Solutions Verses Problems In Mental Health

It is the season for mental health advice. There are blogs, self-help books and magazines all around. It looks as though most of the information is about problems. The description of problems often includes labels and their definitions of different mental illnesses. They don’t even know exactly what mental health label each of us is dealing with?

Peter Pan convinces the children to fly by thinking happy thoughts. Maybe this fairy tale has a grain of wisdom in it. I think happy thoughts are beneficial to the child in all of us because even though we don’t physically fly, we can lighten our burdens with a positive outlook. It is my suggestion that people talking about positive thinking should talk about mental health problems less often and about mental wellness more often.

A Light In The Distance

When I began using coping skills to deal with mental health dilemmas I became smarter and funnier and more present. It occurred to me with my new skills there could be names for genius levels of thinking and problem solving and brain storming. Names to describe the good mental health. I’d like to call a person who looks at things differently, a person with advanced perspectives in wellness. I’d like to call a person with skills in brain storming, a person with advanced idea generation abilities. These are just a couple of the ways skills could be identified. Focusing on what we do well may indeed increase our abilities to do those things even better.

Striving towards something is satisfying. We can set our goals and priorities and stick to the course with our wellness. Yes, I’ve found this works, but we have to be careful when we travel this road. Different issues can come up even when we have a more positive outlook on mental health. We have to try not to get ahead of ourselves! The body assimilates information and emotions and learning in ways that all work together. If the person is not ready for advanced knowledge emotionally, their system may break down.

Balancing Mental Health

This is where I had trouble. I tried to become whole and complete and full of assimilated growth all at once in ways that were interesting but weren’t very practical. I had the courage to try something new. I had the positive thinking to get me through the activities. What I didn’t know was my limits, or how these things would affect me. Brain gym was one thing I tried. Too much, too fast, led me on quite a journey of major ups and downs and a lot of disappointments. Visualization led me to increased energy in dreaming and not the experience of putting things into everyday life. Counselling led me to have neat discussions but left me wanting to feel fixed after I expressed myself. Now that their isn’t the pressure of taking part in the actual therapies I can look back and use some of the beneficial parts of these therapies.

Identifying problems is important to some people. With clear ideas of the problems there can be an understanding and even a compassion that allows that problem to dissipate. Many people are glad to finally know what is wrong with them.

Wouldn’t it be nice to finally know what is right with us? How about Getting A’s in the area of mental health that could lead to motivation and inspiration across groups of people. Just what do we do well? Are you organized? Are you good at stress release? Do you care about other people?

Learning Never Ends

Talking about solutions can be pretty motivating in itself. Seeing a difference from one month to the next because of solutions put into practice is even better. Improving skills might feel too much like school, but what if we get to design our courses? It could be fun. We could excel in these courses because we were interested in picking them.

We could even build on our knowledge from when we were kids in school. We could study some more Shakespeare, try our hand at some mathematics and learn some new songs to sing. Who says education must only be for the youth? We could take a night school course. Or just remember the things we liked, keep learning about them.

Mental Wellness

Solutions, positive thinking, goals and education are all ideas for now and the future. They have been used before and can be used again. Let’s not talk as much about mental health problems that make people feel inferior but let’s talk about genius areas of mental health. Let’s face it, a depression or a bout of hallucinations can kick in some pretty amazing skills to help us face those symptoms. Just what are those skills we are learning? Can we take pride in those newly learned skills?

Some of the people I’ve been privileged to know with mental illness have shown these wellness skills. Some are extra-compassionate and excel at curiosity. Self-care is also an area of expertise for others. Humour is a skill some have and use as a great way to reach out.

I’m going to talk to some of my friends about their positive characteristics. The things that help them get through every day life and the things that they are admired for. These are solutions to problems. Our strengths help us with our weaknesses! It is time to listen, look and act on solutions, so more people can feel better and find relief from the focus on mental illness. Let’s talk mental wellness!

Pros and Cons of Affirmations!

