Mental Health Awareness Month- Connection is Key

May is Mental Health Awareness Month.

I think it’s almost like saying March was Virus Awareness Month.  I feel like saying “I think we’re well aware, thanks!”

Normally at Abiding Presence, this month we would present on an interesting topic about mental health at the Abiding Table. We would wear lapel ribbons to honor the struggle of mental illness. We would make plans to march for the cause. 

Obviously, this is not the year for normally. I was feeling guilty about not having some major plan or production for this month. Our Mental Health Team met and came up with wonderful ideas and thoughts. But this month snuck up on me. And the banner of being “aware” of mental health feels a little too raw when we have a viral pandemic (and I would argue, a corresponding mental health pandemic).

So I am setting my guilt aside and writing my thoughts here, my heart to yours. What do we need now? We are all acutely aware that our mental health requires more effort now. Some of us have medication, therapy tools, and other experiences under our belt. Some of us have the added burden of a mental illness. Some of us have the added burden of never having to think about this before now.

We are all in a challenging place when it comes to mental health.

Right now, we really need to focus on the most basic of needs: food, light, water, shelter. Humans are intrinsically relational, it’s a huge part of what makes us human. I would say our relational nature is a key aspect of the image of God in us. We are created to connect. So I would add to that basic list: connection. 

Professor and theologian Roberta Bondi borrowed from the wisdom of the ancient desert fathers and mothers to create an image like this illustration (which I created with my unskilled computer hands): 

She would tell us in class, at the center is God, in a circle around is the community. The closer we gather (in spirit) together, the closer we gather to God. Growing closer to one another or to God always results in growing closer to the other. Growing apart from one another also tends to distance our hearts from God. 

So what does this have to do with Mental Health Awareness month? I want to reconnect us to the very basics of what it means to be human. After you eat, drink water, and walk outside in the sunlight, make sure you tend to the basic need of your humanity: connection with one another and God. Your mental health will have wildly varying needs, but at the base for every person is this: connection. John Donne was echoing the wisdom of the ages when he wrote “No man is an island.” 

So whatever way you can foster connection this month, do it. Write a letter, make a phone call, email, zoom, facetime. If you live with someone (or more than one someone), create space to have meaningful connection. Create space to listen, to tell stories, to laugh and cry. Engage in one of the online groups at Abiding Presence (bible study, spiritual formation, youth and kid hang outs, parent hang outs, and coming soon, Neighborhood Groups). If you need help with this, reach out to us. If you need help with anything, reach out to us. Reaching out is one of the most healthy things you can do. 

So my friends, it’s been an insanely weird and mind-bending ride. Some days I’m doing great, some days I would prefer to go back to bed. Regardless of all the chaos: our basic human needs remain the same: food, water, shelter, light, so take care of those things. But don’t forget the thing that makes our human existence beautiful and full of meaning: connection.