Tag: mental health

Guardians of the Synapses

Overwhelmed. Exhausted. Anxious. Fearful. Pushed past the breaking point. Done. I’ve heard others recite these words, and also myself. There is a sense of uneasiness that seems to have arisen since we have all made it through the worldwide pandemic. It has felt as if the world has turned upside down and hasn’t righted itself yet. Many people I hear from are feeling very anxious. It is as if we are waiting for the next “bad” thing to happen, whether a disease, recession, war, or another type of violent act.

This anxious feeling has not spared people of faith. Mental health issues affect those without faith and those with faith. The only difference is that help can come from both the church and from professional mental health workers. Mental health is not a secular issue with secular solutions. It is a human issue that God understands and offers help for.

This isn’t to make light of anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues, but rather to realize God actually cares about these issues. The Bible speaks about anxiety, fear, worry, and the healing and peace that comes from following God’s ways. It speaks of taking hold of every thought. It speaks of shifting our focus from ourselves to God. And of practicing meditation on God’s word, bringing our requests to God, leaving them with Him, and offering thanksgiving.

Here’s an example;

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.” (Philippians 4:6, NLT) The result is this:

“Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7, NLT)

And Jesus said, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matthew 6:34, NIV)

Solomon in his wisdom made this observation in the Book of Proverbs, “Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up.” Proverbs 12:25, NIV)

These verses are just a few of the ways the Bible speaks about anxiety. And this isn’t to make light of anxiety, but to point to a God who understands and cares about us, His creation.

God has given us wonderful bodies that can do amazing things. We have emotions and feelings. We have minds that have powerful abilities to control body functions in milliseconds that we are not even aware of consciously. Our brain is amazing and has been shown to grow and change with new research into neuroplasticity. We have truly been fearfully and wonderfully made. Our thoughts can overwhelm us and bring about neuro and physiologic responses. Some responses mimic heart attacks and are so convincing it sends many to the ER.

Our thoughts are wonderfully executed blends of chemicals, neurons, dendrites and synapses. This is according to my brief research from Google. I’m not a brain expert, but just someone who wonders how it all works. And it all is amazing. And powerful.

The good news is that we don’t have to go it alone whenever we feel overwhelmed and our synapses are all firing randomly. We can find a peace from God. We have this amazing ability to stop and breathe to get ourselves and our minds back down from the over firing of neurons.

Studies have shown that prayer and meditation can lower our heart rates and blood pressure. Reciting Bible verses that bring God’s peace and hope can help us to shift our focus off of the fears and toward God. Stopping our thoughts from wandering toward the negative can be done by stopping and making a list of our blessings. A gratitude list can do wonders for our attitudes. It is hard to complain when you are thanking God for all He has done so far. This attitude of thankfulness reminds us of all the times God has come through for us, or has gotten us through the tough times before and we stop looking at the storm around us and fix our gaze on Him.

We can not stop the stress of the world from affecting us, but we can limit its affect on our minds and bodies, by guarding our thoughts and shifting them to God when they start to go south, into a place of overwhelm and worry. -God Bless You – Nancy

No Rest For The Weary

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest– Jesus

I’ll be honest, I used to think that ” I’m taking a mental health day” was just an empty phrase made up by millennials to get out of their responsibilities. I recall the somewhat recent event from the Olympics when gymnast Simone Biles stepped out of competition for “A mental health issue”. I admit that I was a bit critical of the decision, having grown up in the just suck it up generation. Push through. Tough it out. You’ll get through this. All phrases from said generation. “I’m a bit of a boomer/gen x’er, depending on what dates you use to classify it.)

That is, until recently when I began a new temporary job. I found myself needing a “Mental health day” And I can completely sympathize now with Simone Biles and others. Smart people recognize their limitations, both physically and mentally. It’s not a weakness, but rather a humbleness. We cannot do everything, or be everything to others without it showing up in our physical bodies or in our mental state.

We are not just spiritual or just physical, but as I and others believe more of a tripart being: spirit, soul (mind, will and emotions) and physical. All three work together and when one part suffers, the others will follow. For example if we are feeling stressed or anxious, often we will feel physical symptoms such as tightness in our neck, headaches and even stomach issues. Those who have panic attacks often describe them as feeling like a heart attack. The symptoms we experience are all trying to tell us there is something wrong. Something we must deal with. It is amazing to ponder how God has created our bodies to work in unison. We only need to listen to our bodies. And also understand what they are saying. We can cover up our symptoms through medicines, but what we really need is to give ourselves a break and time to stop and work through what is the root cause of our physical and emotional issues.

This takes time and prayer. We can’t rush through the process. We must learn to slow down at times and give our problems to God. Jesus promises to give us rest, but are we taking Him up on the offer?

