Finish this sentence with the words you find in the puzzle above:
I am _____.
Find this puzzle on my Mighty page.
Category: Mental Health
Is This the First Time You are Alone With Your Thoughts?
Busyness is how some of us distract ourselves from our thoughts and trauma. With so much to do, there is often no time to stop, reflect, and build a relationship with ourselves. In times of isolation, however, it’s more difficult to combat and dismiss the impulse of intrusive thoughts. This may even be the first time some are alone with their thoughts and can’t immediately turn to “doing” to deflect negative patterns of thinking.
What do we do when experiencing an overwhelming spiral of intrusive thoughts?
- Acknowledge the thought. Ask yourself, Is this thought familiar?
- Identify the feelings the thought brings up. How am I feeling? Why am I feeling this?
- Turn to a productive perspective to address spiraling. Is this thought true or intrusive?
- Reassure yourself that you are doing the best you can and practice self-compassion. What is triggering this thought and what can I do to help myself reframe/dismiss this thought.
- Write down what you are thinking or feeling. How intense is what I’m experiencing?
- Ask for help or talk to someone you trust to get a different perspective.
Building a sense of self-awareness takes time and patience. There may even be parts of ourselves we may encounter for the first time and that’s okay. We are all multifaceted. Building a relationship with who we are is important.
This may be the first time we find ourselves actually reflecting, but that doesn’t mean we can’t grow and learn to love all parts of ourselves.
Mental Health, Productivity, and Worth: COVID-19
Remember that although some of us may be out of work, away from the people we love, or can’t pursue what we want to do right now, it doesn’t take away from our worth or value. Because we sometimes link what we “do” to our value, we lose our sense of self.
Message: You are valuable despite your productivity level or how much motivation you have. Give yourself time to figure out what time looks like for you. Reflect and get to know who you are, what you like to do, and what your next steps will be. Put yourself first. Step back from the noise and connect with your needs.
Mental health and well-being are important as we navigate the what-ifs and anxiety of uncertainty.
Ask yourself, what are my needs right now? How can I meet those needs?
You Are Valid
Stand firm and know that what you feel and experience is valid. There is no checklist or standard to what makes your story enough to cause pain, growth, or transformation. Wherever you are in your journey, whatever frustrations, confusions, turmoil, or changes influence how you are perceiving the events that happen to you is your call to make. There is no shame in feeling what you feel.
No need to compare yourself to anyone, downplay what you are feeling, or over-explain any part of your story. You are valid in whatever stage you are in. Receive the support or help that is necessary to get you where you need/want to go in your growth and healing.
A Series of Quotes: Recycling Pain Through Our Behavior
Growth and Transformation Through Awareness: Pain and Toxic Traits
We all have a way in which we think and act based on our beliefs and ideas. Sometimes, however, our judgment and growth are clouded by the pain and trauma we often recycle through our toxic habits and behaviors.
The tricky thing about pain is how deeply rooted it is. We don’t see our behavior as toxic or hurtful until it’s too late and we’ve already hurt someone we might care for.
In order to identify those toxic cycles, we must grow in self-awareness. The more self-aware we become, the more we are able to catch ourselves and understand why we act the way we do. Although some behaviors may appear harmless, like numbing our feelings and trying not to cope with our pain, if repressed for too long, will eventually appear in our behavior.
Projection occurs when we place how we treat ourselves onto the people we love or want to love. Often unconsciously our own self-abandonment is how we begin to treat those around us.
The first step in feeling our pain is to accept that we’ve hurt someone and forgive ourselves. If we hold onto the pain and regret, it will stay with us and lead how we treat those who enter our lives.
Once aware, begin the process of identifying in what ways we can improve and begin to love ourselves in that process. Although we can’t undo another person’s pain, we can improve and heal through our own. We must learn who we are and the pain that guided our past self.
The growth that self-awareness brings can resurface memories and thoughts that created the original pain, but that process will birth a transformed perspective.
We learn through experiences and wanting to do better. Without the urge to do better, the pain will validate itself and remain how we see ourselves.
