Compassion – Page 2

Beauty is in the human spirit..

What do you define as beauty?

Beauty for me is a lot of things.

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Photography and art is beautiful.

The gorgeous colours of nature all around us is beautiful.

A message of love and comfort is beautiful.

The generosity & kindness in people’s eyes is beautiful.

The strength & courage of the human spirit is beautiful.

The ability to self-reflect & heal is beautiful.

The incredible firefighters, policemen, doctors, nurses, first responders, teachers, loving parents, foster carers, careworkers, psychologists, survivors and humanitarians that make a huge difference in this world are beautiful (and so many more I haven’t listed..).

Beauty for me is in the human spirit that perseveres against all odds.

Beauty for me is in the resilience of the poorest people, the people who suffer the most but are able to still offer love, compassion & understanding.

Beauty for me is in the highly sensitive person, the empath, the artist & the volunteer.

Beauty is all around us and it is found in the simplest things in life..

Beauty is about stopping to smell the roses..it is about living in the moment and appreciating all that you have in life..it is about loving yourself enough to accept yourself completely and treating others with respect & love..

What is beautiful to you?

Love Athina ♥

Our child within

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Love Athina ♥

Be there for someone

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Today is International World Peace Day. This highlights the destruction that war is currently causing all around the world even more and I feel deeply saddened that things are the way they are. Humans will never learn from their mistakes and greed & power seem to always take the forefront unfortunately.

So what can we do in this ever changing world of destruction, mass murder & grief?

We can’t seem to stop the war & voilence, as world leaders always have the last say in what happens..We can’t always prevent bad things from happening but we can make a small difference by being kind to others. We can help someone in need & offer them some comfort.

Sometimes people don’t want to or can’t ask for help. They may feel too embarassed, too isolated, too scared. They might be so traumatised that they can’t even speak. They might have learnt the hard way that you can’t trust anyone because they have always been let down.

I have been in a position of vulnerability many times in my life. I used to be someone who was too afraid to trust others. I used to be someone who was too afraid to ask for support. I thought I was a burden because I was made to believe that I was.

How many of you give money to a beggar on the street? How many of you help the homeless? How many of you contribute to bettering the world in some small way by maybe helping the refugees or protecting familes from domestic violence?

I’d love to hear your experiences.

I personally, don’t always give money to the homeless or to beggars. Here in Europe, I know that there are a lot of people who are made to beg for money but don’t get to keep it. Their gang leader keeps it.What I try and do instead is give people items that provide some comfort. A scarf, some food, a hot drink etc..

I also aspire to work in areas where I support others. I am currently looking after a little boy who has a single mother. My heart goes out to them both.I only found out recently that the mother is being emotionally abused by the father of the boy, who is telling her he will turn up on their doorstep after 2 years of ignoring the child. He lies to her and makes threats. I have promised to support her if she needs me. She has asked me to entertain the wee boy at the moment, in case things get akward. This little boy doesn’t even remember his Dad. He has only just turned 4 and it is a delicate matter.

Helping out this small family is my way of giving back to the world and supporting others. I want to care for others, as I know what it feels like to not be cared for. Nobody should feel that way.Nobody should have to feel scared and alone.

Love Athina ♥

Intolerance to vulnerability is NOT OK!

Intolerance to vulnerability is everywhere.

Dysfunctional homes have this at their core.Children don’t feel safe to express emotions of sadness or pain..Children are taught that it is not ok to have sad or angry emotions..that they will be a burden if they dare to express these emotions..

This is not acceptable..This is emotional abuse..

Physical vulnerability is different to emotional vulnerability..When someone is physically disabled or physically ill, he/she seems to have more understanding from others..because you can see his/her illness physically..When a disability is emotional or mental however, people are quicker to dismiss it..This is where the stigma of mental illness comes in..Every single person out there with a mental disorder, is vulnerable..If they suffer with anxiety or depression, this makes them vulnerable..Just as much as someone who has a heart condition, or cancer or any other condition..

A vulnerable person is someone who struggles with day to day life.

Vulnerability refers to the inability to withstand the effects of a hostile environment (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulnerability).

People with mental illness frequently become vulnerable and easy targets of physical and mental abuse.

