We need to go back to square one if we want to alleviate mental illness in our children (and in ourselves)
It was an honour to be invited by Halton Families for Families (a division of ROCK – reach out centre for kids) to attend the Children’s Mental Health of Ontario’s conference yesterday. I will continue to share what I learned and my thoughts, as time and personal energy permits.
One thing that I found interesting is how there was no mention of WHY we have mental, emotional, energetic, spiritual, or physical illness in the first place. We just have all these people trying to pull all these other people out of the water but they don’t talk about why they are in the water and why it is hard to pull them out.
Here’s my perspective:
People are in the water because they do not know WHO they are, WHY they react the way they do, WHY they have the experiences they have, WHAT they are supposed to do about it, WHO they can become etc.
Several amazing things happened yesterday:
There was talk of the need to let the old industrial system go (to stop fighting to try to keep it alive and to stop hating others for getting the funding you did not). There was mention of spirituality, the soul, ancient wisdom, the creator, serve and return (i.e., having someone in each child’s life, who is present, crazy in love with them, is able to see them for who they are, who interacts, listens, watches, and responds). There was also talk of the importance of each person hearing the same information to see what resonates for them, so they can filter through their own system and share their unique perspective. Awesome!
On the flip side, there was also talk of kids openly engaging with AI systems, about how they feel and what is going on in their life, because there is not enough capacity, skill, and priority for human contact. And this to me is very sad!
How did we get to a state where our children need to talk to an AI system because we are simply not there for them?
IMO, this is further proof for the need for a parent to be home or for village support!
Children need a bond with a human that cares about THEM! Not their grades, not their behaviour, performance, or future potential, them!
And, we also need to stop thinking that this is a problem someone else (the government) is supposed to solve for us for free!
We also need to examine the degree to which our’s or our child’s illness is serving us!
When you label, when you build your life around the label, the label is very hard to get rid of!
And kids will play the part because this is the only way they know to stay close to you.
Drop the label, love the child.
Mental, physical, emotional, spiritual, energetic illness comes from a boat that refuses, or is not allowed, to travel with the water it is in, using the unique skills inherent to each boat, and taking into consideration the unique gifts and limitations for each boat. In fact, most parents, caregivers, teachers, and individuals not only do not read the user manuals that are readily available for each person, they don’t even know or believe they exist, and if they do they refuse to read them.
The more a boat fights the current, to try to be whatever, the more it struggles, the sicker it gets.
People are always amazed at how much I can do.
I am able to do so because I know how my boat works, I understand the water I am in.
Said another way – I know my unique psychology, my life purpose, why people trigger me, what I am here to learn, and how I am to be of service and give back.
It’s that easy. It’s one at a time. It’s human contact. It’s ancient wisdom. The answers are available. People can heal. It’s not a system problem that needs to be scalable. We need to stop living like we all need more. We need to go back to the drawing board. Live on less. Come home. Look at your child. Look at what “the race to nowhere” is doing to them.
The only group of speakers to get a standing ovation yesterday where the youth (the new mentality – disable the label, photo above). And yet, they said it like it is, they said no one is listening, they said it right to our faces, and, though many people picked up their report, is anyone listening, or do they still just think these youths are just “cute”?
You know, the new mentality (youths) were also the only one’s who also got a meeting with the minister of mental health that day. But you have to ask yourself why and what will come of it?
I’m not sure if I’d love to hear your thoughts. But I’ll be open to them.
We need to wake up. AI is not here to do our job. The system is not here to do our job. We need to do our job!
Here are some slides from a talk by a representative of the Native American community:
The berries and peanuts represents one of their “prescription” for mental / emotional struggles.
1) eat berries, as they are the first harvest / gift from the earth, if the berries ever go, everything after is gone (i.e., if the children are ever not a priority, everything after is gone),
2) shell and eat peanuts, to slow down and buy time to calm the emotions,
3) find someone / anyone to talk to!
The native leader said their program completion rate is 100% (elsewhere it is much lower, people drop out because the practitioners are incompetent). Not only that, but the youth in the native programs go back home and teach their parents and family, and their family members end up wanting to participate in the healthy practices too!
The slide with the baby (above) is an example of what a big deal they make of a baby being born, and the first time they have the baby touch the earth, as if to say, both to the child and to spirit: “We want this child here!”.
Conscious grounding of their spirit as a valuable, cherished person, soul, and contributor to life.
I think it is time to stop and rethink, and listen to ourselves, and listen to our kids.
Don’t you think?
Anything can be cured, when you stop benefiting from the illness.
And you stop benefiting from the illness when you don’t have to be ill in order to be yourself and get the love and attention that you need. It’s really that simple. No system or AI will ever give this to you.
What do you think?
