Tag: Mental Health
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this is why it hurts
on belonging, fragmentation, and integration: a pondering, a poem, & a practice “If contemplation is about penetrating illusion and touching reality, why do we commiserate with others when they tell us about an experience that’s ‘disillusioned’ them? ‘Oh, I’m so sorry,’ we’ll say. ‘Please, let me comfort you.’ Surely it would be better to say,…
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living the questions
“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot now be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the…
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mallard in the middle [depression in the group chat]
/ mallard in the middle [depression in the group chat] The mallard in the middlegets all the good sleep.Seven ducks slept in a rowa few yards from the creek near our house,conspicuous as a red balloonfloating in a blue sky.They looked so vulnerableuntil I learnedthey can allow half their brain to sleepwhile the other half…
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fear is (not) a liar
Fear is (not) a liarBy Lindsay L. O’ConnorI used to try to divorce myself from inconvenient feelingsthat seemed to:- stand in the way of my goals- threaten my connection with people I loved or depended on- make me uncomfortable.Those poor dears!They cowered in the dark, shoved down, covered up,sealed tight by shame, guilt, and anxiety.Do…
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unedited
What would you say if you stopped editing yourself? Not in a public forum, but just alone with your Self, and maybe even with God. Part of my deconstruction has been finding the safety to stop editing myself in what I share with God. I used to be so bound up in behaving correctly and…
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rooted
RootedLife is change and all change is loss.Even gain is loss of the empty spacethat the new thing now occupies.The emptiness may have been unpleasant, but it was also familiar,and for many of us, familiarity breeds securitydue to a sense of predictabilityand control.Loss—and therefore, change—breaks us wide openas we’re confronted with the realitythat we are…
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children’s books for mental health awareness month
May is Mental Health Awareness Month! I keep hearing disturbing stats about the recent decline in mental health for kids, teens, and adults. Of course, there are many ways we must address this individually and collectively, but these are some really beautiful books to support children’s mental health. They cover topics such as anxiety, depression,…
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in the ring
In the RingLindsay L. O’Connor Well today, I was just fighting with God.I mean fighting. I woke up early, stomach upset,and was just “doing panic” for an hour.I reminded God of all the lovely ways God has helped me through panic before,but God would not be moved. “We’ve done this before,” I said.“Remember the reassurances?The…
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soul song
soul songby Lindsay L. O’ConnorI’ve been slowing down, saying, “No,”striving less, nothing to show.Takes such energy just to grow,and I’m spent.Not trying to grow, produce, or figure out,keep breathing, try a new route.If you’re wondering what it’s all about, I don’t know.I’m just trying to feel my own soul again,to remember that I’m whole again.Life’s…
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postpartum depression
CW: Postpartum Depression & Anxiety “Did you ever think you could love something this much?” Sometimes the most innocent words spoken at a particular moment can pierce your heart and expose the shame that scurries to the shadows, trying to remain unseen. My smile felt awkward and unconvincing. How could I tell the pediatrician—a wonderful,…
Lindsay L. O'Connor 