I believe our world is in a mental health crisis. So many people are suffering from depression and anxiety. We have so many labels for these conditions but in the end, it’s just low negative energies and not who we truly are. We lost ourselves somewhere, whether it be from our childhood, our parents or environment. It made us not love ourselves! We never feel enough!

I don’t think we are doing enough to help find the solution to this problem in our world today; mostly because most of us do not love ourselves so we cannot help another if we are hurting inside. What hurts me the most is watching our children suffer with these symptoms worse than ever today and not being able to find the resources to help them. Suffering and pain gets spread onto others. I do believe I know the answer to this problem and yes I know that this is a strong statement but I stand by it 100% as I changed myself through meditation and found such a sense of peace in my life. I soon after that was able to watch the world around me very carefully and see why we cause each other so much pain. 

The answer? You’ll soon see, just keep reading.

When one is suffering we want the other to suffer. This spreads quickly and the sad part is, we don’t even realize we are doing it. It becomes unconscious and habitual. We get temporary relief once we cause pain to another but soon go back to feeling the same sadness and the cycle repeats itself.

I started meditating because I was unhappy in my life, I complained, I was a victim, and yes I at times thought it would be easier to just not be here. I hid my meditation practice because I thought it was weird at first. I cared so much what others thought about me. As I meditated, emotions came to the surface and I thought at times I was losing my mind, but in reality I was shedding my old self. The painful, hurt, victim that was buried under this beautiful person that I have become today. My light is bright today and I feel I have a mission to help others who suffer from depression.

OK, so the answer to the solution to solve depression? Not yet keep reading. It should click for you soon if it didn’t already.

As I continued to meditate, I started shedding my old self and my heart knew what the next steps were. I one day started writing a book about Intuition. It’s called Intuition Is Simple. How could someone like me write a book? I was becoming who I was meant to be and I owe that to meditation. I was connected to something greater. A power that actually lies within all of us, we just can’t feel it because we are covered by so much of the lower energies, and we lose ourselves. This is not how it is supposed to be, we are love and we need to get back to our true nature and this is my mission while I am here on this earth! This book has so much meaning to me today because I was not listening to my intuition while writing my book but I knew that, I just wasn’t strong enough to follow it yet, but in time I would and I did. I love who I am today and I continue to grow and learn and most of all, love myself. I more than anything want to help others feel this sense of peace within themselves. 

Did you figure out the answer to the solution of our mental health crisis yet?

The answer to our mental health crisis is love. Yes, it’s that simple, love. We need to love each other more. No, not tough love either, telling my daughter or son that if they don’t clean their room they will be punished does nothing but make them think they are bad for not cleaning their room. Punishing, hitting, taking things away to prove a point, these are the old ways and they just don’t work. They are also coming from a place of frustration and that is a low emotion. This makes us feel like we’re not good enough. We need more positive encouragement. Start telling your kids they are amazing, tell them you love them, listen to them. We need to uplift each other, compliment each other. Once you start to love yourself more through meditation and calming your thoughts, you actually start to see the beauty in others because you see the beauty in yourself, it spreads.  The world around you becomes beautiful. So if that is the case, why do I say there is a mental health crisis if all I see is beauty? Well, this is my mission, that is why.

I see a future that is of love. My daughter suffers from depression and I never wanted to admit that because I was becoming such a positive person and I had so much love inside me but I couldn’t love her enough to help her. Why? Because she didn’t love herself and no matter how wonderful I told her she was, it wasn’t enough to heal her. She didn’t feel enough. Teachers would say she wasn’t trying hard enough, then we would say she is going to fail the 7th grade if she doesn’t try harder and this would only cause more anxiety and stress. So why bother? I realised I was better off telling her everything was going to be ok and she is amazing and smart. That, at least, made her feel lighter and freer. She wasn’t going to class either way so I chose to just be positive and loving. That at least got her out of her depression. 

We all have our own journey here on earth and I had to accept that I can not ‘fix’ my daughter. She needed to find her way but I would do everything I could to be a part of that journey as her mother. My part was to continue to tell her how amazing she is everyday and that everything is going to work out. As I continued to try to get her help it hurt my heart to see that it was so difficult to find someone for her. Reason’s like, they did not take my insurance, costs that were unreasonable, virtual meetings (this was not personal and gave my daughter more anxiety) limited resources, and last resort was putting her into a facility where she would have fallen apart. Those places are scary for a child and no way I am handing my kids over to one. 

This quarantine really hurt my kids. They fell so behind in school and being stuck in the house 24/7 just put them into a depression and then teachers constantly reaching out saying they are failing and not doing their work made it that much worse. I am not blaming the teachers at all, they are just doing their job and no one knows how to handle this pandemic. This goes back to years and years of how we are treating each other. We need to be kinder, more encouraging and more positive. This needs to be taught from day one to our kids. 

So the answer again – love. If you’re not coming from love, don’t say anything at all. Hold back. We need to practice loving each other. Stop screaming, yelling out of anger, stop reacting to things, stop being so defensive. Just think if this isn’t coming from a ‘good place’ before you say anything, do not say it. Act out of love not anger or hate. Hug your kids daily, tell them how amazing they are. Teach them how to love by loving them and most of all by loving yourself! This goes for anyone and everyone, tell your employer you appreciate the work they do for you. Teachers tell all of your students they are amazing, not just the ‘A’ students. Each one of us has something to offer this world. I was not an ‘A’ student. I actually got all F’s almost every grade but I know I am more than that ‘F’. Actually those F’s stand for ‘fire’ within, because I always felt that fire within. Let’s get out of these old negative ways and habits. Try love out, why not? What do you have to lose? Let’s change the world together.

The more I learned to love myself, the more I was able to love everyone around me and see the beauty in them.  It just kept spreading and spreading and now I continue to write books and help others live a happier life. I started a Facebook page Change your Mind, Change your Life, and it continues to grow. This is how I know that love is the answer and I stand by it 100%.

The answer to our mental health crisis in 2021 is to learn to love ourselves and others because at your core, you are love. 

Kira Barnett is a mental health advocate.