Mental Health Awareness is More Than A Tweet

Written By Don Shetterly

There are some things I'm so annoyed by online that I can't hardly bring myself to think calmly about them.  I keep seeing everyone tweet, like, and share online that we need to promote mental health awareness.

While that is great, this is where it seems to stop.  We don't go any further than a tweet.  We don't really jump into it.  We just tweet, retweet, share and like and feel like we are doing something.

Two times, I've put out real hard information and helpful events that were "free" but in both cases, people ignore it and move on to the next mind-numbing tweet of the day.   There is no sign up for the event.  There is no sharing of the event to help others.

All we do is sit back and like or retweet that we need to bring mental health awareness to the world.  Great - I'm for awareness, but if that is where it stops, then what are we doing?  Are we just puffing up our tweet ego for the day?

If I'm upsetting you, I'm not going to apologize because I see this over and over every day.  Helping others with mental health issues and suicide is much more than saying that's what you do.  People need real help, not words on a screen.

Yes, I know the subjects are difficult to deal with and everyone wants to hide their heads in the sand.  Yes, I know that there are many ways to help and some people do all they can.  However, the number of tweets about mental health awareness far outnumber the actual things people do to really help.

We need to get off of our proverbial social media butts and do something good, rather than just claiming mental health awareness.  When events come along, support them.  Don't just ignore them.  When people need help, be there for them, just don't give them platitudes.

Lastly, if all we do is scream at others for not understanding the pain we are in, then we're not helping them to learn.  We end up turning them away.  Share your story with them.  Share not only your pain and struggle but what is helping you and what you are learning.  Offer a hand of support to others, not a bat to beat them over the heads.

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I cringe every time I see the mental health awareness tweets go through because there are far too many that stop at the water's edge.  People struggling with mental health and suicide need others physically to be there for them.  Words on a page do very little.  Thoughts and prayers are empty if no action follows.

Ok, that's my soapbox.  If I have offended you, I'm not going to offer an apology right now.  I want people to be offended so they get up off their proverbial social media butts and do something.  If making someone upset that they aren't doing enough gets someone doing more than this blog post accomplished its purpose.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2/27/18 by Don Shetterly

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When Everyone Else Is Wrong

Written by Don Shetterly

These days we see this everywhere we turn, but especially in online social media.  When everyone else is wrong has become the norm for the day.

We look at others online or where we live as being wrong while we are right.  Sometimes, maybe far too many times, we see our significant others as the one being wrong, while we are right.

Yet, we don't stop to take a look at things from a comprehensive view.  We just think we are the ones that have the answers and have everything together.  We don't seriously entertain the thought that we might be the problem, not the answer.

Sure, we give lip service that we do take everything into account, and we see all sides of an issue, but the honest truth is, we don't.  I'm sorry if that bursts one too many bubbles, but as humans, we are so good at being disconnected, that we don't see life around us for what it is.

As humans, we've become so good at numbing, avoiding and distraction, that we barely see the issue before us in a complete way as it appears to our eyes.  We've altered truth for our reality.

Whether it is in politics or relationships, or in a boss and employee moment, we often see our side of things.  It could be in the simplest of ways that seem so insignificant, but all too often we think we are right and everyone is wrong.

It is human nature to protect ourselves.  That is the ego, devoid of awareness and consciousness.  It is part of us to walk around seeing only through our filters.

If you find yourself thinking everyone else is wrong, there's something flawed in your thinking.  If you find yourself saying, "but in this situation, they are wrong," you're missing out on something you are not seeing.  Not everyone else is wrong all of the time.  You're not right all of the time.

Instead, if we focus on where we agree and look to learn and understand from those we disagree, we will become wise.  If we allow ourselves to be opened up to that which we despise in the hope of more understanding, we will become wiser.

There is far too much right versus wrong thinking these days.  You see it on social media every day and you see it in relationships and other situations.  It has consumed all parts of our life.

We must learn how to step back from the ego and embrace awareness of our mind body so that consciousness shows us the way.  We must learn to listen and connect with our heart, rather than our head which filters everything we see and hear in our life.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2/22/18 by Don Shetterly

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What Is Love - Do We Really Know?

Written By Don Shetterly

Every day I see people making statements about love and how we should love one another.  This is the time of year where love is in the air.  Unfortunately, the more I hear about love, the more I wonder if anyone realizes what it means.

Love isn't something that goes around boasting about how much it exists or how it exists.  It doesn't grandstand or exclaim, "hey, look at me!"  For it does not have to do this since love can be seen, felt, and acknowledged for its existence.

Readily Seen

Love isn't something we have to convince others that we have.  If we have love within our hearts, it will be readily seen through our thoughts, actions, and words. It will just be evident without us banging our chests as if we are the most pronounced dealers in the world of love.

