I am sharing some musings and responses to emails again. I collect bits and pieces I’m writing elsewhere and sharing here from time to time since people seem to enjoy that and have asked that I continue doing it. As before I’ve included links to old posts for more on similar topics below each little blurb. Here – from the last week:
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Because Walmart is open 24 hours and it’s just three minutes from my home I end up there on occasion. I keep odd hours since my transformative healing process began. I’ve come to be grateful for these visits into a world I would not otherwise be privy to. It’s become in vogue to mock those who shop in Walmart. There is a website dedicated to exactly that. I’ve always found it distasteful, even abhorrent that we make fun of our often less fortunate brothers and sisters. Today as a wide open energetic channel I could feel the whole store all at once. So much pain in that place. So much death and numbness. NUMBNESS…constipated life force so that the PAIN might be avoided. When we mock and dissociate from our brothers and sisters in such circumstances we actually help create their reality. Yes. That is the most significant thing I was struck by today while I was in Walmart. When we dissociate from any pain in the world, whether it’s from the pain of our brothers and sisters in war-torn countries or those crippled by poverty and trauma right here in our own, our dissociation helps keep the system that creates such pockets in place. We need not only feel our own pain to heal the world. We need to feel everyone’s. There are times when dissociation is necessary to protect ourselves — that too must be respected, but we must come to understand that it has a cost and that in order to heal the planet we must be motivated to heal ourselves enough to feel everything and re-engage with the pain of the world. There is no point in tending to ourselves only when our planetary reality is what it is. For this reason I practice opening, opening, opening.
- Feel the Feeling
- Transforming despair
- Depression (psych labels in general) reflect the dis-ease of civilization
- Is it possible to hold all the grief in the world and not get crushed by it?
How am I inflexible? How might I soften?
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In response to a query on finding the perfect healer:
No one understands what we’re dealing with…WE need to learn to have discernment and look to whatever professionals or healers we see as helpers…not know it alls…no one knows your experience but you. No one is going to fix us…that is a non-starter and part of the reason we end up where we do is because (we were taught) to abdicate our own sense of knowing. Healing is about taking that back and learning to take care of ourselves. Like it or not…that’s what it’s been for me…it’s inherently a lonely journey…it also can become profoundly lovely and connect us to all of life…I hope you can find hope and faith. I know it’s hard.
and
I still get scared…life is by its very nature totally unknown (for everyone)…embracing that fact is what healing is about in large part. (most people simply pretend it’s not true…we get to face reality in a way most people never do) Anyway, I more often feel wonder than fear these days, but fear visits and I still have “setbacks” — I view them differently now…everything is an opportunity to learn…I observe and learn from everything. I practice seeing things in that way.
I would love to live like a river flows, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding. – John O’Donohue (yes! and what a wild ride!)
Detox isn’t just about the psych drugs (or environmental toxins etc etc) it’s from our entire system and culture…it’s a long process…most people don’t really understand how deeply holistic and systemic the need for detoxification (de-conditioning) is…
psych drugs for some of us are the straw that breaks the camels back…we have layers and layers to free ourselves from..drug freedom is just the beginning…
Detox has proved to be everything for me…and because of my particular (my unique particularities) I need to always put my body ahead of any plan or protocol. I need to listen very attentively and be able to gently and lovingly change course if that is what is called for. Detox has proved profound AND I’ve always found that it’s best to put things like weight loss or perfect skin/hair etc on the back burner while the intense transformative healing is going on — at times even gaining weight in the short-term so that my body could cope with the detox. The body/mind/spirit knows if it needs a little extra weight and sometimes it really does…this is a tumultuous process! The listening and doing as my body says and learning to not expect it to do what anyone else thinks it should be doing has been really important. No imposed protocols from the outside. To be willing trust ourselves so that we might find our own unique answer to well-being and thriving has been critical for many folks recovering from the sorts of injuries I too am healing. We can always can sink into our bodies to find out what is right for it right now…it’s all we can ever really know, right now.
intra and extracellular detoxification. that is all. amen.
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*it is potentially dangerous to come off medications without careful planning. Please be sure to be well-educated before undertaking any sort of discontinuation of medications. If your MD agrees to help you do so, do not assume they know how to do it well even if they claim to have experience. They are generally not trained in discontinuation and may not know how to recognize withdrawal issues. A lot of withdrawal issues are misdiagnosed to be psychiatric problems. This is why it’s good to educate oneself and find a doctor who is willing to learn with you as your partner in care. Really all doctors should always be willing to do this as we are all individuals and need to be treated as such. See: Psychiatric drug withdrawal and protracted withdrawal syndrome round-up
For a multitude of ideas about how to create a life filled with safe alternatives to psychiatric drugs visit the drop-down menus at the top of this page.
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