PEACE - Relationship my mind

 

Peace in the midst of the storm is essential, not when it's over.

Acquiring peace is a mental skill. Peace is all about accessing parts of our mind that welcomes and most importantly chooses the calm amongst the chaos. No matter where you are on your mental health journey, whether it be battling, progressing or succeeding, our minds all have some sort of chaos. In each season the chaos and winds will differ. This is where accessing peace becomes crucial to keeping the scales reasonably weighted in your mental health journey. The aim is to not tip over.

I first ask myself...

Do you want peace? This sounds funny but I say to ask yourself this because there is something that can be addictive about chaos. 

I mean I don't know who wouldn't want peace but... 

Sometimes one's mental health can be so poor that anything healthy is no longer attractive to you. Don't feed into the lies. We all can have access to peace, need it, and are deserving of it!

In wanting peace, we must be honest with ourselves. 

Now hear this, although it may not apply to you. Peace is often not accessible when we focus and care too much of what others think of us. When we choose other peoples approval over our own...when we have high expectations of others and even of ourselves. A lot of mental health issues can be rooted in how we think others see us. Even when you try to reach out about your circumstance, it is likely you take on more chaos and bottle up your battles because you fear how others will see you. This is not a mindset peace dwells in. 

Peace is available to us all, we must cultivate new habits to access it.

Peace requires a set of different eyes. If journaling helps you build on your level of peace and you journal indoors, how about you journal outside? Journal 2 times a week, how about you start journaling 3 times? 

It's like if you want to get fit but you don't lift heavy enough to bump up a level. How about you do more sets, supersets, add an extra 5kg? You want peace, you act like it. We are intentional and particular about what we want and choose.

What is peace for you? This is the ultimate question.

Mine is rooted in my faith, a peace derived from the unknown, a peace that surpasses all understanding AND in that I am not moved, I am okay. I am peace.

What is peace for you and how far will you go to have it?

Why am I here?

Can it be that at some point in life we get so uncertain about our existence we question it?

Why am I here?
What difference do I make?
What is the point of all of this?


I am not referring to the feeling of not knowing one's purpose.
I am talking about that feeling of emptiness that despair cannot even reach.

It is way more common than you could imagine.

15 Styles of Distorted Thinking

Hello my lovely peeps, I am sharing with you the 15 Styles of Distorted Thinking, where you can have a read through and perhaps identify whether you relate. The aim of this post is for you to be honest with yourself and to consciously be aware. The best thing after this is that you have the awareness and power to change how you think.

Just to make it super clear, these are not ways to promote positive Mental Health.






 1. FILTERING

You take the negative details and magnify them while filtering out all positive aspects of a situation.

Are you gonna water that seed?

This is not the beginning of a regular journey.

This is the beginning of a life changing path.

One where seeds are sown. This is not just it though. We are present. We acknowledge that the seed belongs to the sower. Our eyes are open and have taken a mental image of this action, we are accountable to the next chapter that life presents to us.

Therapy & I

Therapy is not solely for the troubled mind. It is for the healthy mind.

I had my first proper therapy session this year. What can I say after attending?

The Importance of Being Uncomfortable

It’s been a long time coming – the ability to feel content; immeasurably fulfilled and unequivocally happy, without trying to reach those parts within myself artificially. I’ve reached a milestone, and I’m proud to admit it.

5 Mistakes to Avoid at University

University was a time where a lot of sleepless nights, self-realisation and personal growth occurred. And definitely not in that order. It was a catalyst for experiences that would more or less change my life. Not to say that they define me, but they are and always will be a part of me.

I would like to take a few minutes to explore some of those experiences, and suggest what you could do to ensure you make the most of your university experience (and perhaps not make the mistakes I did!)

1. Find a way to organise your time.

I really can’t stress this enough. Whether you’re old school and prefer a paper journal and a pen like me, or you would rather collate your day in a calendar app, make sure you plan your time. One of my biggest setbacks at university was thinking that as a creative person, a calendar and an organised schedule would get in the way of my projects. It doesn’t. If anything, it makes your projects come to life because you feel like you’ve put in the time and effort to build them.

It's a shame no one warned me about depression in University...

Growing up I never knew what depression was or what it meant. My mum, however, was depressed, diseased and mentally ill. I didn't understand depression or mental illness so I’d tell friends only 'she has cancer', people knew what that was. I associated 'depression' with sadness and anger, because that's all it looked like. I associated 'mental illness' with craziness, because that was all it looked like, that is all I watched, and unconsciously became subject to. I was not educated on mental health, so I did not know what meant what.

Depression is different for everyone, different feelings, heights, extents...

It resonates darkness and a numbness that makes living feel surreal, and the thought of darkness seem soothing, which our minds grow warmer to, little by little.

Rumination; fighting depression

What is rumination?


The dictionary defines 'rumination' as deep thought.

The word 'rumination' sounds so complicated, yet it is something that a lot of people, particularly those who are depressed do. To think deeply, increases vulnerability to depression, as the mind dwells on negative situations, and gradually changes a person's overall mindset.
Abela & Hankin (2011) beleive that it is most common for women to ruminate in response to depressed moods, in comparison to men who find alternative ways to distract themselves.