When Black Becomes a Rainbow

Another great post sent to me today; albeit anonymously. I think this post shows how much of a struggle it can be to live as well as love, look after and support those around you when you are dealing with physical and or psychological illnesses as well.  The post is extremely poignant and I hope it shows others that they are not alone.  I am sure that there are many people out there who can relate to the experience detailed here. I hope that this can help anyone out there confused by the feelings they have to search for the help that they need. 'Feelings' (Anonymous)   "After I had my first child I thought I felt fine, I was a new mother after all, what could possibly be the problem?! Well, Bh little boys keep their mummys busy and to be honest when he was only 8 months old, I couldn't wait to get back to work. Everything was going well, my baby was developing well, I was back at work and then I found out I was pregnant again. Bh it was a good pregnancy a...

So exhausted, but desperate to post. So much on my mind and need to spill some out on here. I take no responsibility for anything I say after 2230 generally as I turn into a pumpkin; but I'll make an exception tonight! Anyway, something I have been wondering about for a while now and would love to hear what you think!   My query is about a phrase in Vayikra (Leviticus 19:18) (also sung by the Yeshiva Boys Choir!). "והבתה לרעך כמוך" [Veohavta lerayacha kemocha] - "Love thy neighbour as thyself" The translation of this sentence is self explanatory. We must love our 'neighbour' (not to be taken literally of course; dependent on where you live or how much noise they make) as we love ourselves. The implication of this is that we love ourselves. For if we do not love ourselves, how can we do this for others. In effect, by filling ourselves with a sense of hatred, harming ourselves in some way or by not caring for ourselves, we are in turn en...

I have been asking various people over the past few months to write about their experiences with mental health, particularly within the Jewish Community.  You would not believe how many people are out there suffering.  On the back of one of my posts, I received a particularly amazing response from someone within the community who suffers with a mental illness. I asked if he would mind my sharing his email on here and he very kindly agreed. The email was from Gershon Brooks, a 20 year old diagnosed with Bipolar just over a year ago. From my conversations with Gershon I can see that he is doing his utmost to accept, fight and speak out about his illness, to be able to let go of the fear of being stigmatised. I think his post holds depth and strength. It isn't easy to open up the world, but I am so glad he has done this! Any questions you would like to ask Gershon can be done either on the Comments section of this blog post, or you can contact him via...