I'm writing this on the 24th of November. Tomorrow they announce the Budget for what gets what in the crazy world of government funding. I know Norman Lamb went to see George Osborne to reiterate how much mental illness is draining the economy. Talk money, that's the key to their hearts. I don't need to remind you that 70billion pounds are lost each year because of absenteeism at work from stress related illnesses. I can't get it in my head that politicians can't get it in their heads that most of our 21st Century woes are caused by mental illness; crime, addictions, disease, rape, suicide, domestic violence, child abuse is caused by something that is mentally misfiring in our brains. Probably the weather isn't caused by mental illness but then again there's global warning and we did that, so I might be wrong.
The expression 'mental health' is starting to get on my nerves it sounds too fluffy as if it means hygienic or nice and clean thinking. Dealing with terrorists is something I'm not a specialist in but had there been more research on the brain, maybe we'd understand human emotions better. If we had some better insights into how our minds work we might be better able to negotiate with terrorists rather than blasting them to oblivion. There will always be war until we understand the conflict in our own minds. We just keep projecting our own problems on the world. Just because we can't tolerate something doesn't mean we're right. A child can't tolerate things, we as adults should know better. To me, it's our inflexibility of thinking that defines someone as being mentally unhealthy or not. If we heal ourselves; we heal the ills of the world.
We also have to recognize our unconscious taste for violence that each one of us has got branded into our DNA and only when we've faced it can we learn to manage it. We shouldn't beat ourselves up about it, if it wasn't for our ability to go for the jugular we would be on the almost ran list of extinction. We need to acknowledge our dark forces. "Know thyself" before you judge the rest of the world should be emblazoned on tee shirts in every language throughout the globe if we ever want peace.
I'm sure money has to be spent on defence after what happened in Paris but if we don't heal those closer to home we'll wipe ourselves out by stress that we've put on our own shoulders. And if we are under such fear of attack imagine how high the heart attack and posttraumatic stress disorders are going to spike up? See what I mean when I say everything stems from mental illness? If we aren't conscious of not just going back to our baser roots of, "Eye for an Eye" school of thuggery, the terrorized will, as usual, turn into the terrorists.
Hurrah, today is November 25th (I obviously didn't send this in on the 24th) and the Budget has been announced. It seems they're going to give 600 million pounds toward mental health. Before I go out and ring the church bells I need to find out who's going to make sure it's spent correctly. And if all is Kosher than Hurrah!!! Hurrah!!! The UK is waking up to a new dawn and dealing with the real threat in the world; us.
Ruby's new book - A Mindfulness Guide For The Frazzled - will be published in January 2016. Be the first to find out more here. See her Sane New World show at the Arts Theatre in London, Jan 19 - Feb 13 2016.