May is Mental Health Awareness Month: Be Kind to Your Mind
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. This seems particularly significant this year, as we face a variety of issues surrounding COVID-19. We have observed many ways people are dealing with the crisis. Most seem to reach out with compassion and understanding; however, we have also seen others showing signs of stress, grief, and trauma. We may be stressed by family issues, business stressors, and emotional challenges.
David Kessler, co-author with Kubler-Ross, has written a book that added a sixth stage to the stages of grief—
meaning
. He sees this current period as an opportunity for us to sit with our grief and begin to ask the question: what meaning can we gain from this? What is significant and what can we leave behind?
We have a responsibility to patients, family, and ourselves to be at our best but life will intervene at the most inopportune times. Self-care can be part of a healthy lifestyle when times like these create disruption. In times of uncertainty, we may need to reflect on how we are doing with self-care.
Will Fernholz, LSCSW, a social worker in Overland Park, KS, has assembled a list of resources that may help us, and our families, navigate an uncertain future with grace and confidence.
He has found these books to be his favorites:
Mindsight
–
by Dr. Dan Siegel
Radical Acceptance
–
by Tara Brach
The Science of Mindfulness
–
by Ronald Siegel
The Gifts of Imperfection
–
by Brene Brown
Anatomy of the Soul
–
by Kurt Thompson