Don’t let a mental health diagnosis define you. Sadhguru speaks about mental health issues and ways to go beyond the label and get well.
A Diagnosis Need Not Spell Doom
If the medication is well calibrated by a medical doctor, it should not make you dull or sleepy. If you anyway feel some kind of drowsiness, it could affect you, not because you become incapable of receiving grace, but simply because you may not be alert enough. But there are a whole lot of people who take medications and are quite alert during the day. They may sleep a little extra at night, which is okay. You do not really have to think along these lines that you would be too dull to receive grace. Above all, whatever the diagnosis, especially when it comes to psychological situations, it is not absolute. It is a current situation.
Shankaran Pillai and His 10 Dollar Cure
This happened – Shankaran Pillai went to a psychiatrist and said, “Doctor, I have this problem: If I sleep in my bed, I think somebody is beneath my bed. So, I try to sleep under the bed, but then I think somebody is on my bed. I’m suffering immensely, and I’m not able to sleep for days, sometimes weeks because I always think there is somebody beneath or on the bed.” The psychiatrist replied, “For the next 18 months, three times a week, you must come to me for a certain therapy. I will give you a discount. My fee is normally a hundred dollars per hour, but I will make it eighty for you. We will start next Monday.” Then Shankaran Pillai told the doctor, “Let me sleep on it and see.”
He never turned up again. Six months later, the psychiatrist bumped into Shankaran Pillai in a bar, and he was looking fine. The psychiatrist said, “Why did you never come back? What happened?” Shankaran Pillai replied, “Doctor, you said, eighty dollars an hour, three times a week, for 18 months. I went and slept over that amount. Then I thought, I’m not willing to spend that money. Instead I went to the bar and had a drink. I told the bartender about my problem, and he fixed it for ten dollars. How he did it? Well, he came to my home and cut off the legs of the bed. Now I know there’s nobody beneath.”
Focus on the Possibilities
Whatever the diagnosis, do not carry it like a qualification. You must drop this badge that you have got. There are ways to do it. If you are willing to invest some time, we could help you, rather than you being on medication for the rest of your life. It is not just about grace, you may be missing various possibilities of your life simply because you are on medications that do not allow you to fully be who you are. So, you must invest time to get out of these things.
If there is a problem, we need to tend to it, but do not make it too big in your mind.
When you start thinking that you have this or that ailment, it will complicate life in many ways. If there is a problem, we need to tend to it, but do not make it too big in your mind. Constantly thinking that something is wrong with them is a major disease that many human beings are suffering from. Maybe you are not able to do what someone else is able to do – so what? You do what you can do in the best possible way, and that is all that matters in life.
Stop Comparing Yourself with Others
The question about your life is not if you are as good as someone else. Are you doing everything that you can about yourself? –That is the question. A grasshopper need not become a tiger; it is fine as a grasshopper. If you ask, “Can you compare a grasshopper and a tiger?” Why should you compare them? They are two unique creatures. Can a tiger hop like a grasshopper? Comparing yourself with someone else and thinking you are sick is all social nonsense.
When you send your children to school, they may not be as good as another child in academics, but they may be good at something else. They just may not care about what the teachers are saying; but immediately, you will take them to the doctor. And the doctor says they are ADD, ADHD, XYZ. All the 26 letters in the alphabet have been used up. Why label a child like this?
Are you doing everything that you can about yourself?
This happened when I was in Chennai, many years ago, teaching a program. During an early morning class, a man broke into tears and said, “I’m so worried about my daughter that she doesn’t study. She’s not interested in education. And I’m really worried what will happen to her.” Then I asked, “How old is she?” He said, “She’s four and a half.” I said, “You fool – she shouldn’t even be studying anything at this age; forget about her studying well.”
So, do not keep doing this to yourself, “I’m bipolar.” Is there even one person who is perfectly sound in the mind? They are all like you, different types of cases. People manage to live, do things with their lives. So, if it has come to a point where there is a prescription medication, your first goal should always be to work yourself beyond that. You must invest time and energy for that. Do not tell me you have no time for your own wellbeing. Then why are you here?
Time to Invest in Your Wellbeing
Are you on such a great mission that you have no time for your own wellbeing? No, you are just earning a living. You are crafting your life in such a way that if you become sick, you cannot change the direction of your life. If something spectacular arises, you cannot change the direction of your life.
One important thing we want to do is create spiritual infrastructure in the world, spaces where people can focus on their inner wellbeing.
If you are going one way and tomorrow something spectacular arises somewhere else, you must be able to go right there. Otherwise, what is the point? You can go only one way because you got bills to pay – it is time you change that. If you do not change that, nothing will change. Neither your health nor your wellbeing, nor your spiritual process will change.
One way to fix your mental health is to work on the land and be in touch with it. When you are in touch with the soil, organically, you become balanced and well. If not full-time agriculture, at least two to three hours of doing something with the land would be good. Also, one important thing we want to do is create spiritual infrastructure in the world, spaces where people can focus on their inner wellbeing. That is seriously missing right now.
Bipolar Is Not Your Identity
I want you to forget your bipolar for some time. I want you to forget your ailments and just live well. You can work beyond anything that is chronic within you. What comes from outside, like an infection, is different. When something attacks you from outside, then leave it to the medical professionals. There is a way to address anything else that is generated from within. As long as you need medical help, take it, but you must aim to come out of it.
The brief life that you are, you do not have to live sick. To live well, the first and foremost thing is that you are not overly concerned about your health. This is not about being careless. There is a difference between caution and paranoia – you must know where the line is. And from now on, do not identify yourself as bipolar. That is not your name. Right now, there is some issue; they have given you medication. But you must make up your mind in how many months you will be out of it, and what are you willing to do for that.