This world is constantly moving at a faster and faster pace. We are being expected to perform our duties as if we were automated robots. No wonder there are so many robotic uses in the work place- robots do not need mental health days. Artificial intelligence can function without emotion- although I wonder if it will become so perfect in its imitation of the human brain, that someday it will experience mental fatigue and need a break. Probably not, but even self- driving cars make errors and cause accidents- because they cannot account for human beings on the road.

It is interesting to me that as I am understanding the need for my own mental health, I have been reading a book by author Bonnie Gray- “Finding Spiritual Whitespace”. I admit at first I didn’t get the title of the book. What is white space? I thought. But, let me recommend this book if you have been going through any type of anxiety or panic attacks. I am nearing the end of the book, and I am realizing that I need to allow Jesus to help carry my burdens. It easy to say that. Or write about it as I am doing here in this blog, but in reality, I’m still trying to carry it by myself.

Unlike all the garden flags and bumper stickers that keep telling me”God’s Got This” (a left over from Covid lock down days here in the US), what I keep saying silently, to myself is “I got this!” . When in realty; I don’t got this. Yes, sorry for the bad English grammar. When I began to feel physically sick, I needed to heed the warnings; take a break, and prepare my heart to listen. Quiet my soul, shut the world out and just wait to hear from God.

As I have counseled others in the past in similar situations, some jobs are just not worth it. If it means selling your soul and letting your physical body and your spirit keep taking the punches wielded at you. Life is hard to be sure. It is not an easy place to live out our lives in the fallen world we are calling a temporary home. There are days of difficulty. There will be pain, heartache and stress that we cannot control. But if we are smart we will not try to deal with it on our own. We will give it to Jesus and not be afraid to rest- even if that means taking a mental health day. If you still do not like that phrase, then call it a spiritual health day. Your mind, spirit and body will thank you and you will be more effective for the Kingdom. – God Bless- Nancy

Don’t Miss It

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24, NIV)

This week has been difficult. Not going to pretend that it hasn’t. But not so much for me as for others that I know either personally or through a friend of a friend. Life is difficult at times and it is only complicated with the “ever- hanging on” world- wide pandemic. It seems like it just won’t give up its grip. It is easy to get discouraged at these times in our lives. We are looking for the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, only to discover it is a train coming straight towards us. It is overwhelming and if anyone considers it soberly, thoughtfully, they can find the secondary affects of this stress filled global situation. If it seems to you that people have become angrier and lashing out at others, then you have the same thoughts as I have. The world is reeling from the stress and people are just reacting to the fear they are experiencing. Anger is a a secondary emotion that is caused by hurt, fear or a perceived threat or hurt.

As a Christian, I am not immune to feelings of fear, or hurt or anger. The difference is that I can take all these fears, and hurts and bring them to the feet of Jesus. I can ask for His wisdom and ask for help in dealing with it all. I can ask Him to help me forgive others. I do not have to solve it by myself. I do not have to let it all get the best of me. Although, I admit sometimes I let it do just that; get the best of me. I get overwhelmed, stressed out, angry, hurt and discouraged. I fall short of giving it to Jesus first, preferring to struggle on my own for a bit. But just when I get comfortable trying to deal with it in my slump, God shows up with a reminder of the good that is left in a world of a global crisis.

It may be just me, but I have noticed something very remarkable in the past two weeks. While the world has been watching the Olympics and celebrating the medal winners and conversing about the athletes’ mental health issues, I have seen a beautiful picture of what it means to “Spur on one another”. I can’t help but notice that the talented athletes of the games, have been hugging, fist bumping and cheering on others, that is not only their own teammates, but their competitors. Winners do not gloat over themselves, but reach over the ropes, or walk around the ropes to hug and congratulate the other competitors. They represent different countries, different political viewpoints and ideologies, but here, at the Tokyo Olympics, they are just athletes, who act more like friends then competitors. The level of sportsmanship has been amazing. Countries who do not get along on the political stage, have athletes who walk up and hug each other. The common ground of course is their sport. They are all athletes who have trained hard and love their sport, and are not afraid to share in celebration and encouragement with others, regardless of where they live, or what country they represent. I have watched quite a few Olympics- not going to tell you how many- but for real, this is the one thing that really stood out in contrast to other Olympics. These athletes should be recognized for this sportsmanship. It is the way the world should be and needs to be now. It is what the church in particular should look like. This is what the author of the Book of Hebrews was reminding the Christians to do. Encourage others to keep on keeping on doing good deeds for others. Keep on believing. Keeping on having faith.

What I have seen from the Olympics has challenged me to find ways to encourage others. To offer hope, to praise their efforts, and let them know I am pulling for them. Is there anyone in your life you can encourage? To build up and not tear down? To spur them on in their faith walk? This is what we are called to do. -God Bless- Nancy