I will be gentle with myself.

"I believe in being gentle with ourselves as we mend and heal our hearts"

Today is World Mental Health Day and I as I delivered my www.relaxkids.com classes today I found myself reflecting on my own journey with my mental and emotional health.

Over 15 years ago I was in a very difference place than I am today and one of the key thing's that supported me as I navigated that time was a song called "I will be gentle with myself" by Karen Drucker, I promised myself I would listen to it everyday regardless of how I was feeling it was like a prescription that I wrote for myself and gradually I began to take the advice contained with in "I will only go as fast as the slowest part of me feels safe to go" The phrase "be gentle" became something I used regularly to myself and others.

I kept that promise to myself and I still listen to it every single day, It is my morning alarm.

To celebrate my 45th Birthday I have just signed up to walk a Camino with Children In Crossfire www.childrenincrossfire.org next year and it struck that supporting our mental and emotional wellbeing could be called a Camino of Self Love. For me the Camino of self love begins with self compassion, passes through self acceptance and meanders its way to self love.

Relax Kids have been a massive part of my own journey. For most of the school year I delivered classes to over 600 Children per week and today I was speaking to the Principal of one of the schools, we talked about how much the children and staff get from the classes each week. I also shared that although I know the children benefit in the moment, for me the real value comes when I can support a 14/15 year old who reaches a bump in the road and I can pick up from where we left off when they were 10/11 and remind them of what we talked about.

It is much easier for me to get them back on track than for a younger person who has no awareness, trust or connection.

"imagine trying to do A Level Maths without having ever done P2 Numeracy"

The same is true for the skills I share during Relax Kids sessions.

The theme this year for World Mental Health Day is “𝘼𝙘𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙎𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙞𝙘𝙚𝙨 - 𝙈𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙩𝙝 𝙞𝙣 𝘾𝙖𝙩𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙝𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙀𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙞𝙚𝙨.” 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘷𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘴 - 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘴, 𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘤𝘴, 𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘴.

𝘋𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘦, 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘺. 𝘠𝘦𝘵, 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵.

If we had skills, knowledge and support from early in our lives it might be easier to access the extra support we need if and when crisis hits. I am very grateful that when I went through my own challenging time that I had some options that I was eventually able to turn to and use to help me navigate that difficult time. Without it the outcome could have been very different.

Here are some photos of my fab Friday Morning Classes. https://www.stteresastullyherron.com/news/relax-kidz/?p=1&

If you need support please reach out. You may also find some of the linked Blogs below helpful.

Gra agus Solas - Love & Light

Joanne