I think healthy thoughts every day

Pain and Pleasure

Affirmations aren’t talked about as much these days. Don’t you think affirmations are still a good idea! Instead of focusing on problems look towards the positive statement that can guide you towards a happier future.  I am getting happier with every sentence I write. Okay that might be taking it a bit far. Honestly, we have to be careful with our reprogramming of our beliefs and emotions. In some ways we may feel more confident and have less psychological and emotional pain. Let’s remember though that pain and pleasure rely on eachother. I for one wouldn’t want to have less pleasure in my life so maybe I have to face a bit of pain and tough it out.

Feel the Connection – Youth and Adults Part II

Remember the silver lining.

This is Part II of a blog regarding a Canadian Mental Health Association program called, Lets Talk, which I worked on with coordinator Jackie Ralph in the high schools. We attempted to educate about mental health. We taught about ways to meet stress face to face by embracing relaxation and rejuvenation.

In part I, I displayed the reasons for such a program. I further discussed some of the reasons that teens feel extra stress. These reasons for their stress touched my heart and made me realize that young people care a great deal!

In part II, I share more of my personal involvement with the program.

Feel the Connection – Youth and Adults Part I

People and penguins… youth and adults?

This is Part I of a blog about a program that I worked on with teenagers a couple years ago. It would be a waste to not share what knowledge we gained. In this part you will discover why we created the program. You will also learn some of the things we accomplished with our talks. The intriguing information of what makes some of our teenagers moody and sad is revealed. It’s not easy to work with teens but they are important people that, as you will see, can express themselves if given a chance.

Differences Between Adults and Teens

As an adult I have my own style of living that youth aren’t likely to have due to societal norms for each age group. There are also of course school rules and parental guidelines. Youth, however, are better at some things. Youth are good at creating, important tight friendships and neat social circles that aren’t part of my adult experience. Youth are trying to have their voices heard, and yet fit in at the same time.

Friendships in the teenage stage are important but even  friends have problems, and they need a shoulder to lean on. This is a song that friends of mine, arm and arm sang together when we were teenagers, “Lean on me, when you’re not strong, And I’ll be your friend, I’ll help you carry on.” by Mr. Bill Withers. Where can people nowadays find that shoulder to lean on, but more importantly where can youth find people to lighten their burdens?

New Year’s Resolutions – Part 1

I think I can. I think I can. Practice makes perfect.

Directions for living your life more successfully in this New Year are important. The map to get to where you want to go this new year may include making some very essential resolutions that assist you with knowing how you want to improve your life. Whether it’s exercise or healthy eating you want to focus on – resolutions could lead to increased happiness, to more accomplishments and to greater success.  Knowing how you want to change things for the better is something that only you know as your life is original.  What resolutions will you make?

After making resolutions we can attain them by following through. As coaches will tell you it’s the follow through that matters. Give yourself enough time to do this and make the resolutions fairly simple and easy to achieve. Making a goal to drink more water is not futile. Drinking more water can enhance your health and may affect your performance in achieving other goals, yet it is simple and straight forward.   You may feel that picking such an easy goal is cheating but it is more like ‘being realistic with your vision.’

Is a change as good as a rest?

Some say a change is as good as a rest. After some exploration, I will share my own opinion as to whether there remains truth in this old adage at Christmas.

A change in Pace

Christmas is a great example of a time of change. It is a time when some people are off work. Groups and meetings are cancelled. During the holidays the pace of life changes.

People are out and about getting ready for Christmas. People that don’t celebrate Christmas will prepare for their own celebrations and rituals. Eventually the feasts and gift giving will take people’s attention at this festive time.  Is this better than a rest?

Whether tis better to Accept or Deny Mental IIlness

Acceptance can show the way

To accept an ill state of mental health is a difficult thing to do. First of all who wants to lose. I mean, who wants to be the one with the short straw. Don’t pick on me! Don’t call me the sickest!

The Grief Cycle

Acceptance doesn’t mean believing less of ourselves but it does mean being honest and logical about the situation we are in. I think other stages in handling grief are important in coping with illnesses. This involves anger, bartering, depression and yes finally acceptance and then going on to teach others. These stages educate  us by forcing us to use tools so we can gain strength. Acceptance on the other hand is more of a stabilizing part of the cycle. We can stay in this place for longer. Through using skills learned from the grief process we can come to a place of homoeostasis in our acceptance.