Caring for our mental health might seem to overlap caring for our emotional health – and you’d be right.  We often ‘think’ about our emotions, and we have emotional responses to our thought processes.  But when we are overloaded our thoughts can get trapped and it becomes difficult to ‘see our way out’.  We can tend to ‘overthink’ things and thoughts go round and round, without any clear decision being made.

It’s worth considering how you think about the world, how you react mentally, to situations and people.  Do you take time to consider before you react to someone?  Or do you react, without thinking, and perhaps regret it later?   I’ve definitely done that on occasions!

We live in a sea of energy.  We are ALL affected to some degree by the people close to us, by the energy resonances of their thoughts.  And the mass consciousness, the energy of the thoughts (and emotions) of the world, that can affect us too – if we aren’t aware of the possibility and choose to take Command of our own energies. 

I came upon a statistic a while ago that made me think.  A person living 150-200 years ago might not have been able to read at all, but if they could, in the whole of their life they were unlikely to read very much.  A poster put up in the village square, parts from the bible, the occasional letter from friend or family, perhaps.  The statistic explained that a person living then would, in their entire lifetime, not even read the number of words now included in just ONE edition of the New York Sunday Times!  

Today, many people read a newspaper EVERY DAY, including the Sunday edition.  And that is likely to be in addition to all the social media they may be on – Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Twitter.  Plus, emails, phone calls, and oh, the television, on which the News is broadcast worldwide 24 hours a day. 

Take a moment to imagine the difference between the mental input for someone living that long ago, and you today.  No wonder we can feel overwhelmed by it all!   Two hundred years ago news about a crisis in a faraway country might have taken weeks or months to reach another country a continent away, and even then, it would not reach every household, except perhaps months later.  Today we know almost instantly about anything, and that can cause us to overthink and even panic about the ‘state of the world’.  But truthfully, there have always been disasters, way back to the volcano that destroyed Pompeii and before.  We just haven’t known about them until well after they happened. 

And take the ‘panic-demic’ created over Covid.  200 years ago it would just have been “a bad winter” and people would have moved through it, as they always did.  Instead the mainstream media had people in a total panic within weeks over an illness that has a death rate no more than flu  (0.1%) and actually for most people it is 0.0%.   In my 6 decades of life I’ve never known society to panic about winter flu so I found the panic over covid – a similar coronavirus - bewildering.   To take sensible care is one thing, but the media attitude was over the top in my humble opinion.    

There is too much information!  Too much coming at us.  And it will keep coming, because it suits the media companies, and the social media organisations to bombard us.  Only YOU can control the amount of information input you are receiving. 

Taking command of what comes into my life, my head, is really important for me.  To work energetically I need to be as clear and calm as I can be, and certainly not overloaded.  But, isn’t that a useful state to be in whatever you do in life? 

I don’t put my head in the sand, but I certainly do temper what comes in, and you can too.  For instance, we only buy one newspaper a week in our household, and I might catch the TV News headlines very occasionally.  I may be on social media – but I am not on every day - and I deliberately keep my Friends by and large to only those people I know in the physical world.  I’m not on Instagram or, God forbid, TikTok.   I keep in mind that any media outlet must serve me, rather than damaging me.  I immediately Block anyone who attacks me on social media or causes me stress in any way.  Social media should be for sharing, not bullying.

So, how can you begin to care for your mental health?

The SITTING STILL AND QUIET exercises from earlier blogs works excellently here. As well as resting the body and calming the emotions, it allows the mind to slow down, giving it time to process and ‘catch up with itself’.  Being still and quiet, even for a few minutes each day, is something we do so rarely in the modern world, but it has many advantages.

MEDITATION has moved from being thought of as elite - or bonkers - and is now much more widely used and understood.  Moving the brain waves into a calmer state – meditation - is known to have many benefits.  Medical evidence shows it is physically good for us, but it is also good for our mental (and emotional) health.  One form of meditation – mindfulness - is recommended by NICE (National Institute for Clinical Excellence) for the prevention of relapse in depression, although I would suggest that all meditation is helpful for our mental health.

