Dear Vywamus,
I am on medications for a mental illness… could you please give me some guidance on how
I can get more in touch with my higher self and wean myself off the medications.
Also could you please tell me how my past lives are affecting me now and what
My life purpose is?
Love,
Justin
Dear Justin,
Here on the ASK VYWAMUS page I can offer you my general recommendations about how to handle a situation like yours, and what role it can play on your spiritual path. And, I urge you, if you need more, have a personal session with a wise counselor you trust, where you can take time to go into much more depth and detail than we can here on the web site.
For suggestions on getting in touch with your Higher Self, you will find many exercises in Part Two of my book The Next Big Bang to help you make this connection to the larger You.
You may also find suggestions if you read over my News page on this site. Finally, go back on this ASK VYWAMUS page and read my responses to Nicole, Mary Ann, Carmelo, Diana, Pamela and R. These are all places where I have spoken about how to be more in touch with your larger Self, and you could benefit from following any of these suggestions.
Now, as to the particular issue of mental illness, I would like to address both you and all other readers who are coping with mental illness: Like every human, it is your major purpose in this life to connect with the higher (spiritual) energies and move forward into the shift in human consciousness that is taking place. And in this quest you have a different set of challenges than do others. You may have “signed up:” for this between lives in order to balance out a previous life in which you caused mental problems in others, or in which you had these same problems but failed to arrive at a way of transcending them.
My first recommendation for you is to keep up your connection with the higher energies. Find a form of meditation that works for you and keep at it regularly In particular, I strongly suggest you explore body-oriented forms of meditation such as tai chi, or movement with mindfulness, and other similar forms. It is always important to take measures to ground yourself in your physical body, and this is especially important when you have mental or emotional problems.
You may or may not eventually be able to wean yourself off medications using these methods. It is a matter of chemistry, which may of course be affected by your mind, emotions and spiritual energies, but perhaps not completely changed. And whatever happens, you should currently be very aware of how the medications you take affect you, and work diligently with your physician to find the best possible medication and dosage level with the least side effects.
Do not be downhearted if you cannot totally wean yourself from medications. You may continue to need that extra help they give you. If so, incorporate that into your path.
For you and anyone with a mental illness, there is a reason and a purpose behind it. You have agreed to do this before you came here. Your purpose is to learn to live a spiritual life with this illness, making efforts to improve everything you can, and to accept and adjust to everything you can’t. And then, you are being asked, from your own experience, to help others with mental illness, encouraging them also to recognize that mental illness is not simply an obstacle on your spiritual path to get rid of, but for you right now it is the path itself. It is merely a path with a different set of challenges. And anyone with a mental illness can grow spiritually into the level of consciousness you are meant to reach in this life.
I assure you and others who are dealing with these issues that I am always beside you and offering you my energy and loving help.
Warmly,
Vywamus