Ilana Estelle is a mental health and wellbeing advocate who combines educational insight with her personal experience of living with physical, mental, and emotional disabilities.
She holds diplomas in Counselling, Diet and Nutrition, Nutritional Therapy, Psychotherapy and Counselling, and Stress Management. Through her writing, Ilana supports others in navigating their emotional, mental, and physical health challenges.
In addition to writing for The CP Diary, her work has appeared in healthy lifestyle magazines.
Ilana is also the author of three books: Cerebral Palsy: A Story – Finding the Calm After the Storm, Spirituality, Healing and Me, and Survival: The Covid Years – Time for Change.
Something inspirational: “Think wrongly, if you please, but in all cases think for yourself.” DORIS LESSING Thinking for yourself means more than having your own opinions. It means owning your words, your choices, and ...
Something inspirational: "We are not what happened to us. We are what we choose to become.” JAMES HOLLIS "I am drawn to James Hollis's words: 'We are not what happened to us. We are what we choose ...
Something inspirational: "Healing begins when we can hold our own experience with compassion." TARA BRACH Brach's quote reminds us that healing begins when we meet our pain with kindness instead of judgement ...
I have been without a lot of the things I have wanted in my life and I have to say happiness wasn't the feeling I would use to describe it.
Of course I haven't ever really been happy, so I wouldn't know what that was like. For me it has always been more a case of 'you always want what you can't have,'in so many parts of my life.
I have had such a hard time even focusing on the things that I need, let alone anything that I may want! I'm having to work with the foreign concept that it is okay for me to focus on what I want, rather than what everyone else wants from me.
I NEED to break the chains that bind me, so I can actually have a chance to experience that thing called happiness!
Thanks Randy. Yes, the irony is the less we have in the longer term the happier we will be, but we must try not to mix that up with a traumatic childhood.
Unfortunately when we come to struggle with any kind of trauma, we will always look at our lives through those times, instead of seeing our trauma and happiness separately.
I believe this quote is true. It stands to reason that the less we have in our lives the happier we will be, once our issues have been dealt with. They have researched exactly this.
Thanks Tim. I agree, but can't help but think it's a human failing.
We tend to think 'things' will bring us the most happiness, but 'things' will always give us the least, if we continue to invest in them.
When we fail to deal with and control our emotions and begin to replace our emotions with 'things' I feel our lives may end with watery eyes and running mascara.
We really must begin to change the way we think about and do things.
I often look at my cat. She wants nothing and has only what she needs; food, shelter and love. As a race we can learn much from our pets and the animal world in general.
I have been without a lot of the things I have wanted in my life and I have to say happiness wasn't the feeling I would use to describe it.
Of course I haven't ever really been happy, so I wouldn't know what that was like. For me it has always been more a case of 'you always want what you can't have,'in so many parts of my life.
I have had such a hard time even focusing on the things that I need, let alone anything that I may want! I'm having to work with the foreign concept that it is okay for me to focus on what I want, rather than what everyone else wants from me.
I NEED to break the chains that bind me, so I can actually have a chance to experience that thing called happiness!
Thanks Randy. Yes, the irony is the less we have in the longer term the happier we will be, but we must try not to mix that up with a traumatic childhood.
Unfortunately when we come to struggle with any kind of trauma, we will always look at our lives through those times, instead of seeing our trauma and happiness separately.
I believe this quote is true. It stands to reason that the less we have in our lives the happier we will be, once our issues have been dealt with. They have researched exactly this.
We could be the only creatures that prefer things over being.
Maybe that's why our lives end with watery eyes and running mascara way too often.
Thanks Tim. I agree, but can't help but think it's a human failing.
We tend to think 'things' will bring us the most happiness, but 'things' will always give us the least, if we continue to invest in them.
When we fail to deal with and control our emotions and begin to replace our emotions with 'things' I feel our lives may end with watery eyes and running mascara.
We really must begin to change the way we think about and do things.
Nice reply Tim.
I often look at my cat. She wants nothing and has only what she needs; food, shelter and love. As a race we can learn much from our pets and the animal world in general.
Thanks, yes I agree with both you and Tim. Shame on us that we take our lead from our pets.
We should know to do it ourselves first. That's the problem, we don't.