In China meditation is often called, ‘sitting still, doing nothing’.  One Taoist Sage referred to it as ‘mental fasting’, and it was said to be as important to the mind as occasional physical fasting for the body. 

If you haven’t tried meditation before, going it alone can be a bit daunting.  Guided meditations on CD are a very easy way to start.   Some good guided meditations come from my Energy Field Healing teacher and can be found at www.joaslight.com.  I also have some great short meditations available on my phone from the Buddhify app and there are many more apps and CDs available.  What’s important is to find a voice that you like listening to!  

MANAGING your EXPECTATIONS is very helpful for mental calmness and coping.  If we are clear and honest about what we are likely to experience from a job, situation, or a relationship we will not expend hours of thinking and struggling, trying to work out why we can’t change things, or why it wasn’t as good as we hoped. It has been said that the gap between expectation and reality is where disappointment lies.  The bigger the gap ….

BEING AWARE of your thoughts is a good first step to caring for your mental energies.  Do you waste energy going over and over things?  Would it help to make lists, so you don’t have to hold it all in your head?  Do you take a minute each morning to consider your day and what you hope to achieve and how?  That small step can be very clearing for the mind – yes, I’m going to tackle that first, and then hopefully go there, etc.  Always allowing for the ‘flow’ of the day to guide you or alter things, because being too ‘rigid’ in our thought processes can also cause us to feel stressed. 

TAKE YOUR TIME – this is something I say to my students.  When I learned to type in my Medical Secretarial training that was the rule.  Accuracy first, speed follows naturally.  Unless you are in an absolute crisis situation, there is always another minute, or three.  Slowing down a little helps the brain to keep up, helping to prevent errors and accidents. 

“I find I go faster by going slower” – Gil Grissom, CSI series

“We do without ‘Doing’, and it all gets done.” – my astrology teacher taught me this – though it may have been said originally by someone else.  I have leaned on these words many times, reminding myself that I don’t have to rush, rush, rush, Do, Do, Do.  By going quietly and calmly from chore to chore, and pausing to take a breath or sit for a couple of minutes between chores, everything gets done;  the urgent stuff naturally shows itself and rises to the top of the list, and what doesn’t get done that day, will be fine to complete another day.

SEEK PROFESSIONAL HELP.  This is something very much in the media at the moment - that it is OK to seek help if we are so stressed that our mental processes are becoming unbearable.  And it certainly is OK.  In fact, it can be vital.  You could choose something as simple as taking time to have a regular calming massage, or you might try Energy Field Healing, which can clear out a lot of excess mental energy and old stuck issues, or Reiki, which can be very calming.  Or any other therapy you feel could help. 

Or, there may be a time in your life when you need a talking therapy – some kind of counselling or psychotherapy.  I took this deliberate step when my Mum was declared terminally ill.  Mum was a wonderful matriarchal figure in our large family, and I knew, as sure as eggs are eggs, that I would need help to go through the awful, long process of losing her and coping with whatever might happen in the family – and it happened!  I chose Transactional Analysis as the psychotherapy model because I felt it would be the most helpful, and so it turned out.  Even now, years after Mum’s death, I am still thankful for the support and the learning I gained through the months of therapy, the coping strategies I learned which are still useful in everyday life.  Yes, there was a cost, as I did this privately, but it was worth its weight in gold.

When it seems appropriate, I am open about sharing this with clients and students, and I see their eyes open a little wider, as if they wonder whether I am ok, or a little bit ‘mad’, because I had ‘psychotherapy’.   I’m not mad, but I might have been without that support and understanding at a very difficult time in life. 

One or two people have intimated that it was ‘weak’ to seek such help.  I think in fact it is the opposite.  It takes strength to decide, ‘I need help here’.  If a pipe breaks and water pours through the ceiling, you call a plumber.  You would not dream of trying to fix it yourself, as the house flooded around you.  If your thoughts have become totally overwhelmed by past or current issues, you may not be in a place to help yourself.   Sometimes it is sensible to seek outside help of some kind. 

