Comparisonitis kills joy. Comparing yourself to others robs you. Instead, explore who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. I’m just recovering from a severe case of comparisonitis. I think I caught the most recent dose from the Internet, but this disease has […]
hope
80 posts
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 […]
When you’re on a slippery slope towards suicide, you need self-talk sentences to arrest your fall. The dark self-talk of ‘I want to die’ needs to replaced with ‘I need help and I can get it’. Change your words and you change your life. The ice pick slammed into the […]
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 […]
Quick answer: When David’s town was burned and his family taken in 1 Samuel 30, he “strengthened himself in the Lord his God” rather than collapsing under his men’s anger. He did this by drawing on a daily prayer life built long before the crisis, and by recalling specific times […]
When you don’t want to wake up the next morning, pray that God may gently wake you up to the goodness happening all around you. Then soak yourself in it. Take it in and let it mindfully grow throughout your soul. Last week, I was out doing some garden work […]
When we pray for the healing of mental illness for ourselves or someone else, there is a divine invitation to join with God in an unfolding story. We pray for something wonderfully life-transforming. That is, of course, if you dare to pray that little bit deeper. You listen to someone […]
There is a party going on, all around us, where God is inviting us to stumble on in and enjoy. When we are attentive to the music, it grows depth in our mental health. So I am just back from a holiday in Italy and Spain for a holiday. My […]
They were so caught up in themselves and their selfish desires that they got lost to the concerns of others. Without recognising the wealth of love around them, they were the prodigal, a child of abundance squandering it away. What drew them back was a memory of love, faint and small, […]
‘Am I doing ok?’ was the question I was most frequently asked when I was a pastor/chaplain. ‘Is this Church safe?’ was another. Keeping pace were other limping souls … ‘Am I welcome here?’ ‘Does God really love me?’ ‘I can’t seem to get it right.’ ‘… keeps telling me […]