3 Enlightening Ways To Reframe Our Approach To Mental Health
Written by: Victoria Hart, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Mental health conditions have been on the increase in the last decade and although personal narratives help reduce stigma; open conversations in and outside the media often play a role both in shifting awareness in a more positive direction as well as perpetuating the issue.
What if clinical research combined with spiritual wisdom could help us reframe our approach to mental health and wellbeing?
The world is mental!
That's right. So many of us live up in our heads, listening to what our mind tells us we are and what is possible; often believing thoughts that are mostly negative, self-deprecating, and sometimes downright abusive! We create a 'protective personality' as a coping mechanism.
Yet, you are not your mind. You are not even your thoughts.
You are a powerful being who has the ability to be, do and have anything you set your mind to.
The reason mental health plays such a huge part in our lives right now is because;
We have identified with our mind, and any experiences that were seemingly undesirable or 'bad' have become our life story of who we are and what we're capable of. Repeating our story over and over keeps us stuck in a disempowering looping cycle, perpetuating the issue and inadvertently recreating painful stories
We put all our energy into trying to fix our minds, not realising that most of the thoughts are not even our own. The mind is simply a computer brain that recycles memories and recreates outcomes based on prior experiences and the meaning we've given to those at the time. It cannot be controlled. But, like a computer program, it can be overwritten
If you can allow yourself to accept that, on a soul level, you asked for every challenge so that you could grow in consciousness, we can approach mental health from an entirely different perspective. Reframing your experience and redirecting your mind offers a doorway out of victim mentality to becoming an empowered creator.
Imagine your life as a movie. Hundreds and thousands of individual perspectives merge and collide in different 'movies', projected onto the big screen. In your life story, YOU are the main character and those you interact with play a supporting role.
It took many years for me to recognise that my movie was one of sadness and sorrow. Painful experiences had created a never-ending painful story. One day, I realised it was like an addiction. It was my default setting, my default emotion, my familiar comfort zone, my 'woe is me' fix; keeping me in survival mode, playing small and afraid to truly live life. You see, like attracts like.
And so, to shift from sadness into joy, I had to choose to move out of my comfort zone, rewrite the script and become a new character in a new and exciting movie. I had to learn to connect with my soul and take a leap of faith into the unknown adventure of life!
You might say, "Oh but I can't do that, what if X happens?"
Whatever your BIG BUT is, it's keeping you stuck.
And, so I ask you, "What if you don't change?"
The biggest obstacle standing in the way of our success and fulfilment is fear. The ability to overcome those fears will ultimately lead to your greatest transformation.
Often, we resist taking action because we don't know what's on the other side, but isn't that part of our unique adventure of life?
You might complain and make excuses to explain why something isn't working for you, or why you're not ready and are waiting for the perfect conditions, but all you're doing is permitting yourself to stay stuck. When an excuse is stronger than your desire, it blocks your ability to create and inevitably becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The protective personality lives in the comfort zone (the one I mentioned earlier; a constructed fictional version of yourself based on your experiences and the meaning you gave to them). Unless an actual threat is happening at that moment, fear is the imagined worst-case scenario of the ego (or protective personality) – because it is programmed to keep you safe from potential danger.
The soulful self knows no fear, it seeks to experience freedom, adventure, expansion, love, joy and beauty. It is the wise one who sees a higher perspective.
3 Ways to reframe your experience
Notice the voice inside your head. There are many subpersonality ‘voices' that make up your protective personality: which one is voicing its' fears, concerns or apprehensions? Behind most challenges, you will find unmet emotional needs asking to be finally met. These needs arose from childhood, cultural, traumas and past life experiences. Acknowledge these subpersonalities with loving kindness.
Quieten the voice in your head by observing the thoughts like passing clouds, do not attach to them: break the loop by doing something you enjoy, even if it's simply breaking into a series of star jumps! This brings you back to the present moment where you can become aware of what you actually need in that moment. Those tender needs can and need to be met to be able to live your fulfilled life.
Breathe and connect to your heart where your inner wisdom lives. Shift your perspective by asking how this experience can serve you and transform from fear, lack and victim mentality to one of excitement, curiosity and conscious awareness: what new and empowered choice can you make that will diffuse or turn the situation around?
There is nothing to fix, you're not broken, and you can create a life of meaning and fulfilment – you simply need to learn how to reprogram the robot mind instead of allowing it to control your life.
What story of your life do you want to tell?
If you're ready to create a new story of your life, join my monthly online “coffee hour” and community gathering where you can ask questions and sit in a collective field of like-minded people. I want to amplify each other's intentions with a cup of tea or coffee!
Visit my website for more info!
Victoria Hart, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Victoria Hart, is a Visionary Soul Coach, Energy Healer and New Earth Leader. She has been exploring the metaphysical and mystical world for as long as she can remember and has studied with some great Masters in cutting edge and revolutionary therapies, inviting exponential breakthrough results. Victoria has an innate ability to get to the heart of the matter and brings wisdom, inspiration and humility to empower people to break the looping cycles of programmed reality and consciously create a new life story. Her mission is to create balance and harmony between humanity and nature by realising her true potential and power and teaching others to do the same.
