Hope in a Prison of Despair, by Evelyn De Morgan. Image courtesy Wiki-Commons.

Here’s a thought-and-heart-stirring post from Jessica Davidson about Mental Health Awareness Week (in the U.K.):

“It’s Mental Health Awareness Week and this year the focus is on why people struggle to thrive with good mental health. Instead of looking at why people get ill, the Mental Health Foundation is asking how we can cultivate good mental health and thrive rather than just survive.”

Jessica writes, “There’s a lot of talk about mental health, and awareness of the issue is increasing, but nothing changes. The problems that people face go deeper and can’t be solved with sound bites and hashtags.”

She goes on to cite a witty Irish saying, “Well, I wouldn’t start from here.”

Given the sharp increase in depression, anxiety, and suicide since the turn of the new millennium, along with an increased divide between ‘rich and poor’ and an uptick in toxic-normal bullying and just plain meanness, it’s more than a worthwhile discussion — it’s vital.

When there’s so much (avoidable) suffering and injustice, none of us can truly thrive.

Expulsion – Moon and Firelight, 1828, by Thomas Cole. I shared this in a recent post, but it seems a fitting image here, too.

Or, to put it as Jiddu Krishnamurti did, and both I and Jessica note with a sympatico-synchronicity:

“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”

The invitation, and perhaps the silver lining, is that we can all offer, or be, our own unique remedy and bring our own voices and willingness to stand for something more humane, healthy, and honoring each person’s dignity (and I’d expand that to non-human beings, too).

I know that many of you who read Sophia’s Children, and are among my fellow blog sisters and brothers, are actively exploring, sharing, being, and presencing just that.

Jessica’s post is one fresh reminder that the need for systemic healing is great.

Read Jessica’s full post here.

Big Love,

Jamie