The Power of Music, TRANSPORTS

The Power of Music is amazing and does wondrous things for the soul. I have spent countless hours on Youtube and other music sites. I have downloaded and listened to song after song. We live in a 3 dimensional world, which is slowly moving to the higher dimension of the 5th. Music, however, exists on the Seventh Dimension. The fact that music has the unique ability to touch the lives of souls in the future, and also remind them of the past. If I wanted to listen to one the great singer, Michael Jackson, I could pull off of Youtube his song for free listening, an unlimited number of times. Our entire database of songs and singers are limited only by our capacity to store, retrieve and play them. Who knows what the internet will look like in the coming years. Words simply do not suffice, to describe how good music can be for an individual. Music is therapy and good for the mind, body and soul. Keep listening, and keep tuning in.

Sleep Hygiene

Sleep Hygiene
http://www.howsleepworks.com/hygiene.html
This site has a lot of information on:

• what sleep is
• How we sleep
• why do we sleep
• Circadian Rhythms
• How much sleep do we need ............and more

Check it out. I believe good sleep, that is qualitatively good sleep, can be improved through experimentation with works, a proper understanding of the science, good sleep hygiene. Get some sleep if you need it, it's important for your mental health and daily functioning, regardless of if you are on medication or not.

The Seven Part Recipe for Mental Health - Journal

I continue in this veign on my recipe that includes, EXERCISE, FOOD, REST, MUSIC, SLEEP, amd HYDRATE.

This time I am talking about making entries in a JOURNAL.

The act of journaling helps to keep track of your thoughts, and get yourself organized. For my personal use, I use David Michael's The Journal 7 software which can be downloaded below:

http://www.davidrm.com/

There is even a 45 day Free trial which I found attractive. Besides going into the specifics of the software, the act of journaling allows you to also have a creative outlet with which you can possibly write your thoughts and emotions or personal beliefs. Sometimes, I write entries such as short stories, or other times I write things or people I have seen or done on a particular day. Other times, I record the entry as something I want to talk about that means something to me. The point is, that it can be about anything. You are the writer, the editor, and the reader. It is a journal, and for all sense of purpose, it is also private. You don't have to publish here. That's for another medium. In the software you can even add a password to make it more secure if you feel so. It is a very powerful word processing application that is quite helpful and handy.

Live each day as if it were your last

I think that its important to really try to live each day with no regrets. Choose and do the things you enjoy, and spend it with the people who you love and care about. Make every effort to say what is really in your heart. Regret hurts and I don't want to live with it. Yes, you may have had missed opportunities but you have to live every day, as if the 24 hours are a gift from the afterlife, just a day you are given to do or say all that was meant to be said before you are gone. Who knows how much time we have left, so don't waste or regret it.

The Seven part Recipe for Good Mental Health

EXERCISE
HYDRATE
EAT
SLEEP/REST
MEDICATION(S)
MUSIC
JOURNAL

This list is not an exhaustive list, but they do make up key components for good mental health...Let's look at the first one.

EXERCISE
Personally, I try to do a couple types of exercise either at least a couple times per week to some every day. For example, I've been playing tennis my whole life,  but I am 40 now, so I can at most play tennis just about 2-3 times per week, before my feet start to get sore. Other types of exercise, like walking, which I do, almost every day for 20-30 minutes. Anything to get the heart rate up was what my doctor told me. There are many types of exercise one can try. Stretching, yoga, basketball, table tennis (one of the best for mental health), biking, walking, surfing, swimming. Be adventurous and keep an open mind. Do activities that are fun, safe and repeatable. You want to establish a new routine or at least be open to trying new things.

HYDRATE
I am still trying to master this one, as some fluids are better at hydrating the body than others. 

We Journey Into the Unknown

I am a tennis player, and a movie fan amongst other things. With those two things, say a tennis match, I go into watching a game on television not knowing what will be the outcome. The same goes with watching a movie. I do not know how a movie will play out, nor do I know the ending. My point is, that I still enjoy the movie, even though, and especially because I don't know what will come next. It is this unknown that is introduced into the equation that makes it all the more interesting.When we embark on the path of mental health and recovery, I don't know how it will play out. I sometimes will not know what to do, where to go, and so on. This UNKNOWN, is what makes life, or the path, so very interesting. I don't think I would have it any other way. Ask yourself, if you did know ahead of time, who won the tennis match, or how the movie ended, would you have watched and enjoyed it as much?

What Happens when you miss a dose of your psychiatric medication?

May is Mental Health Month.
Of all the days that I decide to start a blog on Mental Health, and particularly one that deals with Recovery, I discovered that I missed yesterday morning's dose of my medication. This was several pills not just one.

I had missed doses before, I was forced to reduce my medication, due to a shortage in supply, so there was no reason to panic.

Here's what happened:
As soon as I discovered that I missed my dose, I just took my dose at the regular interval. I didn't double up on dosage or anything. If anyone is ever unsure, they should contact a pharmacist or mental health professional or a doctor. This is my disclaimer. I am only telling you what I experienced or did. I not a professional or a doctor.

I didn't get much sleep last night, and usually when amount or quality of sleep is affected, mental health suffers, as I found out this morning.

The coca cola I had late yesterday afternoon, I am sure did not help. I don't usually drink it that late. I usually drink some coke in the early afternoon or with lunch and then that's my quota.
Several things went on yesterday evening which could have led to the little sleep I had. I had therapy too, went shopping, then came home to do something or other. It's all a bit fuzzy now. Today I have recovered because I got a little sleep in the early morning hours, woke up, took my morning dose of medication, had breakfast which included a banana, then went for a walk, followed by my drive out to get a sub.

All in all. I think I managed this mini-recovery well, and I am here writing to its continued success for the rest of today. We'll see.

Thanks for reading. More to come on similar topics. Enjoy Mental Health Month.

What do you want to know?

I do not profess to know all the answers, yet alone try to predict what kinds of questions you have for me, for us, or for the blog. I am simply the facilitator. What I can try to do is wonder what kinds of things you may want to read the most. Do you want to know about medication? What about their side effects? I would sincerely be able to share only my personal experience the best, and then refer you to another better source hopefully, like drugs.com. But we all know that it does help to know someone who may have been on the same medication, and their intended effects. How does one cope day to day? Mental health is a 24/7 thing. I could go into detail of what it is like to be hospitalized or put in a psychiatric unit in a hospital, but I think that would be too personal, and then also everyone's experience is unique and confidential for sure. Let's keep it PG or at least PG-13 and be of the most relevant use to everyone here. What I can do, and will offer are my ideas and strategies for recovery. Perhaps we share some. If you can contribute to the site, some information, resources or things that you think will benefit a blog like this, feel free to contact me. I am a mental health consumer and have lived with mental health issues for more than 15 years.

The Initial Purpose of this Blog

When I thought up this blog, I thought about the title it would or could have, and then as if by magic, it appeared. Blogger is pretty neat, and I have used it before to create other named blogs. Anyways, I knew the content needed to focus on mental health issues. It needed to have some component to do with the topic of mental illness, mental health recovery and elements that went in to it as far as personal stuggle and stories of recovery or hope come in, and have input from more than just one person. After all, mental health affects everyone though many but not all people are impacted by mental illness. Many people have stories and experiences to share and learn from. Many have ideas stored in their heads that can reach or benefit another. Let's hope together for a brighter future.