You may have gathered I love quotes.  Other people can say things so beautifully and succinctly.   Here are a couple to finish with that have helped me care for my mental health over the years:

“If a man does not keep pace with his companions perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.  Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.” 

                                                                                          Henry David Thoreau

“The man who crosses the line first is always alone.”

"The early bird gets the worm – but the second mouse gets the cheese!”

 

DISCLAIMER (The Small Print)       

These are just my current thoughts. 

Thoughts can change as we learn and grow.

I can be wrong, but am nevertheless entitled to my thoughts.

You don’t have to read my blog or take any notice of anything I say.

It is important you always make up your own mind - about everything.

I am not you, and don’t know you or the details of your life. 

Therefore, you are responsible for any decisions or changes you make as a result of reading

my thoughts. 

Finally, nothing in any of my blogs is intended nor should be taken as medical or health advice.  Always research for yourself and talk to doctors or therapists you trust (conventional or complementary).

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the work I do now – Reiki, Energy Field Healing, Shamanic Healing – there is an aspect of Spirit, an understanding that we are Spiritual or Energetic Beings living a physical life.  This has been my experience – I do not say ‘belief’ because I have experienced ‘Spirit’ and ‘energy’ in many ways in my work - and there is no doubt in my mind that we are both Matter and Soul. 

Therefore, we need to support and care for our physical bodies – after all, we have nothing else to carry our Soul through a physical lifetime of perhaps 80+ years – but we also need to nurture our Spirit, that level of us which exists beyond the physical.  Eating the best, most appropriate food we can for our body is part of looking after the physical – the Blood Type Diet can be a great guide here, if you choose that.

The issue I want to talk about today is a strange one – at least I think it is.  It’s the view some people have that only certain ways of eating – I’m talking about vegetarian or vegan - mean a person can be ‘spiritual.’  Plant-only eating can be risky if it doesn’t suit you, and it seems judgemental, as well as, frankly, slightly silly.  For a start we are ALL Spiritual Beings.  Plenty of people focusing on a more spiritual way of thinking and living eat meat, eggs and fish – including me, I hasten to add.  I want to be clear, I’ve no agenda here.  Its fine for a person to eat whatever they want to eat, but they need to allow everyone else to do the same.  

Years ago, influenced by others, I fell into the “If I’m going to be ‘spiritual’ I must be vegetarian,” error.   So, I tried it.  And felt ill.  Weak.  Exhausted.  It clearly didn’t suit me – though it may suit some.  I’ve read plenty of similar stories – people turning vegetarian or vegan because they think it is ‘the thing to do’ and having to return to their usual eating pattern to regain their health.  One example is Bear Grylls, the Chief Scout and ex-soldier.  Bear was once famously vegan and now claims it damaged his health, https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/health/bear-grylls-says-vegan-diet-28504092

I reversed my diet to include meat, fish and eggs again, and immediately felt better.  On finding the Blood Type Diet I understood why.  I’m Type ‘O’ and that very common Blood Type (about 45% of the population)  needs animal protein for proper health.  It has been a frustration for me on many spiritual or Energy-based residential courses that participants, including me, are forced into vegetarian eating, because nothing else is offered, as if that somehow makes us ‘better people.’  The problem with that, for those who are physically gluten and dairy-intolerant, as I am, is that vegetarian food often leans heavily on gluten- bread, cakes, biscuits - and dairy – cheese, milk, yoghurt, butter.  Or soya, which is a very processed food and makes me feel nauseous. And you might guess, soya is an ‘Avoid’ food on the Blood Type Diet for Type ‘O’.  Soya is also, incidentally, one of the most processed foods on the planet.  And nuts – I am mildly allergic to nuts and have to be careful how many I eat, so nut loaf is out.

The dangers of extremism in eating

Some people may not like what I write here, but if you don’t, I point you to The Small Print at the bottom of the page.

Extremism, in any form, is never a good thing.  I think most people might agree with that.  We can all see what happens in the world, in past and current times, when extremist religions try to control people with aggression and violence.  Or when extreme political views are forced on a population – the Communism of the old USSR, the Fascism of the Nazis and so on.  The horrors of the covid oppression and terrible mask and jab mandates.  

