Centering Thought: I have some control over my life, myself and my environment, but I am not fully responsible for every outcome. My life unfolds as a process that I play a part in, day to day and year to year. I can relax and trust the journey when I remember this truth.
This content comes from the original Dec. 27, 2022 paid subscriber content. It is being made available to all We Build Better Humans Readers today.
Life is a journey that is full of changes. Sometimes this universal truth is best expressed by such quips as “life is a journey” or “it’s a process.” Sometimes these sentiments lose their meaning to us and feel strictly cliché. When that happens, we can look at the deeper truths behind these oft-repeated phrases.
Our relationship to our mental health and moods is a perfect example: We came into this world as learners, and life was imprinted upon our developing minds and hearts in specific ways. As we grew from childhood, we practiced what we had learned — sometimes with success and sometimes with confusing failures. We responded, reacted and re-learned new ways of coping and living. Then we may have come to a time or times when what seemed to have been working well for us stopped working. Re-enter confusion. Re-do new lessons. Repeat.
A full human life is about a long lesson of learning, trying and re-learning repeatedly. Healing can happen for us whenever we are willing to let go of our old beliefs and replace them with broader ideas. And this is a pattern we will repeat throughout our lifetimes.
Our relationships to our moods, our mental health diagnoses, our bodies, our family members, our communities, job titles and more continue to morph and change year to year. Life truly is a process.