Hi M/M & all,
"Balance" & "Conscious Living" are SO important to obtaining & ultimately maintaining a sense of inner peace. I LOVE your pie chart idea!
As always, your 'walking the talk' is critical in inner peace. It's so easy to observe & counsel others on what they should do while neglecting our own needs.
One thing I strive to do every night as I go to sleep is envision myself in a better place; better health, wealth, relationship(s) etc. It's good to review these in the morning too. Simply put, putting your desires 'out there' to the Universe works wonders.
"Dreams are renewable. No matter what our age or condition, there are still untapped possibilities within us and new beauty waiting to be born." -- Dale E. Turner
Carl
I think one of the hardest things to achieve is balance. Especially if you suffer from a mental illness -- depression, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, etc. Because these illnesses weigh heavily on the side of a negative self-image, of hopelessness, of suffering, and of necessity, life-altering decisions. And I'm not talking about a high wire act where you are teetering above certain death if you fall. Although there are times when it seems that way.
How do you find that counterweight to depression and anxiety when it they are crushing you? There is no magic to "fix" you. But I am not talking about magic, I am talking about chipping away at, day by day, whatever it is that is bugging you. You may not be able to get a divorce, change jobs, switch to a supportive family instead of one that misunderstands, or get rid of your past. But I would bet anything that you can think of at least one area of your life that you can nurture, and one area of your life that can be changed for the better, even ever so slightly. I know it seems impossible. That is what is so disparaging about mental illness, especially depression, that every step forward seems impossible. You are too tired, feeling too much heartache, too numb, prone to think you might as well give up.
Emily Dickinson wrote:
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I've heard it in the chilliest land
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.
I think she was wrong -- hope does demand "a crumb" of everyone. You may be born with hope, I don't know. But whether you are or aren't, you have to work at it. You have to demand of yourself the courage to hope.
Although I have not been diagnosed with Anxiety; I believe a lot of my substance abuse arose out of a desire to blot out anxiety. Of course the abuse just makes things worse. Since I now have years of sobriety under my belt; I have finally been able to find some peace. I like the pie chart idea as a practical means of looking at ones life. I have been extremely lucky to find work in a non-profit where my time is spent helping others. But because of this it is even more important that the people I am in contact with feel like I am walking the walk. It is not always easy to subject my personal mood and truly express an interest in other's problems. But with the grace of God; I can reach out and touch others that might be suffering like I used to.
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Hi MM,
You've done it again- written another article I will be re-reading over and over. I especially like your lines about walking the walk, not just talking the talk. The pie chart on balance is pithy, too. We need targets, yes, yes, yes. Sometimes it's nice just to relax and know that the one I'm trying to emulate is running the show.
Ric