Hey Humans! I hope all is balanced today, especially now we are in mental health awareness week. This evening, I will be performing with Staffordshire Poet Laureate, Mel Wardle Woodend at the Mental Health Awareness Poetry Night, via zoom platform. Mel’s passion and drive for poetry and helping out the community is an inspiration to all. A sweet start to mental health awareness week.
This week we should also be about promoting the causes which mainstream awareness forget to mention. They almost glamorize it, telling us it’s ok, it’s not OK! It’s not ok for a human to be emotionally distressed at a thought or when entering the minds theater to reenact past events. It is not ok for children to be depressed with no clue why! Another serious issue for me, is that our main focus is not the eradication of the mental health issue, but instead over prescribing mind-numbing medication, which is highly addictive. Prevention not cure, Why? Cure will Squash the situation (no more income). Prescribing prevention is like using a mold remover in your home, looks sweet, until next year. It inevitably returns and off we go, back to the hardware store. I hope you can see that any industry that creates billionaires use the same business model, whether it’s Ronseal selling the mold remover or your GP selling you Anti-depressants. I can feel this chapter moving in the wrong direction so I’m going to end it here!
Unfortunately, in todays world, there are various factors and causes for the many different mental health conditions. The problem is many of these key factors began as pebbles that snowballed into one big boulder. I believe it started around 2002, when children were gradually being allowed mobile phones. Remember how basic they were. Now they’ve evolved unimaginably and the amount of time spent on one by the average person is crazy! The average adult can spend up to 11 hours looking at a device. Let’s put that into perspective, 11 hours out of a 24-hour day. That leaves just 13 hours to eat, exercise and sleep (and that’s just the most basic of our needs). There has been a big decline in amateur sports over recent years, I wonder why? Studies are beginning to emerge about the effects of the overuse of screens. In these studies, they’ve named a condition, digital dementia, what the fudge! With links to depression, stress and anxiety. They have also given it the characteristics of addiction. One study shows a person with a high use time on their mobile, would start showing signs of distress after 24 hours. This is under test conditions. I’ve done it myself in the past and I know it can be much sooner. We need to be promoting this, and that is only one issue.
While going through my own treatment for PTSD and OCD, the word mindfulness came up a lot. I think this is an excellent method but unfortunately, it’s too vague. I believe its much more than just a coping strategy. Rubbing your feet in the carpet or squeezing some balls, will work to bring you back to the present reality and balance your breathing. In my experience, within a short time a trigger will arise, boom, back to square one, rinse and repeat. Where I think they are failing, is what to do next. This method will get you through your day, as will medication. I believe there are different levels of mindfulness. When you use a coping technique, you are only coming to the level of the day to day issues. But, our modern day to day is stressful. I believe, that stress ball you are gaining relief from, is down to bringing your focus to the present. The next step of mindfulness is staying in the present. While calm, think of the material the stress ball is made from, thus spending longer in the present mind. Next time go beyond the ball’s material. Imagine the elements, the molecules and even the atoms. Where does it end? Now you have been in the present for 20 minutes, even an hour. I know we have time if we can spend up to 11 hours on our devices.
We need to retrain our methods of mindfulness. If you struggle with OCD and spend the evening turning everything off and back on again, so you can turn it back off again, deep down knowing you’ve already done it. Or patrolling your house or street, for you ex-soldiers struggling. Prolonged mindfulness allows you to learn about yourself, not only emotionally but on a cellular level. This opens doorways to peace, love, forgiveness and letting go. We all have our differences and opinions but when I say, we are in this together, I mean it. I have drawn a theory on life, I call it the stump theory. In this theory, I say in the stump, all we need is love and balance. There is good or bad on this level of life. Where we live, the working class, if you’d like? There isn’t much true bad, there are mixed up, lost souls but who are we to judge. We have the power to eliminate this, but only together. We need to rid this planet of divides, unnecessary restrictions and needless poverty. We need to stop letting people who do not care (you know who I’m talking about) divide those who do. Let smash that glass house!
Mental Health Awareness should be 365 days a year. Have a peaceful and lovely day. Can I also put forward a campaign to promote not watching or reading any prime-time news for the whole week. Let us give our minds a well-deserved rest.
Love and Peace
Ellis Robinson
Pocket full of Change
Change is for everyone, the mold was set with love, pain and fear.
Like scars on the flesh, minds scars can disappear.
Within clouds they go, they reappear.
Your mind creates the images, then they blow away.
Rays of sunshine strike, now we collaborate.
The strength we feel inside, the weather can’t take away.
No need to worry racist, homophobic or bully, no distinction.
Change today become balanced, let your mind open.
The past moved on, it left us, fell into extinction.
It’s never too late to forget the mad worlds methods.
Any negative emotion created towards anyone, has been repaid.
No one is perfect the debt of karma would have been exchanged.
We’ve all made someone feel how we felt, in different ways.
On the other hand, our light, will have touched a soul.
On par with carbon inevitable to bind us all.
Living in the moment with love, peace, something clean to eat.
The powers will be there to share.
Let us unite, break and sink these wretched molds.
Start preparing to shake the worlds despair.
https://www.unchainedwisdom.com/
