By Parm Sran
BRAMPTON: “Mum doesn’t look well.’’ “Yeah, she has been crying a lot.”
I heard these words of my children and felt the pain and concern in their voice. It shook me up as I cried more, and cursed myself for putting my children through distress. I asked myself: ‘What is their fault? Why I am being unfair to them? What will happen to their lives if something happens to me? Who will look after them like a mum?’
That made me decide that I needed to get well, I needed to seek help. That’s when I went to see a psychiatrist.
Today, I am a mental health nurse, psychotherapist and a trained inspirational public speaker. I have been working for almost three decades with people who live with mental illness.
But at one time I didn’t realize that I was unwell. Because when you are in a caring profession, you become so compassionate that you always try to help everyone else, ignoring yourself and seldom focussing on your own mind and body. I guess that’s what happened to me.
Finally, when I went to the psychiatrist, they straight away put me on antidepressants and diagnosed me with ‘clinical depression’. They did not offer me any psychotherapy or behaviour therapy, they didn’t ask me for my food habits or every day life routines, just straight to the pills. It was not their fault, I guess that’s how they are trained.
I even questioned that and asked them to refer me to a psychotherapist, but they insisted that I needed medication. Being a nurse, I knew those medication have side effects along with benefits. Being on the path of spiritual journey, I was also of the belief that our body has the power to heal itself, only if we pay enough attention to it.
So, I bought the medication as I was ordered but refused to take it against medical advice. (I must add a disclaimer here to declare that I am not against medication or any medical treatments or regimes) This was my personal choice.
As I didn’t want to take pills and I had no one to talk to about my illness, I felt somewhat helpless. But I believe that if you cannot find a way outside, there is always a way inside, so I started working on my inner self.
I believe our inner world affects our outer world. So, I started working on what I could control. I hired coaches an mentors and started following and implementing what I was being taught.
I made changes in my daily routines and in my diet. Diet isn’t only what you eat, it’s also what you put in your mind, what you read, watch and get involved in, on everyday basis. Everything affects our thinking and mindset.
I stopped watching Netflix as I was binge watching before. I became vegetarian. I started working on my thoughts. I started practising gratitude and living in the present. I was out of depressed state within six months, and I maintain that practice to this day.
The key here is discipline. You can read a good book, but unless you implement it in your day-to-day life, it’s not going to help you. You can read all about good foods, but it won’t help until you stop eating the junk.
My point is that there are so many other non-traditional methods that can help heal our body and mind alongside traditional methods of treatments if we are open to work and explore ourselves.
Research has proved that you can heal your body with food and that your mind is a powerful instrument. If you know who to use it right, you can change your life. There is an institute in the US called ‘Food and Mood’ and as per their studies it shows that eating vegetarian foods can help you not only get rid of depression and anxiety but also there are no relapses either.
In her podcast, scholar and researcher Dr.Caroline Leaf says you can use your brilliant mind to overcome mental ill health and road blocks and live a more successful and fulfilled life’.
There are many yogic practices that claim to treat anxiety and ADHD with some breathing exercises and postures. (You can listen to Sadhguru, of the Isha Foundation in India, helping people achieve a sense of well being with his programme called inner engineering]
Having overcome my mental health challenges, my mission is to help others who are going through mental health challenges and difficult life situations by enabling them to empower themselves to understand and use the power of their mind and balancing the energies in their bodies.
I help people with my tried, tested, and proven three-step online programme called ‘Pain to Purpose’.
With this programme, people can change their mindset and find their true purpose in life, attaining physical and mental wellbeing,living a prosperous life and enjoying stable relationships.
My best-selling book `Own Your Life – Create as you go’, which tells my whole story of overcoming health, relationship and life challenges, can help anyone who reads it. It is available on Amazon.
With my book, I want to give voice to those who still suffer in silence. In our South Asian families, mental health is still a hush hush topic. No one talks about it openly and people don’t seek help while they have mild symptoms.
It is only when the mental illness starts affecting their health, giving them diabetes, heart health challenges or body aches, that’s when they will go their family doctor, not realizing that it all started with the mind [ As its very clearly stated in Louise Hayes book ‘You can heal your body]. My purpose is to help people speak up, start a dialogue so that everyone who is suffering silently can get the help they need on time. Suicide is becoming a world pandemic but not many raises awareness on the topic and I am trying to put a stop to all this.
My mission is to eradicate the stigma of mental illness. I am using my voice to raise awareness about mental health and sharing my knowledge about different tools, techniques, and strategies to stay physically and mentally healthy as our mind and body affect each other.
To help people, I also have my show ‘Grow Your Greatness” on YouTube under my name Parm Sran.
I am thankful that I was honoured with ‘Achievement Award’ in recognition of my services to our community by Punjabi Community Health Services on Women’s Day in 2022.
Today, all my efforts are geared towards creating a world of peace, love, and kindness where everyone is not only just surviving but also thriving in life and fulfilling their dreams of living a life by design and not by default.
(Parm Sran can be contacted at parmsmentoring@gmail.com)
