It’s Mental Health Awareness Month!… I think. I saw someone post a picture that said it’s Mental health month and it made me happy that people have decided to shine a light on Mental health.. It’s inspired me to do the same by writing about it. Though to be honest I don’t think I’m going to address it from the normal perspective you’re all accustomed to.. Nope, I’m going to try and shed light on something that’ll actually challenge your thought process concerning Mental health.

When we hear “Mental health” other words flow through our minds.. depression, anxiety, the need to off oneself…and many other mental disorders that people often identify with the words “Mental health” .. But do we ever take a moment to think about the opposite of the disorders? I mean, it is Mental Health not Mental illnesses.. What’s Mental Health? What can we refer as a Healthy state of mind? I’ve read a ton of books from various philosophers and Historians who have confirmed that society in general is fucking insane.. So what is mental health? Can it be based off society’s insane working?

What can be deemed as a healthy state of mind if everything around us is crazy? I saw a music video the other day that affected me greatly. The music video’s message was “Hard work pays.” the lyrics are about working hard in order to live a good life.. The lyrics contained advice about various strategies for success sung by a young male singer with below average singing ability.. The video involved expensive private plane rides shot in slow motion as the singer walks into his airplane with extremely hot hostesses following him behind. Turns out the singer earned his fortune through inheritance and not hard work!!!? .. What the fuck was he singing about then? See the crazyness!… Where did he learn those motivational lyrics if he’s never worked a day in his life? Crazy everywhere!

So what is a healthy state of mind if society in general is sick? Surely the mind shouldn’t mirror that which is around it.. Society is vile and hideous, if we aim to fit in society we aim to take on its vices mentally too..isn’t health a state with no sickness? Isn’t a vice an illness? So where is the Healthy mind? Because we clearly aren’t healthy in general. We’re all insane and our mind shows it to us by force.. Imagine that, a creature with a conscience that can survive on its own for years through sheer use of its mind. A creature who has climbed to the top of the food chain is now suffering because the construct its mind has created to dominate itself is oppressing it. Our own minds are destroying us…But are our minds us?

Think about it, whatever despair you’re feeling, the nature of the pain you experience that’s causing depression, anxiety and all that, can be avoided by asking yourself a simple question.. “Am I my thoughts?”.. You can’t be your thoughts, you can’t be that which you think.. Thoughts are just a collection of memories, it’s a constant referral to the past and basing your identity on thoughts is just you recycling your past in your present…what about our thoughts of the future? Those are predictions you’re making based on past experiences.. You can’t see the future.

But here you find yourself in bed.. Crying because you know you’re not okay mentally.. Feeling like everything is dark and crumbling and you’re alone.. and it’s so cold and painful.. But you’re underneath a blanket..a warm one.. But you’re still feeling cold.. All this can be avoided by recognizing that you are not your thoughts.. Neither are you even your body.. You’re none of that, you are limitless.. You are awareness..

Awareness is that part of you that knows what you’re thinking about..the part that can notice a thought change from you thinking about lunch to you thinking about how you used to love having lunch with your ex who’s currently fucking your best friend.. It’s the awareness that recognizes the feeling the latter thought has brought..It’s also awareness that recognizes your breathing and movements.. So how can you be your thoughts if there’s something else that controls your thoughts and everything else? Are you not it? Are you not that which is limitless?

Thoughts are more like clouds, awareness is more like the vast blue sky.. Thought clouds are of different colors, shapes and sizes. Some are fixated on your worthlessness, others are fixated on your failures, others are about your porn-hub addictions and other are about the overwhelming loneliness that engulfs you.

Once you realize that none of those thought clouds are you.. That you are the endless blue sky above the clouds, the awareness observing the clouds. Once you realize you’re vast you cease identifying yourself with the clouds.. You realize that thoughts can be false, that they can all be founded on a false belief.. A belief that you can’t keep on fighting.. A belief that you’re hopeless and worthless.. Beliefs that are false. Once you’re aware of all this.. What do you do?

Is there a way to ensure that one never slips into the abyss of Mental anguish that’s brought about by false thoughts that have linked up to form a false belief you think is true? The best way to be mentally healthy involves a way to cease identifying oneself with thought.. But how can one be without thought? Simple, through cultivating a silent mind. A mind without thought..How can such a mind come to be?.. Through living in the moment.. By constantly being aware of that which is in the present.

Let’s say you are washing dishes.. May your thoughts not wander elsewhere, may your entire focus be on the dishes you’re washing and the activity involved alone. By being in the moment you fully indulge in your activity, and in this constant state of awareness does one enter a level of creativity that brings about clarity. Such a thing can only be achieved through silence of the mind.

Imagine all those moments you missed in the sunlight or the beautiful feeling that comes when rain taps the skin.. Or the smell of a flower.. Imagine all those missed moments because you were worrying and obsessing over something you won’t even remember in the next year. Imagine all those conversations you failed to connect with because your thoughts of the person you were talking to had you place them in a certain image that was actually false.. But you fail to rise above your false belief because you believe your thoughts are you.. Can you surely believe yourself to be false? You can’t, believing you’re your thoughts creates contradiction. Being aware and fresh in each moment will free you from recycling your past in your present and allows you to live in the moment.

Living in the moment, training your awareness to always be in the moment will free you from the burden of thought. You are walking home and some dude in a Subaru drives past you with that engine growl that is a siren call to some women. You think to yourself “Damn, will I ever have that life?” and you start sulking .. The societal madness is ever so clearly painted in your mind.. You fail to recognize every step you take.. You fail to see the exhilaration of motion, the breathing, the atmosphere within and around the body, the general blessing of health! Miles away in a hospital, a bed ridden person wishes to walk 10 meters in the sun and here you are sulking over wealth as you walk…told you I’ll challenge your thought process.