Today is World Mental Health Day. The purpose of this day is to serve as a reminder that mental health is a key to individual health and an integral part of any well functioning health care system. I have been a mental health care professional for over 30 years encouraging people to find their way to a life of love, joy and inner peace. As a counselor, teacher, trainer, group facilitator and consultant in numerous settings I have journeyed with many in the midst of great struggle. From all of this, my compassion and understand has grown as to the intensity of challenges many face because of their thinking and their emotions.
This blog is dedicated to providing inspiration and information to all those who want to have mental health from the perspective of raising awareness, expanding consciousness, mental and emotional well being, and the deeper reality of living in the light of the present moment.
This is what I have learned through my work in mental health and through my search of the best ideas and practices for the well being of our hearts, minds, bodies and spirit:
• Most of live in the mistaken self-identity of our thoughts. We are not our thoughts but a much deeper and more expanded potential.
• Almost all suffering has to do with this identity with our mind and our not living in the present moment. Hanging out in the past or the future causes suffering.
• Addiction to drugs or alcohol is often about self-medication because of the suffering caused by our own thoughts and the past trauma perpetrated by those caught in the insanity of their thoughts,
• The majority of people in jail in this country are there because of mental health problems. We jail them because we lack awareness of the fear in our own minds, lack compassion, and don’t value treatment.
• Successful treatment has to involve expanding the awareness and consciousness of both the therapist and the clients. Mental health is an ongoing process of growing our awareness of thoughts and feelings and not being run by them.
• Most insurance industry providers do not serve the needs of those with mental health issues as if they don’t matter. This is a huge problem and a major reason we have so many prisons.
• Most people are unaware of their own thoughts and live lives of such discontent because the suffering their minds cause them. This suffering is completely unnecessary and resolvable with a higher level of consciousness.
• That higher level of consciousness includes living in the present, watching our thoughts and feelings, realizing they are not real and going deeper into the truth of our higher nature. Read past blogs for lots more information about this.
• In this moment as we live it there is no suffering unless we bring it along, there is only the pure joy of our expanded nature free from the delusions of our past or future oriented ego-mind.
• Mental health issues can be summarized as loosing touch with the reality of our higher nature. The main causes of these issues are the identity of self as defined by our thoughts and the collective insanity of an unconscious society.
• Everyone can be free of this insanity of thought simply by developing a watcher presence within, an impartiality free of self-judgment, and by living in the now.
I hope you choose to have a mentally healthy day by being present.