Mental Health Awareness

Here is a sweet song for you 

I realise not everyone has dived as deep into this subject as I have. 

To me mental health means life. It means everything, it’s the colour through which we perceive our existence and it’s the way our mind creates our reality. Our mental health has the power to destroy as well as build our time on this planet. It’s more important than your relationship, your job or your family. Because when we are struggling with our mental health, all of the above is completely worthless.

Codependency, addiction, manic depression, bi-polar, OCD, panic attacks, PTSD, destructive compulsions as well as avoidance in the areas of food, eating, love, sex and money are all mental health conditions I have either experienced myself or experienced closely through a loved one. I have watched this play out to end lives and manifest in otherworldly transformations of the spirit, body and soul. 

Which is why I believe deeply in our healing potential. 

These subjects were so close to me from the start, they were interwoven in the family I chose to be born into. My experience with mental illness is quite extreme however we all have experienced the way the mind can negatively dictate, and the often subtle ways mental health affects us can be just as detrimental as the overt. 

• Imposter syndrome 

• Low self-worth 

• Periods of malaise and no energy 

• Anxiety

• Paranoia

• Binge drinking, partying or eating 

• Starving ourselves of nutrients or love 

• Obsession around the way we look, or social media, our body or our relationships 

• Overworking 

• Escapism through screens, programs, gaming, books etc 

• Rage and anger 

• Control issues 

• Being the helper 

• Narcissism 

• And even getting tightly wound up in drama or certain stories we perpetuate

• Are all mental health issues 

On a low level, they can lead to overwhelm, confusion, poor decision making and burn out.

I am sure you can go through this list and identify yourself and those around you in one or more of these briefly touched on areas. Which is why mental health is universal, the thin veil of having it ‘all together’ is merely an illusion. Everyone has their stuff. 

One thing I know is that when it comes to the deep stuff, spiritual bypassing doesn’t work in the long term. Most of the conditioning that happens to us between the ages of 6 months - 14 is lodged as truth in our subconscious, those deep belief systems that play out again and again in our lives that we are unable to shift.  We can usually relate it back to our parents or childhood.

My father abandoned me - Therefore I am unlovable 

My mother had anger issues - Therefore I must be passive and always keep the peace 

These messages are so simple and play out so obviously in the great theatre of our lives. When we dig a little we come face to face with the question: Is all of this mess I am experiencing my parent’s fault? And the answer, when we work through it, is always no.

Our parents are living the trauma they experienced in their childhood, their parents suffered in the same way and so on and so on. We have all been victims - and we are all given the choice to reclaim our solvency and step out of victimhood to own our own destiny. 

Which brings us to the only solution - compassion and kindness - compassion for our parent’s mistakes, that were created by their parents' mistakes, because they didn’t know better. Compassion for ourselves in the mistakes we have made, because we didn’t know better, or didn’t have the power to make a better choice at that time.  Kindness as we move forward in relation to our broken piece, the shadow aspects we have pushed deeper into the darkness.  Kindness when we look in and when we look out. 

It is this kindness that is the key to unlocking transformation and it’s why I called KIND -  KIND. 

Because mental health is everything and kindness is the key. 

I often talk about ‘our healing journey’ and ‘the path’. I realise for those of you who don’t know me it may seem a bit lofty, soft or ungraspable. As much as I am rooted in the spiritual, I strongly believe in the sober, practical, grounding, unglamorous work of healing that is done though physiotherapy, counselling, CBT, 12 step addiction recovery groups, rehabs, psychiatric units, inner child work, reparenting ourselves and trauma release therapy and work with the body - as the body holds it all… this for me is the feet and legs of healing - these deep reflections and experiences create self knowledge and self-awareness, which leads us to make esteem-able acts, which in turn increases our self-esteem.  I believe essential for our rising. 

My journey started in many ways working with the above, alongside I integrated other modalities, mediation, yoga, philosophy, self-help, plant medicine, tantra, somatic practises, dance, music, creation, the list goes on and has become increasingly non-physical or of this world. 

We are the first generations that know the way - that have a chance to truly change things. All we need is to activate our willingness and diligently follow that thread of enquiry that will lead us back to the wholeness of our spirit. We have this incredible opportunity to know ourselves, to positively change, not just for our own happiness but for the positive effects that will ripple through every person we exchange energy with in this lifetime. 

That’s powerful.

This is hope. 

This is the hope I have for humanity and our beautiful planet. 

Healing from the inside out. 

I love you and I believe in you

Jayna x