Choosing a plant-only diet is an extreme choice and is simply not necessary for good physical health – unlike giving up gluten for people who are coeliac or gluten-intolerant, or reducing sugar for diabetics or giving up dairy because you are lactose-intolerant (which incidentally most people are, but don’t realise it.)  These are necessities for health.  A vegetarian or vegan diet is, as far as I am aware, a lifestyle choice.  And that’s fine, if it’s what a person wants.  But I feel concern when these ways of eating are pushed onto people, using attitudes like ‘you have to be vegetarian in order to be spiritual’.  This is simply not true and not fair.   There are some good balancing arguments around plant-only eating which are hardly ever heard.  Here are some of them: 

LACK OF NUTRITION

Cutting out several whole food groups – all meat, all fish, possibly all dairy and eggs – seriously risks causing a lack of vital nutrients.  Real damage may only show after many years and then the connection may not be realised or will be ignored because a person is so convinced their way of eating is ‘healthy’ (See Oxalate in Foods, below, for an example).

LACK OF FERRITIN 

Ferritin is a protein complex with metal–protein interactions. It is the primary intracellular iron-storage protein in the body.  Lack of ferritin comes about because of lack of iron in the body – and that almost always means lack of iron in the diet.  Symptoms include minor aches, fatigue, weakness, palpitations, loss of energy, increased irritability and confusion, as well as hair loss.  Good levels of iron are impossible to maintain on a plant-only diet.  The main foods for iron are meat, fish and eggs.  Yes, dark green leafy vegetables like spinach and chard, as well as lentils and beans do contain some iron, but it is non-heme iron, a form of iron less easily absorbed by the body.  And ….

OXALATE in FOOD

Talking of dark green leafy vegetable brings me to another problem that can occur in a diet wholly dependent on plant food, and particularly plants like spinach, swiss chard, endive and kale.  These foods contain a high level of oxalate.  Oxalic acid (oxalate) is an organic compound found in many plants, including leafy greens, vegetables, some fruits, cocoa, nuts and seeds.   Oxalic acid can build up in the body and cause health issues. 

An article in the “What Doctors Don’t Tell You” magazine (February 2020) highlighted this.  A woman who had been vegan all her adult life had struggled for decades with painful joints and other symptoms.  Only when she came upon information about oxalic acid did she realise it was her diet – heavy in swiss chard and spinach - that had been causing the problems.  

In a balanced, mixed, omnivorous diet these otherwise healthy foods won’t cause a problem, because a person will eat them in moderation.  But in a diet that relies heavily on green leafy vegetables they can cause problems like kidney stones and interference with mineral absorption, including iron.

LACK OF VITAMIN D.

The UK is a relatively dark, damp country and almost everyone is short of Vitamin D because of this.  There are very few decent food sources for this vital Vitamin.  Eggs and oily fish are the best, followed by cheese and yoghurt (if a person can tolerate dairy foods), as well as beef liver, tuna and sardines.  There are NO vegetables or fruits which can provide enough Vitamin D.  Some fortified (added Vitamin D) orange juice or breakfast cereals can help a little, but these foods contain a lot of sugar. 

Sunshine is the best source for Vitamin D, but with modern life we cannot get enough of it in this country.  Most people either cover up, because of skin cancer fears, or don’t get out enough because they work indoors.  Two weeks holiday each year in sunshine is nowhere near enough.  Lack of Vitamin D is felt to contribute to a whole range of conditions including rickets, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, colon and breast cancers, rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes.

A MODERN CHOICE

Many people now choosing vegan or vegetarian diets almost certainly grew up being fed all food groups, giving their body, including their bones, muscles and nervous systems a chance to develop properly.  But today many children are being introduced to plant-only eating almost from birth, and this is not always healthy.  In January 2020 there was a news story from America about a child dying of malnutrition because her vegan parents fed her only on fruits and fruit juices.  At three years old she was the size of a 7-month-old baby.  Two older siblings were also malnourished and small for their age. 

