Well, now that I’m finally getting my head back on straight, let’s talk about the importance of rest in a spiritual practice.

But having downtime is so important to growth--spiritual or otherwise.

Just like our bodies need rest between growth spurts when we’re kids, our souls need rest between growing and expansion periods, too. Sometimes it’ll take a few days, sometimes a couple months, up to years. Unfortunately, there’s no real way to tell, and it’s easy to get impatient and frustrated when you’re stuck in it.

The best thing you can do when you find yourself out of touch or struggling spiritually is to relax.

Letting yourself relax and accept the fallow times can help:

But it also hurts when someone says they love you no matter what but doesn’t (or even if you’re not sure whether or not they do). It hurts a lot. Trust me. I’ve been there.

But, holy crap, it’s amazing what knowing that you are totally and fully loved can do. 

When I first started working with the spirits currently in my life, I had to ask them to use my correct pronouns. Honestly, I nearly had a panic attack asking. But they just smoothly moved into using them and hasn’t slipped up once since. They’ve seen me at my worst. They’ve seen me rage and cry at them, struggle with my mental health, doubt the entirety of my spiritual experiences...and they’re still here. They still assure me they love me, and keep supporting me.

But I am saying that sometimes spirituality can provide that foundation of love that we need to thrive.

Ready for more ideas on how to use the Brain Beasties Oracle? Check out last week’s ideas and get ready to dive in.

As promised in last week’s explanation of the Brain Beasties Oracle, today’s post is some ideas about how to use the deck (don’t forget preorders are open now!).

Raise your hand if you’re a perfectionist.

But my therapist had me try something recently that’s really helped--and I want to share it with you.

Representation is important. 

But we aren’t. We’re living, breathing people--not stereotypes and clichés.

That’s why I write my own stories, both fanfic and original.

But imposter syndrome doesn’t only hit us at work. It can also crop up in unexpected places, like our spiritual lives.

So what might spiritual imposter syndrome look like?

You aren’t alone and you aren’t an imposter.

Pop culture has a really complex relationship with mental health.

On one hand, most media kind of sucks at portraying anything that isn’t neurotypical. On the other hand, most people I know who struggle with mental health tend to use pop culture as an important anchor to keep themselves going or give themselves something to look forward to. It’s this really fascinating thing--we’re not overtly represented in the media we consume, but we project various aspects of ourselves onto our favorite characters and stories. This is why there’s so much fanfic where canonically cishet characters become queer, or characters have autism or anxiety that isn’t necessarily in the source.

Just being able to create or consume media that accurately portrays things like mental health issues can be incredibly healing. Representation matters.

Is there a piece of media that’s helped you with your mental health? Share it in the comments!

I feel like I’m trying to stop the ocean with a sandcastle. Except the ocean is the shittiness in the world and the sandcastle is art and compassion.

It’s easy to stand tall and strong when the tide is out, when we focus on the rare moments of good and joy. But the tide of war and hate and bigotry is always creeping toward us, eating away at the foundations of our castle--or simply ripping it away into the churning waters. Okay, so that might not be a metaphor that resonates with everyone. But the point is that we can’t stand solo against all the crap piling down on us, especially as people who are already marginalized and struggling with our own daily struggles.

We need community. We need compassion. We need creativity.

So here’s to 2020: my year of radical, revolutionary compassion.