Healing Journey
Mental health reminders. Notes and observations on wellness.
Healing Journey
Gramsci described the dialectic I am reaching for when he said we should practise pessimism of the intellect and optimism of the will, a disjunction that will only work if both ends of the dialectic stay in touch with each other.
Richard Holloway • Stories We Tell Ourselves: Making Meaning in a Meaningless Universe
“Walking the middle path” DBT concept
If you're struggling with negative thoughts, achieving flow is probably the best medicine. Contrary to popular wisdom, forced positive thinking often makes things worse.
LessWrong • How to Be Happy - LessWrong
Geoffrey Roberts's emotional word wheel helps describe emotions. https://t.co/2m5Lx9R3km
It turns out my really big problem was thinking I might one day get rid of all my problems, when the truth is that there's no escaping the mucky, malodorous compost-heap of this reality. Which is OK, actually. Compost is the stuff that helps things grow.
Oliver Burkeman • What if You Never Sort Your Life Out? | Oliver Burkeman
Wanting things to be different and accepting things as they are currently are not necessarily opposite actions. Both can be done simultaneously.
Too often, we think of notebooks as a way-station: a necessary stop en-route to the perfected, polished work of art. But what if the notebook is the work of art? What if the process of taking notes is the point?
Doing mind vs. Being mind
And when I practice letting go of how I think things are supposed to look and instead cultivate a trust in the unfolding that is taking place, often in unseen ways, the Here-ness of challenge or pain or depression or grief or (anything) softens even 5%, and that 5% adds up fast when I don’t assume it’s nothing.
To move toward fully living
Defining time well spent for yourself is one of the most important tasks of going day to day in this life.