Taking Time Out To Examine Ourselves

A religious sister who works in a suicide prevention center, writes in the Catholic Times asking the readers  to take time out and look inside. She begins with a program she watched on TV where an entertainer was treated for a panic attack. A rather large number of entertainers she tells us suffer from these panic attacks.

She wasn't familiar with this problem but now is quite in the know. There are many people that are not able to control their anger and indignation which cause the death or injury of another. Is our own psyche and those of others healthy?

In a survey made in 2011 one of four persons have at least one period with mental problems in their life time. However, because  of societies prejudice and lack of understanding instead of receiving help many try to escape with drink, drugs, games, gambling, and the like. These methods don't only give birth to other problems but makes the initial problem more pronounced.

The government last year working to better mental health is strengthening the capabilities of these combine forces in society. Little has changed, she says,  in the way we look on mental disabilities. Which requires that we look at ourselves and start making some changes in our thinking.

Wanting to be healthy we work at exercising, and take helpful medicines but we don't realize in actual fact what is necessary. We  are so occupied, excuse ourselves with a lack of time, or absorbed with material things. We don't take time to examine our emotions, pass  ourselves off as happy persons, in  control of anger and irritability until it's let loose in strange places and with persons with no connection to the out of control emotions. Have we not all experienced such events and failed to uncover the reasons for the outbursts?

When by force we repress our emotions they become more overwhelming and will affect us when we are least prepared and will prepare us for mental difficulties in the future. We should not only be conscious of our joys and happiness but also indignation, sadness, anger and the like.  There is no bad emotion, its what we do with the emotions that is important.

When we realized that we are often angry, distressed and acknowledge the situation we are beginning to sublimate the situation and we are in control and the owner of the emotion. This is not easily done but we have to spend time making the effort to examine our inner life which will make our life with others and ourselves less hectic. She hopes the article will help  readers do that.