Mental Health
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Is it Time to Get Off the Grid
Sometimes, you just need to take some time out. Get off the grid. And just relax. Sometimes, you need to think about nothing; nothing at all. Let the sights around you, and the sounds of nature or your favorite music, take the lead. Close your eyes. Rest your eye lids. Clear your mind…and your calendar. Why do we let life push us? Sometimes even push us over? We feel fragile….vulnerable…tired, as people keep making demands of us. And sometimes we require too much of ourselves? So stop. You don’t have to keep allowing the bricks of life to keep piling on. Stop. And do something different. Take the time to…
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Grieving Through the Holidays
It’s here. That time of the year when your emotions might be shooting off in multiple directions at the same time. You’re up and you’re down; smiling for the photographs one moment, while crying behind closed doors another moment. Every year you tell yourself you’ll do better. That it’ll get better. That’s what everyone told you when you said goodbye to your loved one. But the years have gone by and the moments still come, some expectedly; that birthday, anniversary, different holiday seasons. Other times it comes out of nowhere. Was it a scent? The smell of a candle that used to burn in their house. A sound? That silly…
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The Healing Ministry of Presence
I saw this tweet last week from Rick Warren, a pastor, an author, and the father of a son who committed suicide several years ago. That had to be so hard for him, his wife and family, being a pastor of a large church, a best-selling author of several books, including The Purpose Driven Life, and in the public spotlight for a number of reasons; beyond just the Church community. Grieving the loss of a loved one is hard enough, for anyone. But having to do it in a fishbowl of onlookers, had to be hard. That said, I will admit that I was one of the onlookers, not just…
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Grieving the Life We Live
Merriam-Webster dictionary defines grief in several ways. We are all most familiar when people talk about the grief that follows the death of a loved one; defined here as a “deep and poignant distress caused by or as if by bereavement.” But there are elements of grief that many of us suffer through that has nothing to do with losing someone. In another definition grief is defined as a “keen mental suffering or distress over affliction or loss; sharp sorrow; painful regret.” This one to me is a better example of what I think many of us suffer with. There is the obvious pain, sorrow, and suffering that comes from…
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Praise to the God of All Comfort
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
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The Masks We Wear
I’ve been thinking a lot about the events of the past week; especially in light of the nature of this blog. Grief is for real! And it can come from many different areas and display in people in many different ways. It’s obvious from the nature of the media coverage, that the fashion and entertainment industries, including many journalists, are trying to come to grips with the loss of two prominent people in less than a week. Grief following the death of a loved one is hard. Trying to figure out the why, when someone takes their own life, is even more difficult. There’s been several reoccurring things I’ve heard…
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National Suicide Prevention – Call 1-800-273-8255!
I hesitated posting anything earlier this week in the aftermath of hearing about Kate Spade’s death. It was hard enough to hear about someone my own age, dying, but to learn that it was a suicide was even harder to take. I’m also not a therapist or a mental health counselor, and so I didn’t want to carelessly write something that might upset someone, or trigger a negative response. But this morning, I woke up to the early sounds of text messages coming from family and friends wishing me a Happy Birthday. And just five minutes after I was fully awake, yet still debating whether I really wanted to actually…
