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Integrating "mental illness"

Integrating is the process of engaging all the experiences of life–practical, stressful, mystical, confusing, inspirational and more–and allowing them to inform us, while letting that which doesn't help to fall away. It's not only about integrating our different roles, but also about integrating new ranges of identity and lifetimes. The result is greater clarity and ease.

Integrating cuts across all disciplines and boundaries. It may be spoken about in terms of healing, illness, spirituality, and more. Different traditions approach it in different ways–through phenomenology, neuroanatomy, physiology, psychological and psychiatric formulation, non-materialist worldviews, and more. Because it crosses all disciplines, there are many ways to approach the process of integrating. The overall goal is to bridge to a new equilibrium that works for you in the context of the society you are a part of.
 
Clarity and experimentation
The bridge to a new equilibrium is built through understanding (clarity) and practice (experimentation). Experimenting will lead to new doubts, while clarity will clear those doubts and make room for more stable experimenting.
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Broad steps
  • Clearing out the mind. Making space for new perspectives that don't have to reject old ones but can rather include them.
  • Clearing out the body. The body is not fundamentally different than mind, so prior experiences are stored physically in/as the body.
  • Reconciling new ways of being/seeing/doing with the daily responsibilities of one's life while acknowledging all areas of one's personality and more. Knowing what to hold on to and what to let go. This is bridge-building.
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Frameworks that can help
  • The Three Minds framework offers an overarching view of what is happening and what is possible
  • The Four Engines of health and healing offers four actionable ways in which we can begin clearing the mind and body.
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Other actions that can help​
  • Decrease exposure to things that over-stimulate (including social media, TV, certain movies and books).
  • Find those tho are like-minded and who have been through it.
  • Buy time and space (easier said than done for sure) for the integrating process to happen; there is no rushing the process.

A blueprint for integrating

blueprint for wellbeing 2 png.png
One-to-one conversations

Please first watch the video at the top of this page and review the material on the Three Minds and Four Engines linked above. For consultations, use the contact form below. 
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