How to Not Circle the Drain: Keeping it Together in the 21st Century

Ways to Not Circle the Drain: Keeping it Together in the 21st Century

The recent suicide of L'Wren Scott led me to pause and reflect. As a practicing psychotherapist and a human, I am well acquainted with the terrain of despair. Ms. Scott's death led me to ponder the modern cultural conundrum: ideas about what constitutes success and happiness imposed by the media clashing with everyday reality and common human struggle. This guide is not intended as a substitute for appropriate medical and psychiatric care. It is meant as a menu of sorts, with skills and ideas to create your own mixtape for how to feel best in your life. We have a wealth of information at our fingertips but it can be daunting to wade through the mass of research and findings in neuroscience, psychology, psychiatry, coaching, etc. As a practicing psychotherapist, I have time to consider the issue of how to cultivate well-being consistently and an opportunity for a feedback loop with my clients.

My motto is this: Back to Basics. Most of us are looking at too many screens with information overload, senses assaulted, and jacked up nervous systems. The velocity of change in the world since the Industrial Revolution is harrowing to ponder. The human brain has not evolved to deal with the amount of modern stimuli exposure.  The human organism requires certain conditions for optimal functioning. We are often working at a deficit related to navigating challenges, transitions, and stress, like a sailor without a compass or map. Every day in my practice, I realize how many of us are without a template to create our own sense of well-being and thereby contribute to the well-being of others and our planet. I try to break it down in a user-friendly way, offering skills and ideas that you can test-drive to determine what works best for you. You may already be practicing some of these skills or ways of looking at the world, all are suggestions for you to consider initiating or adding to your current repertoire of coping and getting through. These are the methods that I have found to be personally useful and helpful to my clients of different ages and stages. My wish is that you will read at least one thing that you may utilize in your daily life. Sometimes it is a challenge just to get through the day, it helps to have a skills set that you may easily practice and implement. Sometimes we just get through the day, and sometimes we thrive. It's all about riding the wave in the spirit of curiosity, with an open mind, and a desire to feel good. Action!