One Simple Idea

My promise: that from a remarkably simple understanding about how our minds work and a commitment to try we can work our way to having a healthier and happier mind.  However, the trouble we face about healing our own mind is that we never know how sick or healthy our mind is.  And we cannot know how sick or healthy our mind was until after we have found healing significantly.  The trouble with helping others to heal their mind is that healing ultimately must come from within. 

Those are the twin obstacles: that of healing our own mind and that of helping others.  We cannot even see the inner struggle of others and at best we can only see a distorted view of our own struggle; for that is how the mind works. 

If anything, that is why mental health is a hard ~problem~.  To the extent we can overcome that, we can manage our own struggle better and even be healed.  To the extent we do not, we may never reach sufficient ~awareness~ to ^Know the extent of the problems that are making us hostage to ~needless~ suffering. 

When we persistently ~lack~ ~awareness~ about our own mental health, it is called anosognosia.  This ~lack~ is sometimes listed in ~connection~ with schizophrenia, bipolar, post-traumatic stress, stroke or traumatic brain injury. 

Besides anosognosia, some of us have been hurt, sometimes causing trauma or, lapse or flood of ~memories~.  We may have suffered from a ~lack~ or ~loss~ of ~community~ or ~family~ support.  We may have ~become~ ~avoidant~ regarding ~life~ in some ~respect~ or in general. 

For some of this ~needless~ suffering, we may have received a diagnosis.  However, none of us ~need~ a diagnosis to be having distorted thoughts, feelings and actions.  These distortions are inevitable and a major theme of my book is that distortions are not intrinsically bad either!  However, the needless suffering from these distortions is bad.  I claim that anosognosia and lesser distortions are a feature of our mind and not an intrinsic issue.  The issue is only that we suffer needlessly and cause others around us to suffer needlessly. 

Any suffering regardless of the size of the distortions in our mind does not mean we deserved it, yet it does mean we need to heal to discern it.  For that healing I have coined the acronym MESH which stands for Mental-Emotional-Self Healing or Mental-Emotional-Self Help. 

Many distortions obscure the bulk of themselves from view like an iceberg, and so we may find they have unexpected staying power.  As such they may arbitrarily threaten or ~help~ us on our journey.  A few of them are even more hidden or dangerous.  Like a ship that travels unknowingly through shallow waters.  Though we rarely notice a distortion in ourselves directly as such, we frequently experience them as we struggle against ourselves, others and our world. 

We can still have hope when we have the crush of looming suffering in mental illnesses (diagnosed, undiagnosed or misdiagnosed) or when we feel the bumpy ride of other pain and suffering.  We can still have ~hope~ whether our distortions are seen or unseen by ourselves or by ~help~ of others.  We may always find ^Hope. 

So, it is my firm hope that we may all find healing, reduction in suffering and a degree of inoculation against the unnecessary struggles.  And I ^Hope we may gain a better appreciation of how much we all suffer from and maximize our suffering related to our distortions and that of one another needlessly.  For that is a point I gained in my journey to authoring this book. 

With that purpose in mind, here is what I will do for us.  I share and establish a model of our mind as that of a few basic building blocks.  I give or reference some handy tools to use some of which I have used to develop this very book.  I show some concepts that are descriptions of common distortions, some concepts that may be employed to modify our own distortions, some concepts that are evidence of healing and even some concepts that may be employed to ^Help others or our relationships with them. 

A little about the style of this book.  I intentionally am not offering proof of the model I give except to show its possibilities.  I avoid proving my models and my concepts on paper here.  We can easily recognize that models and concepts are always at least partially wrong because they are not the real thing and sometimes like distortions (and this book) the ~way~ in which they are wrong (in the literal sense) is serving a ~good~ ~purpose~ (by their metaphorical power to ^Inspire).  I find that what matters is whether they can provide insight into a monolithic or complicated struggle and that is for each of us to decide individually.  Proof of these ideas is a discussion for another kind of book entirely.  The ~model~ and its concepts ^Magnify how a mind may appear from within itself without getting lost in the large ~variety~ of ways and details involved in how a mind can be ~healthy~ or ~sick~. 

Although it could be argued that in some respects I am promoting a certain kind of mind I believe the principles here are fair and accepting towards any mind in all its bold flavors or delicate beauty.  If I have done my job in writing this book then those who study it will realize that our own mind and that of others ~works~ perfectly yet with ample room to ^Improve too.  That untapped potential is just waiting for us: to ^Heal ourselves, to ^Help others and to ^Heal our world in the most remarkable of ways. 

Now it is your ~turn~.  Shall we begin?