When a Disability is Invisible: Living and working with a mental illness.

WHEN A DISABILITY IS INVISIBLE 

Living and working with a mental illness.

hope and despair sign from Pixabay.com

 Mental illness continues to be the hidden disability - it holds such stigma in society that it is seldom talked about especially as it so often makes other people uncomfortable. Here I'll share a little of my personal experience in the hope it will doors.

My Daily Affirmation: 10th January

Affirmation

Affirmation card: today I will reach out my hand

As always I need to think about my card today. At first glance it is simple - I will reach out my hand. 

Why? My first instinct is - to help someone in need, that is the compulsive carer in me and probably something I do best. Admittedly I do most of that at a distance these days. It is easier for me to be anonymous, to remain hidden online or in the background where I don't actually have to make contact in any sort of physical or emotional sense. Life experience has left me battered and bruised and I have chosen to retreat into my shell to protect myself.

So... if we are talking life lessons heres - perhaps today's card is less about me reaching out my hand to help, but reaching out my hand to connect - to accept that sometimes I am the one in need of that compulsive caring. 

Change Your Life By Changing Your Habits: Morning Rituals

Changing your morning habits.

glass of water from pixabay

WHY CHANGE THE HABIT OF A LIFETIME?

Maybe because it is causing you harm?  So often bad health comes from bad health practices and those start in the morning are one of the first habits to look at.  That is all those are - habits. That is LEARNED behaviour and so it can be UNLEARNED! Here are a few tips on changing habits that no longer support you.

My Daily Affirmation 8th January

Daily Affirmation for Self Help

My Steps are Sure
My Way is Clear

This keeps turning up for me - my way is clear, my steps are sure. At a time when I'm not all that sure what I should be doing with my life I pick this card repeatedly.

At age 62 and 3/4 I am still getting used to the idea of being an Old Age Pensioner - that was someone REALLY old when I was young. With life's knocks and trials it is easy to think the best of my life is over - no more romances to enjoy - no more adventures to be had. Most of the time I feel I have given the best I have to offer - I've done the nursing thing, I've done the thearpist thing, I've done the aid work thing, the charity and volunteer thing, the academic teaching thing - and I feel pretty played out.

Yet I still feel as if I am looking for something, for a purpose and a way ahead.

Do I really need to know where the path is taking me? Perhaps I should simply be enjoying the journey and not looking to the final destination it will carry me to. That is my adventure - if I want it - to live every step in the present.  Right this minute my path is writing, in passing on and sharing some of the knowledge I have found along the path.

So yes, in living in the present I will say today

My Steps are Sure

My Way is Clear

and I add

The Universe makes it so.

An Interesting Life So Far by AnnMackieMiller

My Daily Affirmation: 7th January

Using Affirmations for Self Help

affirmation card: the power of the Universe by annmackiemiller

I am reminded this morning that I am not alone. It is so easy when you are on a journey of self discovery to think that you are - all alone that is. Yet everything in the Universe is geared to supporting and nourishing us. From the beauty of a seascape to the food that we eat, the people we meet, the joys we encounter and the messages it sends us.

I made up this card using a photo I took of the Isle of May in the Firth of Forth Scotland because it reminded me of the joy of natural things that surround us. In my striving for a healthier lifestyle I am reminded that the universe provides me with all I need. The people that come into my life - and yours - are exactly those that support me or have come to teach me something. All around are simple joys to enjoy - the birds on my bird feeders, the cat lying in my lap as I try to type this around her. And the messages - well - I believe the Universe is our guide and sends us messages - as it does when you use  affirmation cards as a tool for self -help and divination.  I'll be writing more about Signs, Symbols and Synchronisitic in anther post.

Yesterday in considering my affirmation I realised that I am happy in my isolation - Today this card appeared to remind me that although that is so - I am never really alone and today I am rejoicing in the peace and inner calm this realization brings me.