Mental health memes and discussion (Part 2)

Tomek · February 9, 2023, 1:08pm

Not proven that it happened to Kafka, but nice story anyway:

"At 40, Franz Kafka (1883-1924), who never married and had no children, walked through the park in Berlin when he met a girl who was crying because she had lost her favourite doll. She and Kafka searched for the doll unsuccessfully. Kafka told her to meet him there the next day and they would come back to look for her. The next day, when they had not yet found the doll, Kafka gave the girl a letter “written” by the doll saying “please don’t cry. I took a trip to see the world. I will write to you about my adventures.” Thus began a story which continued until the end of Kafka’s life. During their meetings, Kafka read the letters of the doll carefully written with adventures and conversations that the girl found adorable. Finally, Kafka brought back the doll (he bought one) that had returned to Berlin.“It doesn’t look like my doll at all,” said the girl. Kafka handed her another letter in which the doll wrote: “my travels have changed me.” the little girl hugged the new doll and brought the doll with her to her happy home. A year later Kafka died. Many years later, the now-adult girl found a letter inside the doll. In the tiny letter signed by Kafka it was written: “Everything you love will probably be lost, but in the end, love will return in another way.” "

BLOODSHOTJOKER · February 9, 2023, 4:34pm

Back of the line…

Juli1 · February 9, 2023, 5:12pm

SassyRocks · February 9, 2023, 6:44pm

“We’re all just walking eachother home.”

~ Ram Dass

SassyRocks · February 9, 2023, 10:25pm

"I still mourn every single time
I wasn’t in love with the woman
who was staring back at me in the mirror …

I still mourn the moments
I wasn’t proud enough
of the way she overcame
her pain and worst breakdowns.

I still mourn the nights
I have spent worrying that I was not enough.
And I still mourn, my dear,
the way I couldn’t silent these voices in my head
telling me that I needed to be
always something more, better or different.

I still mourn it;
because I have learned the hard way
to unleash the wolf inside.
To show the world
that I have a voice to be heard.
and I’ve learned to be in love
with all my too perfect imperfections;
so in love and at peace with myself
not to be at war with my mind
nor the world anymore.

I broke the cage
of my own thoughts and fears.
And now I am free
I am loved
And I know deep inside
that I have always been more than enough…

May god bless all the women
you had to be
Before
You became the goddess you are today …
They are all you…
love them with Grace."

~ Samiha Totanji

SassyRocks · February 10, 2023, 12:54pm

Mindfulness has helped my mental health immensely…today I share this from Sharon Salzberg on ‘delusion’…I can definitely relate to wanting to numb out and being out of it…sounds a lot like active addiction…

"In Pali, the language of the original Buddhist texts, the word for “delusion” is moha, which means to be stupefied. In everyday life, delusion is the feeling of being on the road, and suddenly not knowing if you are in Massachusetts or Connecticut — maybe not sure of where you’re even going or why.

When we are in a state of delusion, we engineer our own misbeliefs and close ourselves off from insight. These days, we’d commonly say, “I’m spaced out.” We feel numb, cocooned in a fog, disconnected, and typically not caring that we are in this state. In fact, we might even like it. When lost in the fog, we don’t have to be too aware of discomfort.

In some sense, delusion is a state of not realizing what it is that we actually know, and what we don’t know — and not asking the right questions. It is a state of failure or resistance to see things as they actually are.

But why? Uncertainty, confusion: instead of mindfully accepting difficult experiences, or being able to sit and face ambiguity, our uneasiness causes us to space out or become numb. If that doesn’t seem to provide the precise relief we are seeking, we then might cling to rigid stories, assumptions, judgments, preconceptions — thinking that will be a path out of the clouds. But all of these can further obscure our vision, and instead create misimpressions, illusions.

The example that’s classically given is that of being in a storm, vulnerable to the elements. If you can find anything to provide shelter in that situation, you will cling to it and refuse to relinquish it. But is it actually providing refuge? Can we instead choose to navigate the storm?

Mindfulness is a direct antidote to delusion. The more we practice paying attention, with balance, the more the clouds clear, the more we see and know. That clarity is our secure refuge."