Love isn't about what others think of us or how much our ego enjoys to be noticed.  It requires that we be there for others in a pure, unselfish and unadulterated manner.  The behavior we see on display these days tends to be anything but this.

Transcends Everything

Love isn't about keeping score of what you've done for other people or how you've been successful.  It is not about the latest stories and trends and rants or raves of the day.  There is no need for it to connect with trending topics because love transcends everything.

Love is more than puffing up one's spiritual beliefs as it blinds them to the deeper truth in their own lives and worlds.   For love is something that operates at a higher moment than any man-made set of truths derived from beliefs, customs, and ideas passed from one generation to the next.

Sits Quietly

Love is not a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  Often, pure and true unadulterated love sits quietly in the background spreading to every corner of the room.  It needs to not draw attention because everyone in the room will know if it is there or not.

Love comes from deep within the heart of our mind and body, not the ego that we see at every turn today in our world.  It is felt within the body, not dictated by the mind.  When you're thinking about what you should do or how you should react, love is not necessarily the one in control.

Support

Love comes from surrendering to feelings and emotions of all types, not just the select few we wish to engage.  It is about bringing balance to the extremes, but recognizing that the extremes in life exist.

Love is full of compassion and help, assistance and support.  It knows and sees a bigger picture because it is connected at the core of all that it exists.  Since it is connected, there is a knowing and understanding that rises above the common discourse of the day.

In The Knowing

If you ask, what is love?  Go deep into your heart to search for the answers.  They will not be in what others proclaim or how other people say love will show up.  Love will be in the knowing and understanding that there is more which transcends this current moment.

We will see love through the thoughts, words, and actions of those that it inhabits.  It will just be there automatically without effort.

Connection

It will connect with others in a way that they know it exists.  Nothing will need to be said to see it, for it is a felt emotion that is strong and powerful and never-ending.

Love is more than enough.

Love is in great enough supply.

We need to tap into it and discard the darkness in our hearts so that we not only feel it, but we share it with everyone.

The world needs love.

The world needs love in a big way.

May we all find and embrace the love that flows to every person in this world.

Let us all be open to pure love without trying to mold it into what we think it should be.

Also, read the blog post, I Send Out Love.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2/13/18 by Don Shetterly

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Does Social Media Waste Time?

Written By Don Shetterly

I'm considering dropping off of social media altogether.  In my mind, I'm asking the question, does social media waste time?

If you drop off of social media, does that mean you still exist?  I wonder some days because it seems like all that matters.

On Facebook, people post "simple things" that would have been emailed forwarded at one time.  These things barely say anything, but everyone does it.  Then people react.  When I see that "someone has reacted," I'm thinking ok - is that a good thing?  It just seems so superficial to me.  It doesn't feel real or authentic on Facebook.  If it does to you, then by all means continue.  I've just seen people that once emailed me with "substance" now click like or react to something I've put on Facebook.

On Twitter, people retweet and do all kinds of gimmicks that just get annoying.  They are superficial responses in my mind.  After seeing a thousand of these come through at a time, it gets mind-boggling.  

On Instagram, people love to share pictures of their food or other things that you can barely tell what they are.  I guess if you're there, the image means something but to most people, it doesn't give a clear picture.  Of course, there are the likes on that as well which are supposed to mean something in our day.

Let's not even worry about all the other social media sites.  There are too many to name.

We have so much superficial communication going on that no wonder it seems like we're all so disconnected.  We have so many ways to connect with one another, and yet we're like superficial wanderers passing one another in the dark.

People rant and rave all day thinking they are doing something good, but in my view, it is just passing the stuff on, not helping in the least.  If you elevate that which you don't like, you're suppressing the good stuff in my view.

People exclaim how bad some people are, yet they go off and do the same thing.  Am I doing the same thing here?  I hope not.  They elevate the bullies by giving them a voice when if most bullies had no audience, they probably would not do half of what they do.  Maybe I just live in a pie-in-the-sky world with how I view things, but I'm really tired of all of this on social media.

I think we are either part of the solution or part of the problem.  The answer is not always out-screaming the other person proving that you're right and they are wrong.

Social media feels like a waste of time to me. 
I'm not sure if I will continue it or severely limit how
much time I spend on it (more than I do now). 

I honestly think we need to learn how to be human again in our communication.  Likes, retweets, shares, and screaming isn't doing it.  We're becoming less than human in my view.  It is not how you build a society or find ways to work together.  Well, at least in its current form, this is not working.

Surely we can find better ways to make use of social media then letting our own egos take control of the keyboard.  No, it isn't everyone else out there doing this.  We're all at fault.  We just don't see the log in our own eye.

What do you think?  How do you see Social Media?

By the way, read an earlier blog post about "Your Personal Power Of Communication."  It speaks more to this issue.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 1/1/18 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required in writing before any part of this blog is reprinted, reworded, transmitted or used in any format. 
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