Being highly sensitive isn’t a choice. It’s how your brain works. At its core, it means your heart, your soul, you mind bruises way more easily. You can learn some practices to calm the brain. I’ve been a highly sensitive person with anxiety, and depressive moods my whole life. But […]
Mental health
209 posts
Life’s not fair, and there is mystery involved. When we know there is a bigger story going on then perhaps grace can heal the wounds. It was always the same conversation. Life’s not fair. They didn’t just carry a chip on their shoulder, it was a gigantic log, and it […]
I don’t ever want to go back there again, but whenever I drive past the place, a trigger is pulled, and I go immediately to that place and that time when the trauma happened. It might be a smell, a taste, seeing someone or something. It could be a sound, […]
Feeling flat and empty can become an invite to feeling full of depth and not a step into depression. Focusing in on something and someone bigger than ourselves can revive a flagging soul. There are times when I feel flat. Life feels meaningless and like it’s one cyclical trip of […]
Christmas Day can be one of the most stressful days of the year. Expectations, relationships, presents all can push the stress elves levels to the max. There is a saying ‘A rising tide lifts all boats.’ I have noticed that the rising tide of Christmas stress lifts everyone’s boat. Ques of traffic […]
Mental health is discovering what you were born to create, building a supportive nest around it and protecting it like a Viking shield maiden. It was the scary wild eyes that made me take a step back. Recently I have been doing some gardening at a retirement village. This isn’t just […]
Low self-worth? Feeling like a worm? The secret about worms is that they have incredible strength and power. Something so small can teach us something great. At times he felt just like a worm. Failures, being taunted and bullied lead to despair swirling around him. It drove him into perfectly […]
People will always keep crossing your boundaries when your heart is bent and buckled out of shape. But that heart can recover and be filled with courage. It takes time and catching some breath. ‘You need to set some boundaries’. As they said this my heart sank. I knew that […]
You just keep going back to something that actually repulses you. It maybe sniffing the vomit or wallowing in the mud, but you keep returning to foolishness. Perhaps it’s a change of heart that’s needed. They kept on repeatedly going back to experience the same abuse. They could see that […]
David Strengthened Himself in the Lord. How did he do this and what can we learn? I love old saints. People who have been there, done that and have got the story to tell. It was a couple of retired missionaries that strengthened me and got me through a tough […]
Women have a God-given beauty within them that, when squashed and sullied, grows a depression. When we discover God’s view of what is beautiful, then hope can blossom in a seemingly barren field. She was 1.52m (5ft) high, never applied any makeup, no fancy hairstyle, diamond earrings, or expensive gowns. […]
Underneath the depression of a male is a feeling of being impotent and weightless. The man has lost connection with his potency, and the spirit has been crushed. ‘Have I made a difference’? and ‘Has my life mattered?’ are two questions that sit behind the stage curtain of many men’s […]
When we have realistic expectations, we can build resilience and an internal wisdom that is gentle with our humanity. We can grace ourselves and others when there is a failure to meet expectations. What caused the breakdown? Was it a genetic weakness? The piling up of expectations? Lack of sleep, […]
If you want long-term gain, you need to accept short-term pain. We want ‘quick-fix’ solutions and instant gratification but reaping never comes before sowing. When my counselor said we would have to go through this unbearable feeling, I felt a kind of pulling back. Did I really want to go […]
When we take ownership of the choices, we have made and their resulting consequences we can take a huge leap forward in our mental wellness. It’s called self-determination. We discover we are indeed the captain of our own soul. It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments […]
There is a time for everything, but wallowing in your past will create an endless rut of misery. Isn’t it time to allow God, who knows all, to take the unknowns and allow you to walk in today? I always like a good wallow, don’t you? It’s like a warm, […]
Are you struggling to forgive yourself or others? The bookkeeper keeps score and builds a case against yourself and others. Let’s banish the bookkeeper. Underneath the kitchen bench in my childhood home was a drawer where we kept scissors, pens, paper, and the red Collins ledger book. My mother would […]
Three hundred thousand pilgrims walked the Camino de Santiago in 2017. These ancient pathways in Northern Spain have allured people from all over the world. But why? What is the reason that these trails have drawn so many pilgrims for such a long period? Camino means ‘Path.’ Just a little […]
Forgiveness cleanses the toxic places in our hearts. Those dumping grounds where we hold onto the resentments and hurts. “We throw all of the garbage we can’t burn or compost, like oil or old lead paint, over the hill in the back” she said to me. “But…then you can’t use […]
Okay, I admit it! I like retro cartoons. The other day I caught a glimpse of the intro to the Jetsons – particularly the scene where George Jetson is walking the family dog Astro … on a treadmill! I still chuckle! (This is a guest post from Michael Rose) The treadmill idea reminded […]