Things are not as always as they seem.

Part of my recovery as someone who suffers from depression right now is recognizing the mistakes in my thinking process, that can lead me to feeling that things are against me. There are times of clarity when I realize that life is not that bad, and it is my personal training in cognitive behavioural therapy that brings the clarity. As I have learned there are unhelpful thinking habits, that all of us unconsciously practise at times that gives us a distorted view of reality. There are times that we need to check our thinking and I have provided a link to a list of ways we view the world that can lead to great suffering, https://www.getselfhelp.co.uk/docs/UnhelpfulThinkingHabitsWithAlternatives.pdf. I have been a client of the Canadian Mental Health Association for quite some time now, and I have found that catching "myself" thinking wrongly can lead to my own personal suffering and the suffering of others.

I am a Christian, but there is something helpful about being mindful of our thoughts and training ourselves to think in ways that at first sight might seem hard to do. There is a great joy at times with disconnecting from things that at first seemed to bring us a sense of happiness, but I am following a path that tells me that if something doesn't work, to try it scientifically. Obviously, if something is not bringing you joy and you want to be free from that thing, or person, or relationship, and to find what works for me in my life may not be as easy as it seems at times. What I mean by trying something scientifically is to never write something or someone off, unless you have proven without a doubt that that thing doesn't work for you. (I am of the belief that we should never write anyone off!) Even that statement that I just made can be tried. Our minds need to be strengthened by the right exercise and foods, and by the right thoughts at times.

Our spirits are connected to our minds, and when our spirits are low or depressed it could be an indication that our minds are unhealthy or not at rest, or that our bodies are not getting the right nutrients or proper exercise and rest. Also when our minds are healthy are bodies can get healthy too. What helps me is that nothing is determined or fixed. What I mean by that is that we can change the way we think, and if we can change the way we think we can change the way we act and the way we feel. CBT is about changing the way we think, which affects the way we feel, which in turn affect the way we act or behave. The mind is a complex thing and I am no expert on it, and I am trying to learn as much about my own mind so that I can help others ease their stress. This is Mike.

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Catholic Identity.

I was born into the Catholic Church and was baptized as an infant, I had my first communion and reconciliation as a child, and was confirmed as a teenager. Although I was never devout, I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Saviour when I was 21 through an evangelical Christian radio ministry, which in turn gave new life to my Catholic faith. Although I remained a Catholic, I identified as a born again Christian. It wasn’t until much later in my life that I learned the difference between the two denominations and what they taught about being born again. Regardless, there was a significant change in my life back then, which continues to this day. Being Catholic is much like an identity to me and I remember growing up under the papacy of St. Pope John Paul II. The culture I grew up in was largely affected by his papacy, and the way the culture viewed the church was significantly different from the way the current culture views it. Growing up, the pope didn’t try to be rele...

Age of Brokenness.

We are living in an age of brokenness, no matter what age you are, you probably have been touched with relationships falling apart, which causes more and more people to live in isolation. In this generation there is less of an incentive to heal and reconcile relationships, but that doesn’t excuse the amount of people who are broken. Why people don’t seem to be motivated to heal relationships is because our beliefs about faith and God have changed, really giving us less of an incentive to do what our religion says. If I act from my personal beliefs, but the person that I am responding to has abandoned religious beliefs, than the response to my wanting things to be better can be misinterpreted and rejected then by someone else. Generally when a society has expectations about broken relationships, loneliness and isolation, and the beliefs are generally accepted, society becomes a more compassionate society, because all value the same things. When religious values are undermined and ...

The Biblical Meaning of “Life in the Spirit.”

“Life in the Spirit” is an example that the Apostle Paul gives in the book of Romans starting in chapter 5 and going through to chapter 8. He begins by telling us we are justified by faith (5:1), and have gained access by faith into the grace of God (5:2). We have been delivered from God’s wrath (5:9) and we have been reconciled to God through the death of His Son (5:10). He goes on to explain that through Adam all die (5:12), and that the free Gift of God brings justification and righteousness to the believing sinner (5:15-17). Through our conversion we are baptized into Christ and into his death, which frees us from the law and makes us dead to sin (6:2-4). He explains that just as Christ was raised from the dead, we are given new life in Christ (6:4). Our old unregenerate self was crucified with Christ so that our body of sin might be done away with (6:5-6). Because we have died to sin, we now submit ourselves to God being that we are now under grace, not the law (6:8-1...

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