Mental Health for Physical Wellness - May 2023, Mental Health Awareness Month
Your health is not only visible in the shape of your body, but even more clear in the shape of your mind.
It's easy to make small hinge changes to your diet and lifestyle - which may, in time, help to shift your mindset too - but ONLY if you want to, AND if you're ready to do the work.
You see, many of us are comfortable in our pain. We may not know it consciously, but subconsciously our minds keep us in a "safe" mindset and pattern of belief... even if that belief is "I have to stay big so that I don't get hurt again" or "I have tried everything, and nothing works" or "I don't deserve to feel good because my loved one doesn't feel good"...
Our brains are built to keep us safe not to make us happy. (read that again)...
I've seen clients, over and over again, fail at making even small hinge changes, because they are stuck in negative belief. By shifting our negative thoughts we can effect our health positively - and sustain healthy transformations over long periods of time.
So how do we start? What's the first small hinge change?
Well, check out the title of this article: Should You Journal 2X p/ Day!? Yes, I recommend that my clients not only keep a FOOD JOURNAL, but also a MINDSET JOURNAL.
As you can probably guess, a mindset journal helps you keep track of how you're feeling. What is holding you back... what wins and successes you had... what you want to feel....and what happened throughout the day.
Releasing the negative, reframing it, focusing on positive wins, what you're grateful for, success, desires, dreams, and doing it nightly, will start to shift your mindset. Shifting your mindset will allow for sustainable health transformations. Even just a few sentences per night.
For example:
Today went by in a blur. Work is crazy stressful, but I was happy I got to practice yoga before the day got crazy. The kids have a million sports and I feel so run down. Tonight I decided to take an epsom salt bath, read and hit the hay early so that tomorrow I can get a jump on work and go out to dinner with friends for the first time in months. I'm so grateful for my nanny who helped out with dinner and the kids so that I could have some downtime tonight. I'm grateful I have a job, so that I can provide a beautiful home and life to my kids. And I'm looking forward to going out tomorrow night and catching up with my friends.
Easy, small little notes about how you felt. How you handled your feelings. What you're grateful for. What you learned from what came up. And what you are looking forward to. etc. are all good places to start. But you have to do just that... START.
You can also write LONG-FORM journal entries. Poems. Letters. Songs. Whatever you need in the moment. Cry, laugh, write a story or gibberish...
For decades I've used writing as an outlet to express my pain, fears, and release them. It's a tool my mother gave me as a child, to write honestly, candidly, and to pour my heart and soul out on the page.
Right now I'm in the middle (end-ish) of tremendous heartbreak, and I 100% believe that my health and success would fail if I did not write and express myself every day. Sometimes I write paragraphs, sometimes just a few funny lines, but I write and pray and express my gratitude and feelings, every day.
Today is the first day of Mental Health Awareness Month, and so in honor of this month - and before I go to sleep - I will share one of my recent (and intimate) journal entries. Enjoy:
STEP INTO THE LIGHT
- Lindsay O'Neill - April 2023
Betrayal can make you second guess everything. From connection and love you felt, to how the other person loved and adored you.
You start to feel unlovable, unseen, and you doubt your sense of self. You start to let go of your hopes and dreams, of your aspirations and motivation. The life you once wanted becomes seemingly unattainable.
You lose faith. And start to bargain for the parts of life that your mind thinks you cannot live without. Your heart is torn and constantly trying to recalibrate between the truth you feel in your gut, and the desires of your mind to recreate life exactly how you expected so that you could be happy.
The darkness and panic creeps in nightly, extinguishing any threatening light. You move deeper into the darkness with ease like you’re driven by a motor. It’s not where you want to be, where you ever thought you would be, and you scream at the blackness hoping to wake up.
But you’re not asleep, and screaming doesn’t help. You are willingly letting go of pieces of yourself because they were not seen, loved, valued, appreciated. And those who see it, want to shout right back at you… shining a bright light on the true beautiful soul that you are. It’s not up to them uncover your darkness. The power you relinquish is the power needed to step into the light.
My friend said to me tonight - if anyone can get out of the darkness and into the light, it’s you. And if you don’t, the rest of us are fucked. You are strong, brave, capable and loved- don’t allow betrayal to weaken you, to crack your foundation, to shake your integrity… because if YOU let go of yourself, all will be lost.
Instead, do the work to let go of them. The broken and toxic parts of them that kept you in the darkness with them. Let go of the masks you put on them so they could play the perfect role on the stage of your life. Drop the curtain, the show is over. It’s time for the after party- to celebrate you, your life so far, and let people in backstage to see you naked, vulnerable and perfect.
Have faith that there is no “next act”, you are in the final stages of ascension to your highest self. A place of peace, understanding and bliss. You will not be alone in this journey to wholeness, fulfillment and divine clarity. You will never be alone.
The heavenly and earthly beings that journey with you will be there to guide you, to bless you, to encourage and help you, and love you.
Practice introspective compersion- the deepest love and joy for yourself, and let that light radiate to others. As this is your gift to the world, your light.
It’s time to ascend from darkness. The time is now.
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