coping

Life presents variables; learning how to cope in order to master, minimize, or tolerate what has come to pass.

Moth To A Flame
Although I am an artist, none of this back-piece was planned or intentional. The design developed over time and each part of it carried me spiritually forward on my journey. Because I believe in a multidimensional reality, I believe I designed it from my future incarnation/self to help guide me along my path of mental health and spiritual development. I had no concept of the end result when it began, much of how my artwork is conceived. I believe, through my artwork, I always had a channel to higher dimensions and ideas/ my higher self, without yet knowing it. The tattoo developed itself like a story over a number of years, marking turning points in my life. It started off with the deaths head moth (Acherontia atropos) on the left. It was also an ode to the three fates in Greek mythology, Their names were: Clotho “The Spinner”, Lachesis “The Alloter” and Atropos “The Unturning" or “The Inflexible”. Atropos cut the thread of life, the moth landing on my shoulder signified a reminder during my depression that the thread of life can be cut any moment try to appreciate it. Unfortunately it was on my back so I wasn't reminded very often, but I suppose the idea stayed with me. I struggled a lot in my young adult and teenage years with mental illness due to unresolved trauma that kept me stuck in negative patterns. This led me to see the world as a very dark and threatening place, which I self medicated in unfortunate ways. My untreated mental state and inner wounding led me to walk down a not so good path, and I really harmed myself and those around me. This is especially why today I am a mental health awareness advocate, to make sure to end the stigma and support more resources for mental health awareness. I always felt like a moth, in the dark and guided towards the light. They were the first ever spirit animal that resonated with me and so it is special to me in that way. I discovered later after healing from my mental illness, that I have unique gifts such as shamanic abilities and I am closely perceptive of the spirit world and energy. Next, a few years later on my journey, I decided to balance the idea with a colorful Luna moth. Luna moths are very beautiful and only live for a week! I thought this beautiful tragedy was worth noting, a beautiful twist of the impermanence I was suffocating under. After years of suffering mental illness, I found hope in practicing meditation and spiritual practices and awareness. I like incorporating inspiration from the world around me, as if to weave the living breathing universe into my experience and art as an ongoing conversation. My friend drew the flame of (spiritual) awareness inspired by Tibetan Buddhism art for my forearm initially and I spontaneously decided to have them go over my moths as wings. Specifically to burn them in the flames. Intentionally, to burn the past. An alchemical ode to my experience of transformation as a transformational art piece. I appreciate that it all happened organically also, which made it feel more special and unique, unlike it being planned from the beginning as a concept. It is like my "Higher Self" sent my past self symbols and messages to carry me through difficult and dark times. The growth of this tattoo without a prior preconception led me to understand how powerful I am, and always was. Even when my mind was clouded with my unfortunate circumstances and self- doubt, underneath it all I was strongly pulling myself through.
By Eve Kat5 years ago in Psyche
Positive Thinking
Positive thinking is all about happy thoughts while negative thinking is about dark thoughts. You cannot have OCD without over-analyzing things. Untreated mental illness is hell on earth, I have to say, and only because I'm saying it out loud that is such. I take my medication to make sense and sleep at night. I really do need it. Negative thinking is something that is only human to do. It doesn't make you a bad person but I grew up in the 1990s when negativity was banned. This is why Kurt Cobain was a suicide, he didn’t have anybody to hear him out and he was a drug addict.
By Iria Vasquez-Paez5 years ago in Psyche
Self growth is a little bit like a castle.
I love visiting castles. They stand so grand, so beautiful, so strong! Even visiting ruins of castles, when you walk around their fallen stone, you can imagine how it must have been to walk through those halls and those passageways hundreds of years ago, what a sight it must have been. You know that something strong was there, that lasted hundreds of years. Left it's mark on countless generations in one way or another.
