There are many effective ways to cope with being sensitive and soft-hearted in a harsh world, but radical acceptance is the place to start — Highly sensitive beings suffer more but they also love harder, dream wider, and experience deeper horizons and bliss. When you’re sensitive, you’re alive in every sense of this word in this wildly beautiful world. Sensitivity is your strength. Keep soaking in the light and spreading it to others. …

My first clinical placement in a mental health-focused community pharmacy and why it had such an impact on me — My Personal Mental Health Journey When my mental health issues first started to manifest at the age of 15, I had no clue how radically my life would change in the coming years. I had no idea my life would fall apart time and time again and that I would have to build it back…

Self-compassion can help us to accept our value, beyond the sum of our individual imperfect parts — Dare to Accept Yourself as Perfectly Imperfect A Poem The only standards that ultimately matter in a world full of judgmental, vain chatter are the standards you create for yourself. So stick the flaky ideals back on the shelf! When you fall victim to self-defeating thoughts it’s just your mind connecting the wrong dots. Check yourself and smooth your mind’s…

A short story about mental illness and friendship — Depression is your body saying, ‘I don’t want to be this character anymore. It’s too much for me.’ You should think of the word ‘depressed’ as ‘deep rest.’ Your body needs to be depressed. It needs deep rest from the character that you’ve been trying to play. — Jim Carrey …

Clarifying your core values and using them as a guidebook for setting healthy, SMART goals is key to living a meaningful life. — Pain is an inextricable thread in the fabric of life, and to tear it out is not only impossible, but destructive: attempting to tear it out unravels everything else with it. To try to avoid pain is to give too many fucks about pain. In contrast, if you’re able to…

A psychological thriller short story — The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. The gaunt young woman sitting by the candle, Ellie, was watching the flame wiggling amidst the darkness. Ellie felt her mind start to wander. She could hardly believe it had been…

Using mindfulness during work is key to cultivating a relaxed yet productive headspace so that a flow state can be achieved. — Slow Down, Open Up, Reflect, and Absorb Mindfulness is a powerful self-awareness tool that helps us navigate through our chaotic and chronically rushed world. It allows us to slow down and open ourselves up to the world in all its richness. …

Thought-stopping isn’t about suppressing negative, intrusive thoughts, it’s about making more room for positive ones. — Although there is a common misconception that hearing voices is an automatic sign of mental illness, the reality is that hearing voices is a very common experience! The disturbing, distressing “voices” we hear in our minds are known as intrusive thoughts. Our mind is always busy with internal “chatter” whether…

Recovery from work addiction requires the creation of airtight compartments between work and other domains of life. — Workaholism is a commonly misunderstood condition defined as “being overly concerned about work, driven by an uncontrollable work motivation, and investing so much time and effort to work that it impairs other important life areas.” …