People with mental illness can have poor boundaries, emotional dysregulation and many other extremely debilitating symptoms. They deserve the same compassion as those with obvious physical disabilities. They deserve the right to be able to talk about their struggles.

Love ♥ Athina

CPTSD= Courage Progress Tenacity Survival Determination

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Healing from PTSD is tough! Healing from Complex PTSD is even tougher.

In honour of World Suicide Prevention Awareness Day, I want to tell every single one of you survivors out there that you can look at your PTSD & CPTSD differently, just for today! ♥

C-PTSD = COURAGE PROGRESS TENACITY SURVIVAL DETERMINATION

Love ♥ Athina

September 10th-World Suicide Prevention Day

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Supporting others through adversity the right way

Today’s video is important because it raises awareness on the importance of what we say to others currently facing adversity. When someone is suffering with mental health issues, has just found out some terrible news or is drowning in grief, the last thing they want to hear is what someone thinks they should do in their situation.

Projecting our own beliefs onto someone who is suffering can sometimes be detrimental. Telling someone how we think they should feel at times of difficulty, can be very harmful.

Always speak with caution.

Love Athina ♥

It is wrong to silence survivors of abuse

As a survivor of narcissistic abuse, and in honour of some of my followers who are also survivors of abuse, I want to do a short but very important post today about the unfortunate shaming & silencing that happens to survivors.

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It is absolutely horrendous to deny someone of their right to freely talk about their abuse and to deny them the ability to heal.Every time a survivor talks about the abuse to someone who validates them and acknowledges their pain, there is a small layer of healing taking place.

On the other hand, every time a survivor shares their story and isn’t believed, is shamed for not forgiving their abuser or is told to not go public about their abuse, it is destructive & extremely painful. It shows that the person shaming the survivor lacks empathy & understanding for the pain & trauma they have been through. It is re-traumatising and makes the survivor feel isolated & abused once again.

For those of you out there, who don’t know much about child abuse because you have been fortunate enough to grow up with healthy, loving parents please understand this:

Survivors require acknowledgement of their pain & suffering

Survivors require kindness & empathy

Survivors need to hear ‘I am so sorry for what you have been through’

Survivors need to be shown healthy lovely, healthy boundaries because they never learned these in their childhood..

Survivors DON’T want to be told to forgive their abusers

Survivors DON’T want to be told to stop talking about what happened to them just because you are uncomfortable with it.

Survivors DON’T want to be told to ‘Get over it because it was a long time ago’

Survivors DON’T need any more abuse, silencing or shaming.

Much love Athina ♥

Spread a little kindness

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Love Athina ♥

Be an inspiration

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Dear friends,

I am back from my brief holiday in Athens and feel happy to get back into blogging, YouTubing & Coaching. I have a 2nd follow up session with a coachee tomorrow and I am hoping she has managed to make some progress and feels a little better about things.

I hope I haven’t missed out on too much in the world of blogging but I definetely aim to catch up on your blog posts and interact with some of you lovely people.This holiday was a little mixed with being ill and dealing with a low mood because of this, but otherwise it felt good to have a change of scenery.

I thought it would be good to start the new week with an uplifting post. How often do you try to be an inspiration to others? How often do you strive to be an overall, good human?!

Some people are just naturally good at spreading positivity, love & and support but others do this less. Does this mean they are bad people? Not necessarily. It might be that they are suffering or overwhelmed by life’s challenges and just have nothing left to give at times..Just because someone isn’t supportive or understanding some of the time, this doesn’t mean that they are bad. On the other hand however, If someone is disrespectful, is always negative, is underminding towards others and generally goes around trying to ruin other peoples’ joy, then you want to stay clear of these people.

There is nothing wrong with having a bad day or feeling a little negative but if you purposely set out to bring others down with you, then this isn’t good.

In my day to day life, I hope to try and bring joy to others, even in the tiniest way. Even if I am struggling emotionally, I find that by spreading positivity in the smallest way, can make such a difference to my mood. This could be anything from leaving a positive comment on a great post, holding the door open for someone or smiling at the cashier in the supermarket.I am not superhuman obviously and neither are you, so we are all allowed days where we are less than perfect. As long as we are not hurting anybody, then it doesn’t really matter what we get up to.

If you had a choice to choose 2 of the 12 things listed in the above photo, which would you choose and why?

Love Athina ♥