By MazFaerie 5 years ago in Psyche
How dramatic
Apparently she still loved him after all. Yet they had grown so far apart, he hated her and himself and she hated him. He couldn't behave any differently, a total idiot, unattractive, what did he have to offer, lying down, rejecting. He didn't really know if he could believe himself. Apparently he still loved her after all, but at the same time he wondered what love was. He had lost the feeling for it, he loved many people, the ones he loved most he hated. It was fatiguing, meaningless and bleak, dramatic, tragic, fatiguing. He did not know. He felt like he was in chains, this time something was different. The pain resembled a blunt plate, that had not changed. Dying, that's what you have to do, one way or another. Why not just now, his protector whispered to him from above the skullcap, he floated, slightly connected by glass threads. He did not know. It had already been over, how could it ever start again, but that wasn't the point. He loved her and he loved his freedom, would he ever be free?
By Leon 5 years ago in Psyche
It is never ending please unchain me
He was impressed by the bikes that crossed the street. The pure sight of their shape, the people who sat on them, the history of the people who made the construction possible, the physics which seemed to be self-evident. it had been a few hundred thousand years before that point was reached. Shouldn't they just collapse? Sink into the ground? He imagined how they shattered into their individual parts, each particle, small, completing the whole. They came from the spirit.
By Leon 5 years ago in Psyche
Lies of My Past
I was a liar—a big one. Not because I wanted to be but because it was easier that way. People didn't want to hear my truth. Most of them would instead have believed that I was alright, and all was well with my world because then they didn't have to do shit. Humans always seemed to want to take the easy route, in my former opinion, probably because "the easy route" means less mental stress and less physical work. Here is an example that should help me illuminate this to you: a few years ago, while attending university, I was in a deep depression, and like your average learner, I tended to struggle with keeping up with the workload of multiple courses. Which meant my homework didn't always get done when it needed to be. So I often found myself lying to professors in hopes of getting a second chance of finishing whatever needed to be completed, and it usually worked. There was this one time, in particular, where I had procrastinated past a due date; when I went to the professor's office to ask for more time, I lied and said I was under a lot of stress and was sorry for the inconvenience it would cause her, my professor, of turning in late work if she allowed me to submit it.
By Megan Sartori5 years ago in Psyche
How To Take Care Of Your Mental Health?
Mental health is the condition of the successful functioning of all our mental functions. It is difficult to explain this but when a person is mentally healthy he is able to perform daily activities successfully and is able to deal with good human relationships, he is able to cope with change and deal with diversity . Although in our daily lives we do not see what mental health is all about, we become curious about it as soon as we realize that there is something wrong or absent in life. mental beauty and yet most of the times we choose to ignore it.
By healthlove5 years ago in Psyche
Stress in the Pandemic
These are entries out of my coping journal for my psychology class. Named Stress in the Pandemic... I have found these writings to be very therapeutic.
By Rachel K5 years ago in Psyche
Stress in the Pandemic
If you're anything like me, then you would know just how debilitating anxiety and stress can be. It is something that I have dealt with since I was ten years old and has changed the course of my life. I can't remember the last day I didn't feel like I was stuck on a hamster wheel moving nowhere.
By Rachel K5 years ago in Psyche
Why I Got My First Tattoo at 16
I am going to share the story of why I got my first tattoo at age 16. To do this, I need to give some context. Heads up- it's dark, so if you feel vulnerable or suggestible when it comes to the topics of self harm and suicide, please do not read this or only cautiously read it with a friend. Similarly, if you unexpectedly feel distressed while reading this, please stop reading and talk to someone close to you about how you feel. I do not want anyone to harm themselves.
By S. Alex5 years ago in Psyche
Healing a Bleeding Heart
Having my heart broken is one of the worst experiences I have had as a person living with borderline personality disorder (BPD). When my heart is broken, I can’t describe it as “feeling sad.” I honestly don’t know if I have ever just felt “sad.” Rather, I feel like the pain is tearing me apart from my core, inside out, and my only thoughts of reprieve from the pain are suicidal.
By Ashley Nestler, MSW5 years ago in Psyche
3 Tips for Being Outside With Agoraphobia
I have written many articles about agoraphobia and you can head to my public profile to read them all (and other articles are there too so feel free to read around). I am making this series, if you didn't know, because it has been around ten years since I was diagnosed with agoraphobia. So I have tried and tested many things over the years as you can probably imagine.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Psyche