In today's society there is very little time for personal development. Our "best" is usually pointed to us from outside with terms like gross domestic product, efficiency and profit. However, on an individual level we are biological and psychological entirety that doesn't evolve according to financial markets.
This is why our society actively tries to guide our personal transformation and development on a human level. It's normal that people develop through crises. Crisis however is not a desired state from the GDP point of view. This is why market's come up with all the wild ideas from medicalization of humanity all the way to 5-steps-to-enlightenment -courses. These usually result in two kinds of disasters.
I use terms death and rebirth to describe the magnitude of crises I'm referring to. Not to any physical or religious event. All kinds of crises, also the smallest daily conflicts, modify and shape our mind, but sometimes our mind needs bigger steps. Sometimes the development has lead us to situation where the old picture of the world or the understanding of how the world works, won't serve use anymore. These are the situations where something old dies, to give room for the new to be born.
Rebirth without death
If an individual has any kind of connect to one's body, one usually senses the need of change before the crisis. Today it is more common that the connection is broken and individual goes through some kind of collapse, not being able to steer the course of events in time. Which ever the case, it usually leads to search of a new way of life - without the realization, what was wrong in the old one. To develop more balanced and integrated self, it is a necessity to recognize and to accept the reasons that lead to crisis. Otherwise the change is just superficial and will not integrate to the whole. This kind of "transformation" is also usually forgotten in time and the problems return. In some cases individual enters the game where the change becomes the constant state of being - which is not balancing and will eventually rip us powerless.
Death without rebirth
This option usually happens with medicalization. In this case individual sometimes goes through long and painful crisis, a death of self. One even might recognize and reflect on the facts that lead an individual to this kind of state. But realization and awareness of the problems, doesn't automatically mean that individual has the tools to solve the problems by oneself. Our brains and minds are very adaptive and they will eventually - with time of course - come up with some kind of balanced state. But if the process has not been goal-directed, conscious process, it might be that the rebirth of self will go only halfway. This leads to depletion of personal power and to be left drifting in life. The balance is acquired mostly by denial - which makes this state problematic because we do not see the missing parts of our trues selves if we deny the consequences.
Solution?
If the medication is just the missing thing you need in the process to calm your mind, to win time to live with yourself, you should take it. If the course you're taking about the better way of life, offers you the missing bits to your inner process, it's totally worth participating to. The main thing is that the process is total. Pay attention to your body, your brain, your body, your mind, your body and your spirituality. Make sure they're all with you in the process, don't leave anything out. But remember that the brains can lie - body cannot.
Integrated, balanced and accepted self is a good companion for the journey of life. The key is your mind. It is responsible for the transaction of information and energy inside yourself but also between you and the other people. but your mind does not form only inside your brain. Your whole body is the basis of mind. Keep your eyes open for your mind, feed it with awareness and perception your senses offer you. You need this in the process of making your life's choices. And if your decisions are not conscious, you are not the one behind the wheel. You're just the victim of changes.
By listening to yourself, being aware of yourself and the world around you, you make sure that you get all the information and energy your mind needs. But your conscious mind can't handle it all. And it's not supposed to. You also have to have a good connection to your body, because it does most of the work with the subconscious processes as well as with the energy and information processing. You have to make sure that you listen to what your body says.
And I mean literally listen - to understand this as a metaphor, means you've missed the point.
