depression
A New Challenge To Break The Spell
I have been feeling a gentle pull to spend less time on social media and to be more present and engaged in real life, with people and activities I love. Not only has this shift been giving me a greater sense of time and space, but also less ‘noise’ and inner peace. When we are overly engaged in social media platforms, we tend to develop a skewed sense of reality. It also becomes a time thief. Things are not really as good as they look in other people’s lives, neither are they as bad in the world as it may appear online.
We all like to put our best foot forward in life, but on social media it is often pushed to the extreme, tempting the rest of us into futile comparisons, ‘fear of missing out,’ anxiety and poor self-esteem.
Most of all, we are wasting many precious hours of our lives every day in an alternative reality consisting of fake news and filtered photos. The truth is that less is more when it comes to social media. Social media obsession can become like an evil spell or self-inflicted curse. It is a hex that can keep us trapped in a negative mindset and lead us down a destructive mental health path.
According to AddictionCenter.com “social media addiction is a behavioral addiction that is characterized as being overly concerned about social media, driven by an uncontrollable urge to log on to or use social media, and devoting so much time and effort to social media that it impairs other important life areas.”
If you find it extremely difficult to control your daily social media use and think you may be addicted, then please contact a dedicated treatment provider for addiction in your area or a join a support group. If you are simply feeling the need to break away from being overly engaged with social media, then I recommend setting a new goal or challenge for yourself that shifts your daily focus to something else. Continue reading
Finding The Courage To Heal
All of us will experience some heartache, adversity and grief in our life. It may be a serious health scare, the ending of a relationship or marriage, the tragic loss of a loved one, retrenchment from a ‘secure’ job, sudden bankruptcy, becoming homeless due to a foreclosure, or becoming the victim of abuse and violence.
These major setbacks in life can be truly devastating, and the pain and trauma extremely difficult to rise up from again. In such times of loss or trauma, it is vital to allow yourself to feel your true emotions. To effectively process and heal from traumatic events. hardship and bereavement, we must acknowledge our raw feelings. Grief and trauma are deeply private and personal journeys with no rules and no deadlines.
However, do not allow the ego to keep you trapped indefinitely in a place of anger, bitterness, hopelessness, or self-pity. If left unattended for too long, our initial emotional responses to the negative event can become toxic in a way that simply keeps us away from our truly divine self and our future happiness.
Yes, it is always hard work to release intense loss or trauma and move forward. It takes courage, self-awareness, and inner strength. However, if you proceed with faith, trusting and believing that this too shall pass, and that there is a reason for everything, even if you don’t understand it right now, you will ultimately be able to move forward in a healthy and productive way.
No matter what happens to you in life, you will grow stronger and wiser by working through it. Regardless how intense the dark night of your soul may be, move forward step by step, day by day, trusting that you can heal and will become stronger. Focus on self-care and loving yourself and hold the faith that better days are coming into your life. We all deserve to be happy and have inner peace.
You Are Stronger Than You Think
It is a lesser-known fact that depression can show up in our lives at any time, at a moment’s notice, with no warning. You can be in the happiest time of your life, and it can still sneak up on you.
Depression is a sneaky mental illness. You can do the therapy and treatment, the journaling, meditation, affirmations, and energy healing work all you want, but for some of us it can return at any time and still negatively impact our lives.
Emotionally exhausted days in bed or walking around like a zombie with no motivation or life direction. It is like carrying a bag of rocks on your back that gets heavier and heavier, until it finally overwhelms you entirely.
A person with high-functioning depression can fake a huge smile on the outside, while underneath they are falling apart. Their upbeat laughter and busy schedule are simply a coverup for the dark, ominous shadows that follows them everywhere they go.
For some it ends in suicide. Many of the lives tragically lost over the past year were not all directly due to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The pandemic has also taken the lives of many people who simply could not cope with the trauma of these challenging times.
The world remains so judgmental about mental illness, despite the recent pandemic that has so brutally exposed its prevalence in our society. The pandemic has also not brought people closer together, as one might expect. Instead, it has torn already dysfunctional families, friendships, and workplaces further apart. It has given rise to abuse, anger, hatred, fear, and intolerance.
But you are stronger than you think. You may even be someone else’s rock at the moment and not even know it. And if the worst is currently upon you, or someone you love, call upon your angels, spirit guides and ancestors to hold you up, to guide you and to lift your energy.
Astrology Forecast June 14 – 20, 2021
Things unfold pretty calmly as the Sun spends its last days in Gemini this week, encouraging us to integrate all the new ideas and information we’ve learned over the past three weeks.
A Leo Moon hangs in the heavens today and tomorrow, bringing out our generous and heart-based sides. But beware the Leo Moon opposing Saturn in Aquarius today that can cause us to feel disenchanted or even depressed, and may also lead to a sense of emotional distance or feeling abandoned and lonely in our relationships.
Stay calms and be patient, because tomorrow Gemini Sun sextile the Moon in Leo will improve communication and social harmony and briefly reduce the need for power struggles. Tomorrow may therefore be a great time to ask your friend or relatives for help, or your employer for that well-deserved raise or promotion.
