The Love For Mental Health

                 

 The Quest

Since when I was a child, I always had a strong interest and deep curiosity with how the human brain works and I always wondered why some people acquire mental illness and why others don’t. I always had this feeling of sympathy to these people that I thought of a mission that one day I would give them the love and care that they deserve and with that goal in my mind I pursued Bachelor of Science in Nursing as my college degree here in the Philippines. Of all the clinical rotations I had in my duty days, I find myself more interested in patient teaching and creating a therapeutic relationship with the patients was more fulfilling to me and soon I realized that mental health nursing has not escaped from my heart through time. I really enjoyed my psych rotation as a nursing student wherein I had enhanced my active listening skills and critical thinking and made me believe in the whole "authentic presence" approach to interpersonal and therapeutic communication. It came to my realization that whenever I come across a patient as a person, rather than as a patient, they would easily open up and ease down the walls that they have built within them to hide their fear from stigma and endless discrimination. I then had the chance to sneak inside of their lives for just a moment and I believe that is the true essence of patient care. Psych Nursing allows me to understand and appreciate the person as a whole, not just a person with illness or disorder.

Why this field?

People with mental illness are the ones that had been forgotten by the society or like wanting to forget about and this reality is really sad. I want to take care of patients that no one else wants to care for, these patients deserve the right treatment without judging them. I want to inspire these kind of people. I want someone to look at me and say “because of you I didn’t give up”.

Lesson

In return, my patients taught me a lot about life, that we are all the same, that we will end up on the same road no matter how life treats us.

Mission

Let’s all raise mental health awareness. Being mentally healthy is more important than being physically healthy. You couldn’t get into the motion if your mind won’t let you. Your mind affects how you think, how you move, and most importantly how you live.

Let’s end stigma, these people doesn’t deserve humiliation from the society rather they deserve love and affection from people who believes in them and from people who they believe will help them start again.

Personal Mission

I would like to leave a legacy in this profession wherein I can give a positive impact on the professional development of nursing in this special area which is mental health and could change people’s lives dealing with mental illness by helping them and believing in them that they could overcome their illnesses and can start a new life again. I also started this blog site as my way to express my love for mental health and personal development.

APA badge

About: This blog post is dedicated to American Psychological Association’s Mental Health Blog Day Event. This blog tends to give importance to people with mental illness and raise the mental health awareness in the society.

Read More

Mental Health Month Blog Event

The American Psychological Association (APA) will be hosting a blog event for the fourth time on 

May 15, 2013 to celebrate the Mental Health Month.

     What are the goals of this Event?

1. Raise Mental Health Awareness
2. Educate the society regarding the importance of being mentally healthy
3. End and overcome stigma
4. Transform discrimination to fairness and justice                                                              

      Bloggers are all welcome to participate and share their insights, opinions, and experiences regarding mental health. They are also welcome to share their ideas about prevention of mental disorders. 

Check out www.yourmindyourbody.org to know how you could participate in this event. The American Psychological Association (APA) will grant you a special badge that you could put on your profile/blog as a symbol of participation to this great event.

                                                                          

You wouldn't know how many people can be enlightened in this event. Your published article in raising mental health awareness goes a long way and certainly goes through the hearts of those who were merely forgotten by the society. So, I hope you could all participate on May 15, 2013! Save the date and promote this transcendent event. Cheers! 

Read More

The Person on Purpose

How can you discover your life's purpose? Definitely, it’s not your career, your job, your hobbies etc. Absolutely, I just want to ask why do you exist in this world, is it because you have your own purpose in life? Did you know that you can make a big difference by learning what it is? You have your goals that you need to do before everything else turns out into nothing. If you are the kind of person who doesn’t believe that you have a goal in life, it’s okay. It won’t prevent you from knowing and realizing that you have purpose here in this world we are living to. Finding yourself is not easy but if you really want to know what your purpose in life is, let me teach you some tips on what I have read from one of my favorite Journal writers (Steve Pavlina) 

First, you must not think about anything. Make your mind clear from any confusions, hatred and problems that are insisting on troubling your mind.(Including the idea that you may have no purpose at all). There are many ways to know your purpose in life. If you follow the process, you will have more chance to expect it to work. It will not prevent you in finding the answer as long as your mind is settled and focused into the process.

Here are the steps:

1. You can open a word processor here in your computer with a blank page.
2. Write at the top, “What is my real purpose in life?”
3. Write words that come into your mind reading that question.
4. Repeat step 3 until you write the answer that makes you cry. Absolutely, that is your purpose in life.

 

Done? You can cry and cry, it doesn’t matter if you are strong but believe me you do have a soft and a kind heart inside your true personality. I know that for other people this is boring, but I can only question them that have they tried it? Or are they really interested to know what their purpose in life is? 

It’s okay if some of your words are similar, you may even re-write your previous answers. You can write down whatever comes into your mind. During the process, after writing many answers but still seeking or searching for the right answer you get tired, That’s normal but don’t stop, push yourself into writing, just focus and relax and be with your own self.

You may also discover some of the words you’ve written down that gave you a little bit of emotion but didn’t make you cry at all. Well, take note of those words; underline them as you go along. When you’re getting these kinds of words, it just means that you are getting deeper in the process. Go with it. Don’t stop.

I prefer that you need to do this alone so you can focus on yourself more. If you don’t believe it, I suggest that you start with “ My life is useless” or “I don’t have a purpose” then start over there.

My own personal experience in this test:

My family

Before I started this test I locked my room, I also turned off  anything that contributed any noise in the place. Everything around me was absolutely silent and I can’t believe it, its like the environment cooperated with me. I started by following the steps and it took me almost 15 minutes until I reached my answer. My final answer is to give my family a wonderful life, to give love and not asking for anything in return and to live my life with full of peace and happiness. 

Knowing your purpose in life is the easy part. The hard part is making yourself in the path where your purpose is.

 

Just try this and only you and your heart is needed in this test. Nothing changes until you change.

Read More