“As far as the east is from the west / So far has He removed our transgressions from us.”
– that the distance from east and west is simply a matter of direction, instead of distance. If you are walking east, all you have to do to walk west is turn around.
God doesn’t care how far you are along the path of life – just as long as you are walking along it. God cares which direction you are pointed.
When you notice that you’ve gotten turned around and are headed in the wrong direction (this is part of being human and happens to all of us) then all you have to do is turn back around towards Light and Life and the Lord.
Hidden pictures
You know those picture books where you’re supposed to find a hidden picture? There may be an elephant or a rabbit or even a cartoon character hidden within the picture. You know that you’re supposed to spend some time really looking deeply into this picture to see what is hidden there for you. Otherwise you’d pass right over it after just a glance.
What if life is like that? What if everything is a hidden picture and we’re supposed to slow down and look very carefully?
I like to think of that with God. I like to think that God is hidden within everything and that if we just look really hard will see God hiding in plain sight right front of us. Just like with those pictures. The elephant or the rabbit or the cartoon character was always there. We didn’t have to uncover anything. We just had to slow down and take the time to look, and the only reason we knew to do that was because of the title of the picture. It was there all along.
Try this with everything. Try looking for the hidden – this hidden beauty in everything. I promise that you will see amazing things.
God keeps me sober
I’ve known people who have mocked me for my religious practice. Some have been coworkers. Some have even been friends.
What they don’t understand is that if it weren’t for God, I’d be still stuck in the hell that is addiction. My religious practice helps me to remember that, to give thanks for that, and to keep connected with God to keep the healing happening. Recovery isn’t a one-time thing, but a daily (sometimes hourly) struggle. You have to keep doing what you did to get sober, or you will quickly regress. If you aren’t going forward, you’re going to go backwards. There is no staying still in sobriety.
I have a tattoo of Raphael the archangel on my calf as a testimony to how God has helped me. When people ask about it, I tell them how Raphael’s name means “God has healed” and I tell them about what I’ve been through, and how God has pulled me out of it. They don’t get it – they say that I did the work. I tell them that it is God who gave me the strength to make it happen.
Part of my religious practice is to say blessings. There are hundreds of things to give thanks over according to Jewish practice. Food is just one category. There are blessings to be said upon seeing a rainbow, for hearing thunder, and even for buying new clothes. There is a blessing for almost any kind of human experience you can think of. Some rabbis state that you should say 100 blessings a day, and while that may seem excessive, just being on the lookout for that many things to give thanks about is the best game of hide-and-seek you will ever play.
When I say a blessing,
I’m not blessing the food
(or the event).
I’m reminding myself
that I am blessed
to have the food
(or experience the event).
I’m reminding myself
of the One
who made it possible.
It is modern to talk about mindfulness. Most people who practice mindfulness run as far away from religious practice as possible. However, I say that you can’t beat saying 100 blessings a day for a mindfulness practice. Looking for things to be grateful about and to give thanks over to the One that gave these gifts to you helps keep depression at bay.
I leave you with a traditional Chassidic Jewish saying – “When a man suffers he ought not to say, ‘That’s bad!’ Nothing that God imposes on man is bad. But it is all right to say ‘That’s bitter!’ For among medicines there are some made with bitter herbs.” Attitude makes the difference between an ordeal and an adventure. It is your choice. And my choice is to have a religious practice to keep me on the right path.
Reap and sow
Jesus told his disciples that “You reap where others have sown” – but it is also true that you will sow where others will reap. You may never see the fruit of your efforts, but do them anyway.
Do not be jealous for fame or attention – it may never happen in your lifetime. Or at all. Do good deeds anyway. Do what God calls you to do without attachment to outcome. If God calls you to the task, it will reach fruition in God’s time – not yours. God is meant to be glorified – not you.
We may be “standing on the shoulders of giants” – but even giants have to stand on the earth. Be humble enough to be earth – to provide a stable footing, a sure foundation, for those who build after you.
Hand it over
When you forgive, you aren’t saying that what happened was okay. You aren’t saying that who did it to you was justified. However you are saying that it isn’t your place to exact judgment or revenge.
To continue to hold a grudge over something doesn’t punish the criminal, but yourself. You hold yourself hostage. It is better to give the situation over to God – the true judge – and let justice happen when and how it is best.
When you hand things that are too heavy over to God, you are not only lightening your load, you are also handing them over to the One who is the most able to handle them. Leave it with the expert – God. You don’t need to carry it anymore.
The apostle Paul wrote in Romans 12:19
19 Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for His wrath. For it is written: Vengeance belongs to Me; I will repay, says the Lord.
He is referring to the verses in Deuteronomy 32:35, where God says:
“Vengeance belongs to Me; I will repay. In time their foot will slip, for their day of disaster is near, and their doom is coming quickly.”
Also, consider these words from Psalm 27:1-3
1 The Lord is my light and my salvation—
whom should I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
of whom should I be afraid?
2 When evildoers came against me to devour my flesh,
my foes and my enemies stumbled and fell.
3 Though an army deploys against me,
my heart is not afraid;
though a war breaks out against me,
still I am confident.
However, consider also the words of Jesus in Luke 23:34, when he was on the cross, being tormented and attacked –
Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing.”
He didn’t call on God to avenge. He called on God to forgive. Now we often aren’t that spiritually evolved, especially when we are in the middle of the situation. However, we aren’t alone in our struggles. We have Jesus to help us.
(All Bible translations are HCSB.)
In the room
Just enduring is hard. It is living, but not being alive. It wears us out. The more we endure, the more we get closer to the edge.
You don’t have to be suicidal to get help. You don’t have to be standing on the ledge. Just being in the room with the open window is enough.
It might help to call and talk to someone who knows how to hear what you are going through in a way that can help. You can’t lose anything by calling – and you might gain a lot – like a new perspective. The person on the other end of the line might know of something that you could do or some resource that will open things up.
Here is the number to the National Suicide Prevention Hotline in the United States: 1-800-273-8255. There is someone available to listen all the time. It is free and confidential. Please call. You are important.
betsybeadhead 
You must be logged in to post a comment.