Important note: This process can be difficult to do on our own but I found therapy, self-help books, meditation, writing, reflective exercises, support groups, and mental health resources to be a great help in beginning this process.
Defying Shadows Article: How to Achieve your Goals and New Year Resolutions
“Reminder: Remember to be gentle with yourself and the expectations of your goals. Some goals can only be achieved during different seasons of your lifetime and that’s okay. It’s okay to not be able to achieve all you want to achieve when you want to achieve it. It’s also okay to make small goals as well. Take your time with your goals and give yourself time to achieve them. Not everyone’s life will turn out the same and no one has it all together, so no need to compare another person’s accomplishments to yours. Everyone is different and there is no timeline to success.”
Link: How to Achieve your Goals and New Year Resolutions
SWT 100 Notes Note 40: Peace and Forgiveness
Although the year just began and we’re only in the second month, I’ve been faced with the most difficult challenges to date. From the toughest mental health battles to realizing my insecurities and toxic traits, this year is showing me to put my peace first.
I forgive myself for accepting what I don’t deserve. I move forward in claiming and proclaiming my worth and value.
Realization: I am worth more than I settle for.
#IAM
If I were to tell you that the lists of things you’ve done, the relationships you have, or the job titles you’ve held don’t make you who you are, would you believe me?
If I were to tell you that you are whole just because, would you think I’m wrong?No matter what we do or who we think we have to become we are fundamentally valuable and worth living every single day. It doesn’t matter how much we get done, or how much we’ve been through, every day we wake up we hold the power of our value and worth and that never changes.”I am” despite of anything that follows that statement.
Life Lessons: What I Wish I Knew as a Child that I Know Now
Dear Nina,
It’s been a really rough 2020 already. It’s tried to knock you down, step on you, and declare your defeat. What 2020 doesn’t know is you already declared that no matter what, you will figure out how to bounce back EVERY SINGLE TIME. No matter how complicated or complex the struggle, nothing will overcome your resilience.
I know you’re hurting but I also know you learned so much through the pain you endured.
You learned that:
- It’s okay to be sensitive.
- It’s okay to cry and express emotions.
- Learn early how to love and accept yourself.
- You are different and that fact will catalyst your passion.
- People will look out for themselves.
- Put yourself first because no one else will.
- You are not like everyone, your self-care looks different.
- You don’t need to be with someone to be whole.
- Your empathy is powerful, build it up.
- You have a soft and gentle spirit, protect yourself, learn how to say no.
- Your mind will tell you a lot of lies, declare your power and control over yourself.
- People have their own trauma and will show it through their behavior, do not take it personal.
- Self-awareness is scary but necessary.
- Your mind is very very powerful, use it to create and influence change.
- Your purpose is beyond what you can fathom, manifest it with all of your being.
- Depression and anxiety will not defeat you.
It’s taken some time to learn these lessons, and probably would have been helpful growing up, but you know now and that’s what’s important. You know that your life is valuable although you may feel tortured sometimes. Keep that smile on your face because its beyond beautiful.
Despite the pain, the tears, and the loneliness, you have a job to do. Get up and keep going.
With love and power, SparklyWarTanks
Defying Shadows Article: How to Overcome Comparing Ourselves to Others
“Have you ever wanted to be taller? Or maybe felt less than because your grades weren’t the best in the class? Ever felt yourself changing in ways that weren’t really like you to fit into a crowd? Comparing ourselves to others and stunting our sense of self-worth to be more like the people around us harms our views of who we are. The more we compare and strive to be what we are not, the more we lose what we are and who we want to become.
How do we shift comparing ourselves to others to accepting and growing in self-love?”
“A gratitude list is a list of things, places, people, situations, or traits about ourselves that we are grateful for. Creating a gratitude list helps us to reflect and think through what’s good about our experiences and life overall. Building a habit of gratitude increases our awareness, knowledge, and point of contact when we find ourselves comparing our lives with others.”
See full article here:
SparklyWarTanks 