Manifesting and Mental Health- Part 2

Note: This is a post about the Law of Attraction (LOA). For a background on LOA click here. :)

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, so if you're having mental/physical issues please seek medical help in addition to reading this. :)

In August I wrote about manifesting and mental health. I decided to break it up into a couple of parts because there was quite a lot to cover. You can read Part 1 here: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2019/08/manifesting-and-mental-health-part-1.html

In Part 2 I'm going to look more at manifesting while dealing with mental health issues. Sorry it's taken me a while, just not had much inspiration lately. :)

Since writing the first post I went through a bit of a hard time. I wrote a bit about it in this post called When You're Struggling: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2019/10/when-youre-struggling.html

I felt like I'd fallen down a pit. I am feeling a bit better now, but up and down. Part of it is shifting into autumn and the cold season. Since I have Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), I do find the colder months more depressing. I wrote a little bit about it over on my other blog The Seasonal Life.

So when people are always telling you to "be happy now" it can get you down. I've found this post by Kelsey Aida about why you don't have to feel good all the time to manifest helpful: https://kelseyaida.com/theinspirationalblog/why-you-dont-have-to-feel-good-all-the-time-to-manifest

The main thing I've found with manifesting while dealing with mental health challenges is that you're already feeling quite down and you're struggling (at times it feels to me like "wading through sludge"), so when it comes to staying optimistic and "raising your vibration" it can be hard. Also those of us with mental health conditions should be careful because we don't want to end up making ourselves feel worse. I came across a post about how the idea of manifesting can be bad for mental health. You can read that here: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/zmapne/the-idea-of-manifesting-your-future-may-be-bad-for-mental-health

Now I'm not saying you shouldn't practise manifesting if you have OCD for example (which I do), we just need to stay aware of our mental health and if we feel reading about the Law of Attraction/doing exercises etc. is making us worse, then take a step back for a while. For example if you're doing Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and part of that work is trying to stop believing that your thoughts will make bad things happen, then reading LOA stuff where it says, "Your thoughts create reality! Don't think negatively!" is obviously going to clash with that. So it may be advisable to take a break from LOA for a bit. :)

When it comes to manifesting while dealing with mental health issues, I suppose I should say "actively manifesting/working with the Law of Attraction while dealing with mental health issues". Because if you follow the belief that LOA is a law like the law of gravity, then it's working all the time and we're always manifesting. But what we actually want to do is manifest good things/experiences. I believe that it isn't true that we can't manifest while feeling bad, it's just that we may be manifesting things we don't want, or struggling to bring in the things we do want (feeling like we're blocked).  Anyway for the purposes of this post I'm just going to write "manifesting" in the context of actively working with the Law of Attraction :)

I have written a bit in the past from the perspective of manifesting when you have anxiety (find those posts here and here and from what I've read I understand that it's more of vibrational thing. So it doesn't mean if you think, "What if I get run over by a car?" that is going to happen instantly (or at all). I linked to a post on the subject on accidents in a previous post. Here it is again: https://melodyfletcher.com/can-you-avoid-accidents-using-the-law-of-attraction/

Also there are some links which discuss worry and LOA in in my 2nd Fear and Anxiety post (look under the Worry section: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2018/12/feeling-your-emotions-fear-and-anxiety.html


I recently came across a video by SynchroShakti which is about using LOA when you're depressed. She basically says how you need to clear out all the "sludge" first and talks about healing through mindfulness. This was also what the Rise Above Living post I linked to in Part 1 said, about healing first.

Check it out here (it was a live chat so you may want to fast forward to get to the question about depression): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNVmChLFcO8

I'll talk a bit more about mindfulness later on. :)

So I know that healing is important but I think it's also a process. We're not necessarily going to wake-up one day and be miraculously healed. (Would be nice though!) We can still manifest the things we want while doing our best to feel better. I'm going to cover a few things I find helpful and/or I'm working on.

Note: If you have a mental illness/disorder hopefully you're under a doctor's care and receiving the treatment that's best for you, whether that's medication and/or therapy, and other things.


