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Values

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Ok, so in my last post I said I would start breaking down the conditions needed to thrive. If we go back to the plant analogy, it needs a good, healthy root system to be thriving.  For us, our roots are our system of values, beliefs and principles. Let’s first look at values. When you live a life that is guided by your inner values, you tend to feel happier and more satisfied with your existence. As far as I’m concerned, that is one of the best coping mechanisms. In other words, the best way to hold off The Emptiness is to create the conditions for thriving. Then you will hopefully find yourself more often in The Glow.. So there are two things I’d like to explore from that last paragraph; how do you discover your inner values, and then, how do you live by them? Let’s look at that first question in this post. How do you discover your inner values? There are many ways to determine what your inner values are. There are wonderful websites, questionnaires and professionals that will lead yo
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The Emptiness and The Glow

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  Thriving on Your Journey The Emptiness and The Glow This entire blog is about coping mechanisms. There would be no need for coping mechanisms at all if we never felt sad, anxious, or a lack of self worth. Of course those feelings are quite normal and usually not much of an issue if they are short lived. It’s when they persist, worsen and even combine that we start to feel that hollow, aching feeling that I call The Emptiness. Even if that term doesn’t resonate with you, I’m sure you can understand what it is that I am trying to describe. It’s a long term, deep unhappiness. When you are fighting against The Emptiness, it can feel so bleak that it’s difficult to find a way out. If it is so bad that you can’t function, you need to get professional help and I once again I have to remind you I’m not a health professional, these are only my opinions. A professional counsellor or psychiatrist is necessary to help you through the worst of those days and set you on the road to recovery. But w
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  Thrive In the last post I gave a brief introduction of myself and that this blog will be about thriving and surviving with mental health issues. Remember I am not a health professional, these are just my opinions. And if you are in urgent need of assistance, find the mental health hot line in your area. In that last post I touched on the concept of thriving, even with a mental health issue. So what does it mean to thrive? Let's look at that in detail. When a plant is considered to be thriving, it has all it's basic needs met and the conditions for growth and reproduction are near perfect. The leaves and stems look upright and healthy, flowers are prolific and the plant just seems to have a glow about it. Animals are a little different because they can intentionally interact with one another. When an animal is thriving, it has it's basic needs for food and shelter met, but there are a few more conditions that need to be right for the animal to thrive. It also needs it'
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What Makes Your Life Colourful?

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  What makes your life colourful? I colour my life with my art, with my clothes, with the colourful people in my life and with my actions. I'm hoping to put colour into more people's lives by sharing my art, my processes and my thoughts here on this blog. Today I'll be working on an art quilt that will be displayed in the local gallery through December and into January as part of the summer exhibition for volunteers called Behind the Scenes. The quilt itself will be very colourful. The central figures are being painted with different abstract works. I've completed the mushroom already and today I'm working on the snail and the snail shell. It's kind of scary not knowing how it will turn out. I have a bit of an idea in my head, but in my experience, my art never goes according to plan. That's not to say that I don't like the eventual result. I'm just not one of those artists who knows exactly what they want to create from a picture in their head and t
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