The Spirit's Touch

As I close my eyes and drift away to a land where there is love, health, peace, and blessings. I wanted to take the time to think and reflect. 

     The truth is that the other day we heard of the unfortunate news with regards to Demi Lovato. She was rushed to hospital with an overdose. While we ourselves do not know the circumstances surrounding this, we do know that celebrities / fans rushed to offer their get well wishes, thoughts of love and support. I thought about this reaction, where we normally think of reactions that would be associated with stigma of why, and questions surrounding her mental health, but we saw an outpour of love. This response was actually incredible. The love and support is exactly what is needed for anyone who is battling with mental health or addiction. They need to be reminded that they are loved, valued, their existence matters. They are worthy of receiving love without any judgment, or any sense of expectation that they have to give back to anyone in the vulnerable state, One must feel that unconditional love. While Lovato is a celebrity, and the pouring of love was from other celebrities / fans, I also thought about how this response could vary from culture to culture, and also how fame affects response. 

     How about if someone was not famous, and was in a state of overdose, would the compensatory responses be different? Or how would different cultures influence a persons response? Culture -Eastern or Western does have stigmatory ideas about mental health, and how one perceives the health of the mind / brain. But it is important to know that brain health is complex. There are many factors that influence this. What makes mental health more mysterious is that the state of a persons mental health is invisible. Unseen to the eye, until the inward state manifests itself outwardly, where the brains response is seen to the another.  We can go back to the example of Lavato - where we see a beautiful, successful woman, who looks fine and perfectly healthy. But within is dealing with serious health issues surrounding addiction, that she has opened up, and talked about previously. One's suffering and even the healing from suffering is dependant on many factors, but again: showing love to that human being is sometimes the only thing that they need to get them through. 

     Being there for someone, holding their hand, or a bodily presence can impact a persons healing tremendously. But how willing are others who are not professionals, not celebrities, just ordinary human beings willing to pour love to others without the stigma? This is also complex. Individuals most of the time are only able to respond from their level of experience and knowledge. This is what we can also call the limits of knowledge and experience. 

     To further evolve as human beings we must also expand the self. Be open to the unknown, new experiences, and building knowledge bases. Enlarging these bases contributes to human evolution and the spiritual being. Human beings are prone to judgements, but we cannot blame them, these are derived from level of experience, awareness, and knowledge. The macro response such as Lavato's, can also act to influence individuals, communities, societies about how they view, and respond to mental health. While stigma levels do vary from culture to culture, I think progress has been made from the days of the asylums. 

​These thoughts are dedicated to Demi Lovato - Get Well Soon, you are loved and can / will get through this. And to all who have suffered from mental health injury, you are loved and you are strong! My thoughts to share with love & kindness! :) 

Notes: These thoughts were originally hand-written on July 26th, 2018.
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