“Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage. Truth and courage aren’t always comfortable, but they’re never a weakness.” Brené Brown Photo by henry perks on Unsplash Dear Readers, I have talked about shame and stigma in my previous posts, but let’s do a deep dive into the relationship of shame and mental illness. 🤿… Continue reading Shame and Stigma: Bringing Mental Illness into the Light
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Expression over Suppression: How Emotions Affect Our Mental Health
“These pains you feel are messangers” Rumi Photo by Domingo Alvarez E on Unsplash This next month is about exploring the role of emotion in our recovery, examining emotions that are common in mental illness, and looking at how art can help us to accept, feel, and understand emotions. Emotion refers to the variety of… Continue reading Expression over Suppression: How Emotions Affect Our Mental Health
Inspiration for Recovery
“Beginnings hold the promise of new lessons to be learned, new territory to be explored, and old lessons to be recalled, practiced, and appreciated.” Melody Beattie Dear Readers, What inspires your mental health recovery? Whose words, art, or inspiration do we turn to when we need support? What encourages us on our healing path? I… Continue reading Inspiration for Recovery
Intuition and Mental Health: Recovery of Inner Knowing
“Intuition is seeing with the soul” Dean Koontz Dear Readers, I hope you all have a good holiday with time to rest and enjoy connection. Today I post three posts, two of them will be for December 26th and January 2nd respectively. It allows me to take holiday, which is important self-care😊 This post is… Continue reading Intuition and Mental Health: Recovery of Inner Knowing
Recovery: Who Defines It?
“Instead of saying, “I’m damaged, I’m broken, say I’m rediscovering myself, I’m starting over.” HealthyPlace.com Dear Readers, Being well is the main goal of recovery, and there are many tools that help. It is so important to find and practice these tools. On the flip side, I believe recovery is uniquely defined by the person,… Continue reading Recovery: Who Defines It?
The Art of Being Yourself…to the World
“When you share how you feel, you are creating trust. You can trust yourself because you are honouring your feelings and others can trust you because they know you are being honest.” Meegan (inspired by David Richo’s book Daring to Trust: Opening Ourselves to Real Love and Intimacy) Dear Readers, Congruence, in a therapeutic context,… Continue reading The Art of Being Yourself…to the World
Self-Compassion: An Essential Ingredient in Mental Wellness
“You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.” Buddha There are a wide range of tools to help us with our mental health recovery. I listed some of them in Post 2, What is Recovery? One of the most integral tools is a person's relationship to themselves. If we… Continue reading Self-Compassion: An Essential Ingredient in Mental Wellness
My Grounding Routine: Integrating Grounding into Your Recovery Journey
“I am grounded, supported, and safe.” Mindful Zen website This last post in this month’s series of grounding takes you through major aspects of my grounding routine to review grounding practices and to help you envision how you would like to incorporate a grounding practice into your day. I will also discuss some challenges to… Continue reading My Grounding Routine: Integrating Grounding into Your Recovery Journey
Visualization: The Use of Imagery to Relax and Regulate
“Visualization plays a pivotal role in emotional regulation. Individuals can counteract distress or anxiety by consciously guiding thoughts toward positive and calming images.” Better Help Tutorial Team. Recovery from mental health issues involves being able to regulate your body, which has been an underlying theme of this month’s blog posts. Visualization, combined with breathing, and… Continue reading Visualization: The Use of Imagery to Relax and Regulate
Deepening the Breath: A Core Tool for Anxiety and Panic
“Breathing in, I calm body and mind. Breathing out, I smile. Dwelling in the present. I know this is the only moment” Thich Nhat Hanh Breathing is something we do unconsciously, yet it can be a powerful grounding tool for mental health. In my experience, breathing deeply can significantly reduce anxiety and panic attacks. As… Continue reading Deepening the Breath: A Core Tool for Anxiety and Panic