Hope

Hope

Is that light at the end of the tunnel

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A Life of Well Being; That Paradigm Shift Revisited

Changing Light

Over the past I've often written about how when I believed I was "ill"...I was ill and how when I made that paradigm shift for myself is also when I began learning to live beyond illness and enjoy a life of wellness and a deep, intrinsic sense of well being...that place where I feel content and enjoy a quality of life I'd not known in "illness". 

It is that place where I discovered the life I'd desired for so long and had been told was not possible for me to have by those who needed me to be "ill".

So today, in honor of "Mental Health Awareness" month - I wanted to offer this article on understanding and overcoming some of the myths about depression...and how it becomes possible to create our own best life when we simply begin to believe it is possible that we can actually learn how to do this.

If you are happy with your life and content with your mental health treatments, this post may not be for you...but if you are wondering if there could be more, please do read on.


Good News for Critically Thinking Depression Sufferers

5 Myths About Depression Treatments

By BRUCE E. LEVINE
A warning: for people satisfied with their standard depression treatments, debunking myths about them may be troubling. However, for critically thinking depression sufferers who have not been helped by antidepressants, psychotherapy, or other standard treatments, discovering truths about these treatments can provide ideas about what may actually work for them.

Critical thinkers have difficulty placing faith in any depression treatment because science tells them that these treatments often work no better than placebos or nothing at all, and if one lacks faith in adepression treatment,it is not likely to be effective. In fact, it is belief and faith—or what scientists call “expectations” and the “placebo effect”—that is mostly responsible for any depression treatment working.* Critical-thinkers can find a way out of depression when their critical thinking about depression treatments is validated and respected, and they are challenged to think more critically about their critical thinking.~

In other words...evidence exists that when our beliefs of illness or wellness and our potential to live in either state of being is validated by those we seek support from...we experience the results we are expecting. 

You can read the rest of this article here.

*emphasis is mine

 Seek Knowledge, find Wisdom, live your Truth!

Thank god I don't have to be perfect anymore!

Accepting Imperfections as Perfection:)

I had a circumstance over this past weekend that reminded me just how thankful I am that I no longer have to be "perfect".

It was one of those situations where someone else decided that the way I was communicating was ineffective and decided that it was within their rights to "tell me all about it".

This person had no idea of who I was, what my life experiences had been or the path I've followed to find freedom from the pain of the past.

And the lesson learned was two fold:

1. Use discretion with whom I share my pain

2. What other people think of me...

is none of my business:)
~

From the archives one year ago...

You're Nuts Not Traumatized This piece addresses the subtle ways in which peoples life experiences can shape the outcome when life experiences are denied or ignored.

The Sting of Stigma; The Wind Never Lies This is part 3 of a 3 part series....you can link back and read parts 1 and 2 from this page. This is a piece that shares stories of those who have lived the reality of discrimination related to being tagged or "marked" with the label of "mental illness".

May is "Mental Health Awareness" month...so lets get aware of the difference between being "marked" and being discriminated against. 


The human condition is not a disease. 


Human distress is not a disorder or a defect of character. 


Let go of the labels and you'll be surprised at how quickly the "stigma" goes away.


But thats just my opinion:)


 Seek Knowledge, find Wisdom, live your Truth!

The Light Inside

The Light Inside
5/18/2011

The light is within you

Look and you'll see

all that you need

to be all you can be

With love

~Susan:)

 Seek Knowledge, find Wisdom, live your Truth!

My "Do Over"

Each Season is New
"Spring"

From the archives of May 2010...

Each year consists of 365 days, each day holds the same 1,440 minutes. I got tired of year after year being the same, feeling the same hopelessness for anything more than the chronic emotional anguish that I had lived in for years. Helpless to believe that I had any power to change this. I was just surviving but not really living.

Some time ago I started looking at each day as another 1,440 opportunities to stop whatever wasn't working and start over, begin making new choices, creating the life I want today in spite of what my yesterday looked like.

