Emerging From Madness – Part 1

Madness is the inability to remove yourself from constant suffering.

To come from insanity to a semblance of normalcy is a difficult path to walk. The steps are rather simple, but to follow them fearlessly is to take a journey wrought with awakening, upset, feeling “off kilter”, tears and acceptance.

The moment you decide that you do not want to suffer anymore is the day you must become brutally honest.

It is really that simple. Realize, that we as human beings love to suffer and all suffering stems from fear. Fear of not being enough, fear of not having enough, fear that when we have enough we will lose it all, fear we are going to be hurt, fear that someone or something is going to control us. If you bring all negative emotions back to its core, all fear stems from those two worries. Fear of being hurt or controlled.

The way out of this hell is to be honest with oneself.  If I am fearful in this moment, I must accept it.  With this acceptance, interestingly, the fear fades away into a distant glimmer of emotion. If you are judgmental accept that, in that moment then try to look at the world from the position you were judging, you might then find understanding.

With brutal honesty of where and what you are, and fearlessly accepting who you are, hell becomes more heavenly. Mad becomes more normal, with this understanding, you breathe easier.

As it is so easy to lie to oneself, emerging from madness is much easier done if you have a person in your sphere who is immune to your whining. Somebody or people that will let you know if you are being dishonest with yourself or otherwise.

Having a person with whom you can calibrate North on your internal compass is very helpful indeed. Especially when you are early in the journey of recovering your mind. The further along you are on the road the more you can trust yourself to find North.

Talk therapy can help you identify sources of trauma that you must work on to become whole. However, solutions in conventional therapy are few and far between.

Once you step outside of being a victim in, of, or because of a given situation; you can understand that anything you perceive as trauma, or being hurtful to you, is simply an opportunity for personal growth.

If you are standing in your truth and power you realize that wallowing in anger or hurt is giving up your chance at happiness.  In being and remaining angry you have given up your power to anything and everything but yourself.

It is a wonderful thing to realize that you are hurt or upset, if you use your negative emotions as the impetus to move from anger, and grow. You can re-frame any situation so that you are at least calm. This a powerful method you can use to remove suffering from your life.

When in an honest and accepting relationship with oneself, seeing the other side of the situation and moving from upset to acceptance, is the key step to emerging from madness.

Artwork titled “Cups of Chaos” painted by blog author Nonaine Levy