Acceptance

Acceptance is something I find very hard! I'm always pushing against things. But I've learnt that it's important because I know that accepting things can help you to feel better, so I'm including it here. In LOA circles there's the saying, "What you resist, persists". For the past two years I've been focusing on my Feeling Your Emotions series, taking a look at different emotions. I linked to them all in Part 1, but you can also see the introduction and the latest post below, (find all the posts by clicking FYE on the labels in the individual posts):

Intro: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2017/11/feeling-your-emotions-introduction.html

Neutral: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2019/07/feeling-your-emotions-neutral.html

I've covered the more "negative" emotions first, and plan to move onto "positive" ones next. I think it's important that we don't put too much emphasis on emotions as really bad or good, but they are generally labelled as positive and negative. Perhaps you're just not a naturally positive person or can't be positive all the time, and that's ok. You can't force yourself to be happy all the time. Here are a couple of good posts on the subject:

https://hellomalavika.com/2017/04/25/why-im-not-a-positive-person/

https://www.adventuringwithposeidon.com/blog/balance-not-always-positive

Check out the first post in this series for more on emotions and here are a couple more links.

This is a video by Kelsey Aida where she talks about how to deal with negative emotions, especially in the context of manifesting: https://kelseyaida.com/theinspirationalblog/how-to-deal-with-negative-emotions

And here is another one by Kelsey in which she talks about how to handle fear and other "bad" emotions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPEYs3xKbhU


Changing beliefs

So while we want to try to be more accepting of things, it doesn't mean we can't work on changing our beliefs. I wrote a post back in 2015 about beliefs and believing. You can read that here: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2015/11/beliefs-and-believing-loa.html

I like this post from the site More Than A Meatsuit, about how you're not so special you can't change your life, beliefs or feelings: https://www.morethanameatsuit.com/youre-not-a-special-snowflake-you-can-change-your-life-beliefs-feelings/

Bit of a blunt title, but the message is that anyone can change! Although as I said before, we're all different, so it doesn't mean we can all change in the same way. We all have different life circumstances, and some of us may have more things holding us back than others. Here is a post from BexLife about how privilege affects manifesting, and it also contains some manifestation tips: https://www.bexlife.com/2019/01/how-to-manifest-your-dreams/

Also there's another good post on More Than a Meatsuit which suggests a different way of looking at blocks: https://www.morethanameatsuit.com/your-blocks-are-actually-bs-but-not-for-the-reason-you-may-think/

Also check out these posts:

How Beliefs Shape Your Reality: https://jessicadimas.com/how-your-beliefs-shape-your-reality/

Limiting and empowering beliefs: https://www.mumblesandthings.com/blog/limiting-beliefs


Gratitude

Gratitude is something you hear a lot about in spiritual and self help circles. I've written briefly about it in the past, such as in the Spiritual Tools/Practices post. I never really got into it until I did Celestine Chua's (from Personal Excellence) Gratitude Challenge in 2013. I felt that it "clicked" for me more after doing that, but my gratitude practice is quite sporadic! I write a monthly Gratitude List here on the blog, which is the most regular thing I do gratitude wise. You can read November's post here and click on "Gratitude List" in the labels, to see past posts. And I also have a gratitude journal but I'm not that regular with it.

Here are few links about gratitude:

How to Practice Gratitude When Everything Sucks: https://www.thevibrantdreamer.com/practice-gratitude/

Easy ways to make gratitude a habit: https://iheartloa.com/3-easy-ways-make-gratitude-habit/

Looking at gratitude from a witchcraft perspective: http://www.flyingthehedge.com/2019/11/gratitude-in-witchcraft.html

I especially like the first post about practising gratitude when you're feeling bad. The first tip about not looking at others' bad situations to make you feel better is a good one. And I like what Jackie (the blogger) says about your emotions: "Your emotions are valid simply because you are experiencing them."

Update 26/11/20: The first post is now gone.


Mindfulness

I've written a bit about mindfulness in the past in the 2nd FYE- Fear and Anxiety post. You can read that here (under the Meditation and Mindfulness section): https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2018/12/feeling-your-emotions-fear-and-anxiety.html

I find it a bit hard to define what mindfulness actually is, but I'd say it's about being in the present moment and being aware of what's going on "now". Greater Good magazine describes it like this: "Mindfulness means maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment, through a gentle, nurturing lens."

The article also mentions acceptance, being aware of our thoughts and feelings and not judging them. I know it can be hard not to judge yourself.