If today isn't what I want it to be - I have 1,440 chances to turn it into the life I want by choosing differently...by being aware of the thoughts that drive my dependence on other people, places and things that really have no bearing on how my day plays out. Then choosing to come back to the understanding that while I can't always choose what is going on in my life at any given moment - I can always choose how I let it affect me and what my response will be to any given situation or circumstance.
Every moment of every day is a chance to have that "do over" that I'd always wanted.
~

Every Moment Is The First

Every moment of every day is the first moment of our best life.


And its never too late to live it.


What does your "best life" look like?


Whats stopping you?


The good news?


Is that every moment is an opportunity.


What are you waiting for?


The sky's the limit...


And since the sky is infinite....


Just look at the possibilities!


It is never too late to begin....


Where does it "begin"?


With believing it is possible. 
~


If you are searching for your own best life a good place to start may be here on the Resources page


This poem tells of the moment I began to believe....and how the result of taking that step is when I found my wings:)


 Seek Knowledge, find Wisdom, live your Truth!

 

This month on Empowering Solutions at BTR!

This month we’ll be chatting with Fred Krazeise about the importance of the connection between the emotional aspect of trauma and its effect on our body. We’ll be asking Fred about some empowering solutions for the healing journey from his perspective as a certified massage therapist and intrinsic coach. You can read more about Fred and his passion for helping women heal at his website Empowering Wellness Now.

Join us this Thursday May 5th at 6EST with Fred Krazeise on Empowering Solutions at Blog Talk Radio!

Starting in June 2011 you can join us at our new BTR page here: Empowering Solutions! on Blog Talk Radio

Find Empowering Solutions on Facebook! http://www.facebook.com/pages/Empowering-Solutions/125715317495039

 Seek Knowledge, find Wisdom, live your Truth!

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"Resistance" Is Not a Bad Thing

Often in the dysfunctional relationships from my past I'd been told that I was "making" someone angry, sad, disappointed...and so on.

In other words...

I was somehow responsible for making others feel ok about themselves

by changing who I was...

what I thought

felt

or did

in order for them to be ok...

and for me to feel safe.

I Didn't Know That I Didn't Know I was Abused is a post I wrote last year on learning to recognize that my "normal" - was not normal.

And as I entered the mental health system and having left it behind me...


I realized that those who needed me to fit the role of "ill"...

sick, disordered, diseased and so on...said similar things to me.

"You are resistant, difficult, lacking insight..." and so on.

In other words - I was responsible for why their "therapies"were ineffective. In order to make them, their position and their "treatments" somehow more valid...I had to learn to accept responsibility for their failure to find and apply effective therapies.


I was required to embrace the way they defined me - instead of them as the professional finding effective ways to meet me where I was and help me find my way to where they thought I should be.

What I have since come to understand...

is that this "resistance"

saved my life

and set me free

from being manipulated, controlled, shamed, shaped and defined by those who have not yet defined themselves and confirmed that they needed to define me

in order to validate themselves and justify the failures of their "treatments".

Power and control is never ok.


Resistance

is not futile.

:)


May is "Mental Health Awareness Month". Join the resistance; say "NO" to abusive and manipulative "therapies" and "treatments". If you have experienced oppression or abuse in your own therapy relationships the first thing is to understand it is not your "fault" that a therapy model or therapeutic relationship did not work well for you. 


It is only in no longer accepting this as "normal" in our healing journeys that it will ever be considered "not normal" by society. If your therapist or treatment provider has ever used a "power play" to enforce your compliance to therapies or treatments I'd like to hear your story. You can write to me at: nolongeravictim1@gmail.com 


There is a difference between being resistant to change and being resistant to being forced to accept that you are defective or somehow at fault for a therapeutic failure. We all learn in different ways and it is wrong for anyone to attempt to shame you into accepting their process as valid over your own. An ethical therapist will never discount you.


We are all capable to create and live our best life; no one is broken forever. 


Don't let anyone tell you any differently.


Especially if they have credentials behind their name. 

Seek Knowledge, find Wisdom, live your Truth!

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