Due to the circles in which I move, the interests I have, and the work I do—wellbeing, mental health, ‘restorative’ coaching—my algorithmic social media feeds (especially Twitter/X) show me lots more of this kind of thing.
Which means a lot of disagreement! Platforms like this thrive on ‘discourse’ (I’m being generous with my wording here), and there’s always a ‘healthy’ (ditto) debate about what’s best for clients, and for people in general.
It makes sense, because in the world of wellbeing and mental health, everyone’s trying to help and there are a bazillion different ways of offering that help. There’ll be successful elements to all of them (even if it’s just via a placebo effect) and so everyone’s pretty bullish on what their ‘one solution’ is, heartily recommending it, because it does indeed work.
To a degree.
That ‘degree’, I have seen, is what impact it ultimately has on the only thing we ever get to experience: thought. That’s the only relationship we have in our lives, and it’s the source of 100% of our feelings in any given moment, so it makes sense to address that, first and foremost.
To choose something that ‘gets stuff off our minds’.
So whatever actions we’re going to take to address the problems that we see in our lives, really the only question we have to ask ourselves is,
Someone asked me recently whether I think they should have therapy, and my response was the same: d’you think that unpicking the past with a professional past-unpicker will help you to think less, and live more?
If so, go for it. If you think it’ll lead to more introspection, don’t!
The same goes for ‘getting a diagnosis’, finding a community who share your experience, taking up a hobby, or changing career. I don’t have any particular angle on any of these things, other than asking you to be honest about whether or not that’s likely to get things off your mind… or, conversely, have you going deeper into the detail (and thinking more).
It’s why having a deep grounding in the principles behind how we experience life is so helpful. It means you go into every life situation with your eyes wide open.
And in getting that ‘deep grounding’—really resting in the immutable truth that Now is the only thing you ever get—you might discover that what you seek is already within you…
…and other tools and techniques and therapies make less sense.
🤷🏻♂️
Giles
Know that it's time for significant life change? Interested to try something that doesn't involve raking through the past, or learning a bunch of time-consuming tools and rituals?
An Innate Health approach could be for you. It's straightforward, lighthearted and helps you get the change you need, in a way that's just right for you.
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Giles P Croft
It's your battle-cry! 😉