Children need fats, protein and high calorie food because of the rate of growth of their bodies and brains.  They need animal protein for fats, minerals and vitamins.  Their bodies are growing and developing.  Older people need more protein because their bodies need more repair.  Fruits, salads and vegetables are ‘carbohydrates’ by definition.  Nothing in the body is made of carbohydrates.  Carbohydrates are ‘energy foods’, not ‘building’ or ‘repair’ foods.   The body is formed of proteins, minerals and fats.  The brain is largely fat, muscle fibre is made from protein, bones from minerals.  Every cell in the body has what is called a bi-lipid outer layer (2 layers of fat).  Adults might more easily tolerate the severe restrictions of veganism, but for growing children veganism is unlikely to provide enough vital nutrients.

Adults actually need more protein as they grow older, not less, because our bodies don’t digest quite as efficiently and we need more ‘repair’.

ANIMALS, FARMS AND ‘CLIMATE CHANGE’

One of the arguments put forward by the vegan/vegetarian view revolves around producing food from animals and how it contributes to ‘climate change.’  I always felt sceptical about this.  After all the Earth has gone through Ice Ages and warming all on its own over millions of years – with a good mix of animals and plants around.  Man has eaten animal products since we walked the Earth and ancient people would not have survived the Ice Ages without eating animal protein.

A BBC Countryfile programme in March 2020 offered some very interesting information.  They were looking at how farmers can be carbon neutral by 2040, and what exactly on a farm produces the dreaded CO2 emissions. 

What do you think produces the most CO2 emissions on a farm?  Animals?  I would guess this would be most people’s guess.  But NO.  Not the animals, not by a long chalk.  According to the programme the greatest source of CO2 on a farm by far was the fertilisers used on the land to grow CROPS.  The scientists involved were trying to persuade farmers to use more ANIMAL MANURE on the land because it is a rich, complex form of fertiliser, much better than the Nitrogen-based chemical fertilisers which are the problem – and the source of a lot of the lack of nutrients in our fruits and vegetables now.  Using animal manure is the way farms always used to fertilise land until the petroleum companies started using their by-products to make chemical fertilisers. 

By the way, PLANTS HURT TOO

One of my favourite books is “Hands of Light” by Barbara Brennan, an American energy healer who mapped the Human Energy Field in detail and experimented to prove that what she was ‘seeing’ with her Higher Sense Perception was correct.  One thing she saw early on was a plant ‘cringe’ when a portion of a leaf was cut off and she saw how the energy field around the plant was damaged.  She describes recoiling in horror at this and apologising to the plant!  I wonder what an entire field of crops feels as it is harvested?

This illustrates the difficult nature of living in the duality of the Earth Plane.  Nothing is perfect, there are two (or more) sides to everything.  We are here to decide for ourselves, to choose for ourselves - and allow others to do the same - as we try to balance the various aspects of being Spirit in a physical body.

No-one has to be vegetarian or vegan in order to be ‘spiritual’.  We are ALL Spiritual by our very existence.  Just because you decide to focus more on the Spiritual part of your nature doesn’t mean you have to change your way of eating, if it has always suited you.  Human bodies need good protein and good fats and we are biologically built to be omnivores – to eat both animal and plant food.  If we respect the animals who give their lives so that we might eat, and only eat what we need, there is a balance that can be found.

I started this blog by saying that extremism in any form isn’t good for us, and I stand by that.  Whether it’s about our food or the medicine model we choose there’s a balance to be found in life, if we are to support the physical, while also finding our spirituality. 

DISCLAIMER (The Small Print)       

These are just my current thoughts. 

Thoughts can change as we learn and grow.

I can be wrong, but am nevertheless entitled to my thoughts.

You don’t have to read my blog or take any notice of anything I say.

It is important you always make up your own mind - about everything.

I am not you, and don’t know you or the details of your life. 

Therefore, you are responsible for any decisions or changes you make as a result of reading

my thoughts. 

Finally, nothing in any of my blogs is intended nor should be taken as medical or health advice.  Always research for yourself and talk to doctors or therapists you trust (conventional or complementary).