Mental health memes and discussion (Part 3)

Continuing the discussion from Mental health memes and discussion (Part 2) - #2755 by BLOODSHOTJOKER.

Previous discussions:

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This was a big aha when I read it…

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His work really speaks to me…

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Omg always need reminding of this! The urge to fix is so intense but so unnecessary

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Translation? I know I could look it up :see_no_evil:

I got so far as: Before you begin… And maybe it ends with something about what you have made? I would guess progress or similar, from the context.

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Bevor you start healing someone, ask them if they are ready to let go off the things that made them sick.

Freely after Franzi

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Nice one thanks! :kissing_heart:

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Had to get back to 0 contact…
Yap I opened the door once more
for a few days.

One day, I will learn it!
Reaction is getting faster…
Now after closing the door, my stomach / gut doesn’t hurt anymore and heartrate is normal.

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I need to move my body and do some mindful walking :walking_woman:

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I needed this. Thank you. I am halfway through a work shift and starting my day over now.

See ya resentments, hello serenity. :blush:

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Hi Sassy. Thank you for posting that meme. I’m going to screenshot it to remember all the things I’m not doing often. It hit me like a ton of bricks. I need to get busier.

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No pressure tho!!!

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This is just so beautifully stated, I had to share…from Sharon Salzberg…

"I have found this aspect of hope in unexpected places and with people I barely know. A few years ago, I was teaching a stress-reduction workshop with women who work in domestic violence shelters. We asked the women to write down their sources of stress in one column and what they did to handle stress in the second. Many women said they handled stress by being in nature or pursuing a hobby. Yet they could not remember the last time they had done these things.

That realization made a connection for all of us, those conducting the workshop as well as the women who worked at the shelter. We are all stressed at times, all fearful and sometimes despondent, but we might not be doing much to help move away from these hopeless feelings. Or we might be.

My friend Willow just started her new year with a commitment to swim five times a week to reduce stress. It’s still a struggle, but often what draws her there is the big Jacuzzi right next to the pool. It can hold twenty people but there are usually only two or three lazing there, letting the underwater jets massage away their aches. Sometimes she dreams about it, she said, and there is relief in having this luxury so close at hand.

Last week, her swim didn’t go very well. She was distracted and didn’t feel much joy being in the pool. In the Jacuzzi, she found three people talking about the exact topic that dominated her mind during her swim: her aging dad. All of the others were caring for elderly relatives in various states of decline. Willow at first was too shy to join the discussion. Eventually, the water worked its magic and she felt comfortable enough to speak.

“I feel terrible about him all the time,” she told her companions. “I feel like I’m doing so much and also that I’m not doing enough.”

One of the women shook her head kindly. “No, don’t think that. You’re doing exactly the right thing,” she told Willow. “You come here every day and you leave it in the water.”

In order to work for change — in our personal lives or in the world — we need to find the ordinary things that can help us sustain our energy and optimism. The idea of leaving what we can’t control in the water spoke to my idea of hope.

What Willow experienced was the buoyancy of hope, not the burden. She connected to strangers who were also carrying a terrible burden and through one she got the simplest and least conflicted feeling of support. Do the best you can. Live according to your values and intentions, while knowing that you may not always succeed in your aspirations. The actions you’re taking are honorable and those feelings of despair and inadequacy are part of the human condition. When you find community with others, you know you are doing the best you can with what you have.

The rest you can leave in the water."

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Show up for yourself daily, no one else will.

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