I've tried a few mindfulness techniques, mainly on courses for depression and anxiety. I just took a two week mindfulness course as well. I've mentioned before that I struggle with meditation and don't like it that much, but I do find mindfulness a bit easier. A good technique is mindful eating, I've done it on courses with chocolate, a raisin and a Skittle, I think, lol.

Check out the Fear and Anxiety post for a few mindfulness links and you can also find  more below:

https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/topic/mindfulness/definition#how-cultivate-mindfulness

https://elysesantilli.com/practice-mindulness/

5 Easy Steps to Mindfulness: https://reindeer-moose-nkjf.squarespace.com/blog/meditation-beginners-5-easy-steps-mindfulness

Rachael Kable's site is a good resource for mindfulness too: https://www.rachaelkable.com/

Here's her mindfulness routine for beginners: https://www.rachaelkable.com/blog/a-meaningful-mindfulness-routine

Grounding techniques for anxiety (includes deep breathing): https://jessicadimas.com/the-best-grounding-techniques-for-anxiety/

I also enjoyed this relaxing music from the Japanese band AAA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kuRZYR__QI



Keeping faith

This isn't so much a tool as a section with some helpful links for when you're feeling really down and despairing, and doubting that your manifestations will come true and your life will improve (because that's ultimately what we want, our lives to get better). :)

Post from To Be Magnetic about the "magic dark", the dark before dawn in manifestation:
https://tobemagnetic.com/free-native-1/desperation-magic-dark

Tips for keeping faith in your manifestation when it seems hard: https://www.kimberleywenya.com/blog/2019/6/22/how-to-keep-faith-of-your-manifestation-when-it-seems-so-hard

And more tips for when you're losing faith: http://spirituallyempowered.co.uk/losing-faith-universe/



Help/Troubleshooting

Thought I would include the section of articles for help with LOA, so you can refer it it if you're feeling stuck.

Why isn't my manifesting working?!: http://www.newagehipster.co/blog/2016/3/28/why-isnt-my-manifesting-working

What to when you think manifesting isn't working: https://www.morethanameatsuit.com/what-to-do-when-you-think-manifesting-doesnt-work/

I really liked this article on Mumbles and Things about apparent failure: https://www.mumblesandthings.com/blog/apparent-failure

If you're worried about manifesting negative things, check out this post by Rhiannon Day. I found it helpful: https://www.rhiannonday.com/blog/negative-thought-manifestation

Christine Michelle post about feeling your feelings and manifesting: https://alignedsoul.com/go-ahead-be-emotional/

And here's an article from Apply Law of Attraction about using LOA to combat depression: http://www.thelawofattraction.com/use-law-attraction-combat-depression/


Also check out these posts for tips on raising your vibration:

10 Ways I Raise My Vibration: https://themanifestationcollective.co/10-ways-to-raise-your-vibrations/

Update 25/5/21: Updated the link above to the new site (formerly Apartment No 4).

 
How to raise vibrations when your day isn't so good:  https://iheartloa.com/how-to-raise-your-vibrations-when-having-not-so-good-day/



I'll finish with a couple more links.

Post about whether manifesting gives you false hope: http://bohemiancrossroads.com/blog-1/manifestation-false-hope

The conclusion is that it doesn't, but you have to have faith and put in the effort. Hope you didn't mind the spoiler! Check out the full post to fully understand the message. :)

Good post about reasons why manifesting works and using it as a mental health practice: https://www.adventuringwithposeidon.com/blog/3reasons-to-manifest


Update 27/12/19: Rhiannon Day just published a good post about manifesting with anxiety, so I'm linking to it here: https://www.rhiannonday.com/blog/manifesting-with-anxiety

Update 2- 28/2/20: Here is a good post about manifesting when you think negatively: https://manifestingbuddy.com/?p=306

I hope this post was helpful to you. :) Manifesting/working with LOA can be quite a difficult, lengthy process for some of us and it can get really frustrating when things just don't seem to be working out. Sometimes things do take their time. For example I just went to afternoon tea at The Grand hotel in September, and "Visit The Grand" was something I wrote on my Life List in 2009! So it took 10 years to manifest. It wasn't something I was desperate for so I didn't push it. I looked into afternoon tea there last year but couldn't afford it at the time, but this year the opportunity came up and it just worked out.

Please share if you have any tips for manifesting while dealing with mental health issues. Wishing you happiness and success with your manifestations! :)


Photo: Mill Hill, Shoreham-by-sea. Moonsparkle 2019.