Embattled in Insecurity

Low self worth, value, respect, confidence, this way of living is familiar, seemingly unavoidable. Most of life is riddled with tests of our self confidence. Some of us are born into insecurity and others have it thrust upon them by circumstance, all the same it leeches our energy reserves, our relationships, sabotages us, keeps us …

Occultism and Mental Illness

Over the course of my life I’ve had to reconcile my spiritual beliefs and my insecurities over how I’m perceived, knowing that many will conflate my experiences with psychosis with my experiences with gnosis. While, as with any aspect of a life, they are interwoven in my development as a person, it’s important to give …

Oh, To See Myself Truly

Checking with oneself is a daring and beautiful act— look yourself full in the face and be honest. It’s bold, miraculous, and absolutely necessary. We’re all lying to ourselves about something. Sentiments we know are false, inauthentic to what we truly believe, are rampant. They may base themselves in half truths to worm their way …

Grounding and Centering: What Does it Mean?

These terms are thrown around often without extrapolation. Grounding and centering relate to two relationships which help balance our psyche in both everyday life and in crisis. In both psychology and spirituality you’ll find various exercises to teach and strengthen these techniques. They’re proven valuable in mindfulness and meditation as the goal is to effectively …

Don’t Fear Scars

Are you scared of having scars on your body? Well, your body is a scar. What is tissue, matter, where does it come from? All these amounts of carbon, protein, minerals, why have they arranged to create us? Maybe there’s a template in reality which molecules are directed by, maybe all matter is an illusion, …

Codependency, Trauma, and Mental Illness

Interpersonal relationships are to be a source of self improvement practices, they ought to leave you feeling fulfilled, well rounded, and secure. These bonds need to be made sustainable if they should endure healthily for many years or a lifetime. Anyone will struggle with balancing relationships but people coping with mental illness or trauma can …

Hypercritical

I’ve always considered myself a very open minded person, but the truth is that I have hypercritical tendencies. Having opinions is important but I can be opinionated in excess— especially around social, spiritual, religious, cultural, economic, and political topics. While I only climb up on my soapbox in private about random people who have no …

Common Cognitive Distortions

Everyone experiences problematic thinking, it’s part of being human. Our job is to just be aware of how our train of thought may warp to create negative mindsets which distort how we perceive reality. We may develop automatic reactions, instinctive tendencies toward problematic thoughts without realizing. It’s incredibly easy not to notice we’re falling into …

The Triangle: Ending Conflict

Cycles can be found in every corner and dark nook of social interaction and human experience. Conflict easily spins out of control, refusing resolution or self awareness, as participants fall into a specific cycle of roles. A system known as the ‘drama triangle’ by Stephen Karpman has been used with me in therapy numerous times …

Why I Write

There are many reasons I write, some objectively more honourable than others. For a moment I’m going to dissect why. There’s an insecure, fragile unstable child inside me and this is the true source of many of the factors. One is that I never used to truly value my thoughts and opinions. I put so …