Details and organization will be the themes on Wednesday and Thursday under a Virgo Moon, so save those sorts of tasks for mid-week. However, the Virgo Moon opposition to Jupiter in Pisces may cause relationship conflicts from earlier in the week to resurface, so avoid unnecessary disagreement and drama, and try to keep the peace at home until the weekend.
A loving Libra Moon will fortunately accompany us into the weekend on Friday and Saturday, highlighting relationships and a return to fairness and balance. The Gemini Sun trine the Libra Moon will further contribute happiness and harmony to our relationships and family life over the weekend.
On Sunday Jupiter will turn retrograde, but we may not even notice, as we’ll be drifting through the spiritual and intuitive tones of the Scorpio Moon. After a month of information overload and two eclipses, this weekend is best spent regrouping before we move into a new season and all the wonders that await us.
The annual summer solstice also occurs Sunday, marking the start of summer in the Northern Hemisphere (and winter in the Southern Hemisphere).
A Guardian Angel Named Christopher
My entire world collapsed Christmas of 1990. It was Christmas Eve to be exact. I had prepared a four-course dinner for my fiancé and I was so excited to spend my first Christmas with him alone, ready to talk about our wedding plans.
He arrived at 4pm and fifteen minutes later he had broken up with me. He simply informed me that he had met “the woman of his dreams.” Then he took back the keys to his apartment and wished me well.
I was beyond devastated. Broken. My heart ripped into a million shreds.
I did not know what to do, so I called the one person I thought would understand and support me: my best friend. She had recently relocated here with her husband, who was in the US Army. Her husband was waiting at the time to be deployed to the war in Iraq.
She answered the phone right away and immediately insisted I book a flight to her nearest city, where she would come to pick me up. So, I took the last money I had and booked a flight for the next day.
After two exhausting days of travel and a long layover on a connecting flight, I was sitting in the airport with red, swollen eyes in a freezing blizzard, that further delayed my final flight. There was no way to call my friend. It was the time before mobile phones. So, there I was, heartbroken, alone in one of the biggest airports of the world, stranded and not knowing a soul.
While the blizzard was raging through the airport, I witnessed more than one emergency landing through the thick clouds of needles like snowflakes. It was chaos. Thousands of stranded passengers and more arriving by the minute.
We Are Never Alone
Extreme loneliness and feeling isolated have become more prevalent over the past year. Distancing ourselves from loved ones, friends and co-workers has not been easy, but being the determined spirits we are, we are all finding new ways to communicate and stay in touch. Yet, it will never be the same as a real-life hug.
Living in a house with several other people also does not shield us from feeling lost in all the chaos and noise that reaches us from the outside world, leaving many of us feeling empty, anxious and downcast.
To navigate these challenging times it is vital to have strong internal center and active spiritual life. Being spiritually aware and grounded empowers us with the knowing that we are never alone. Spiritually conscious souls know that the Universe, Spirit, God, Source, is always with us, supporting us, directing us, and protecting us.
Touching base with Spirit on a daily basis offsets the void of loneliness, fear or despair when it rears its ugly head. Some people do not have a social support system, and this can generate even more severe loneliness, depression and mental health challenges.
It’s important to remember that in our daily prayers and meditations, we are able to send protection, healing light and loving energy to others at a distance. We should be mindful to reach out to others more often and share our ‘spiritual glow’ with them.
It is also helpful to remember that there is always a higher purpose with everything that happens in our world. Keeping this knowledge uppermost in our minds can take us out of panic mode and remind us that faith and trust will bring us through to the other side of this pandemic.
When a sense of loneliness arises, one of the best things you can do is to reach out to someone else who is in a more difficult or less privileged circumstance than yourself. It serves to break the hold that a feeling of solitude can have on us.
Everyone Is An Artist
Art is a powerful form of self-expression. It allows us to communicate complex emotions and spiritual concepts through various mediums such as the visual and fine arts, music, dance, acting, creative writing, and so on.
When we are being creative we connect with the subconscious part of ourselves. This can be a powerfully healing experience to help us process and integrate our thoughts, feelings, beliefs and life experiences on a deep level.
When we are children, we don’t have any preconceived ideas about art. If you observe young children, you’ll see this very clearly. They don’t worry about how ‘good’ an artist they are. Most kids just see art as a form of play. They love to draw, or paint, or color, and are typically pretty thrilled with their creations.
So, what happens along the way that we become so self-conscious about our artistic endeavors? It seems to me that at some point most people have had ‘the artist’ within subtly discouraged or silenced. Whatever the case may be,suffice it to say that life takes over at some point and being creative artistically takes a back seat.
“I was never very good at it anyway,” or “I just did it for fun,” are common remarks I’ve heard from people. But what’s wrong with not being very good at something? Especially if it’s fun? Moreover, the benefits of spending time being creative are vast! Art Therapy is growing in popularity and more studies are being done around this modality.
One particular study focused on people with chronic illness or cancer. The researchers looked at the impact visual art activities such as painting, drawing, and pottery had on patients and found that art helped to distract them from thoughts of illness.
Art therapy improved their well-being by decreasing negative emotions and improving positive ones. Depression levels were also reduced, and medical outcomes improved overall. There were also reductions in stress, anxiety, and distress. Further there were improvements in the patients’s spontaneity, expression of their grief, positive identity and social interactions.