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 ...
Good ideas. Good post. I'm thinking of starting journaling to help myself more with my feelings. I hold so much in sometimes and need to get it out.
I know we can make ourselves ill if we hold things in, I saw it happen with my father. He held his feelings in and worried all the time and of course developed high blood pressure and I'm sure some other problems. It didn't help to find out he worried about me all the time and then he worried about my daughter when she came along.
I think it would have helped him tremendously if he could have gotten it out some how.
Good idea on the journalling Lisa. I also think you're right, it would have helped had your father been able to talk about what he felt, instead of worrying.
I saw the same thing happen to my mother. She used to do exactly the same thing. I am sure she would still be here, if she hadn't emotionally carried so much emotionally.
We have to look after our emotional health. I believe there is a correlation with our health.
I've spent the majority of my life just surviving, so I don't exactly have a lot of experience living.
Most people have a chance to pick up life skills as they grow up, but we skipped over a lot of that straight to acting like adults. My parents didn't seem to deal with life very well so they weren't exactly the greatest role models.
It's just very frustrating at times, when there are certain things in life I should know how to do but don't have a clue! I'm just trying to do the best I can now so that I can finally get around to doing a lot more than just surviving.
Thanks Randy. Yes I know what it's like just to survive too. Until I began to take control of my own life that is exactly what I did.
I still believe though, even with parents who aren't the best of role models we can still change our lives so that we take control for ourselves, begin to look after ourselves whilst changing other things too.
We all know how we're were brought up; we also know how we should have been brought up. I believe we must all try to work on things so that we live the life we want to live. Even with the wrong life skills behind us, we can go on to live with the right life skills, just by changing the things we're not happy with.
As soon as I began to deal with my past and my emotions that were tied up to my past, my life began to change in other areas too.
I think our emotional well-being is a vast un-addressed area of our overall health that is sadly neglected these days. The word 'dis-ease' says it all!
I agree. I think it is not only sadly, but widely neglected. I was lucky enough to be born into a family where health was addressed, but not everyone will have access or understand how to look after themselves.
There is also very little understanding about emotional health and how that plays it's part in disease. The UK government is trying to address nutrition because of obesity, but our emotions are just as important, if not more.
Sorting out any internal battles, means we'll conduct our behaviour better and as you rightly say that will change the way we see our future and world. Things always look a lot more positive, when our mood is positive.
When we grow up around negativity and these have been my own experiences, it's very difficult to see and think positively.
I believe that when our internal unconscious thoughts are in line with our conscious thoughts, all is well on the outside and even if it's not we'll be better equipped to make those things better.
Thanks Tim. Yes, sleep deprivation is the worst. Without sleep it becomes difficult to continue to function normally, both inside and out. I hope that whatever is keeping you awake, is sorted out soon.
Thanks, yes you're absolutely right. It will never work the other way round. When we're happy on the inside, we will always be happy and at peace on the outside.
Unfortunately, I'm not sure people really understand that fact. They don't seem to make the correlation between the two.
Good ideas. Good post. I'm thinking of starting journaling to help myself more with my feelings. I hold so much in sometimes and need to get it out.
I know we can make ourselves ill if we hold things in, I saw it happen with my father. He held his feelings in and worried all the time and of course developed high blood pressure and I'm sure some other problems. It didn't help to find out he worried about me all the time and then he worried about my daughter when she came along.
I think it would have helped him tremendously if he could have gotten it out some how.
Good idea on the journalling Lisa. I also think you're right, it would have helped had your father been able to talk about what he felt, instead of worrying.
I saw the same thing happen to my mother. She used to do exactly the same thing. I am sure she would still be here, if she hadn't emotionally carried so much emotionally.
We have to look after our emotional health. I believe there is a correlation with our health.
I've spent the majority of my life just surviving, so I don't exactly have a lot of experience living.
Most people have a chance to pick up life skills as they grow up, but we skipped over a lot of that straight to acting like adults. My parents didn't seem to deal with life very well so they weren't exactly the greatest role models.
It's just very frustrating at times, when there are certain things in life I should know how to do but don't have a clue! I'm just trying to do the best I can now so that I can finally get around to doing a lot more than just surviving.
Thanks Randy. Yes I know what it's like just to survive too. Until I began to take control of my own life that is exactly what I did.
I still believe though, even with parents who aren't the best of role models we can still change our lives so that we take control for ourselves, begin to look after ourselves whilst changing other things too.
We all know how we're were brought up; we also know how we should have been brought up. I believe we must all try to work on things so that we live the life we want to live. Even with the wrong life skills behind us, we can go on to live with the right life skills, just by changing the things we're not happy with.
As soon as I began to deal with my past and my emotions that were tied up to my past, my life began to change in other areas too.
I know you're more than up to it Randy.
I think our emotional well-being is a vast un-addressed area of our overall health that is sadly neglected these days. The word 'dis-ease' says it all!
I agree. I think it is not only sadly, but widely neglected. I was lucky enough to be born into a family where health was addressed, but not everyone will have access or understand how to look after themselves.
There is also very little understanding about emotional health and how that plays it's part in disease. The UK government is trying to address nutrition because of obesity, but our emotions are just as important, if not more.
Many people struggle with depression and it tends to make you think negative thoughts. Working on oneself and positive thoughts help immensely.
Once your internal battles are overcome, you can envision a brighter future and world.
Thanks Maria. Yes absolutely, I agree.
Sorting out any internal battles, means we'll conduct our behaviour better and as you rightly say that will change the way we see our future and world. Things always look a lot more positive, when our mood is positive.
When we grow up around negativity and these have been my own experiences, it's very difficult to see and think positively.
I believe that when our internal unconscious thoughts are in line with our conscious thoughts, all is well on the outside and even if it's not we'll be better equipped to make those things better.
Boy, do I know this! If I can just sleep like a normal person life would be a lot easier.
Thanks Tim. Yes, sleep deprivation is the worst. Without sleep it becomes difficult to continue to function normally, both inside and out. I hope that whatever is keeping you awake, is sorted out soon.
It's what is inside that counts. Without being happy inside we can't be happy outside; but it doesn't work the other way around.
Thanks, yes you're absolutely right. It will never work the other way round. When we're happy on the inside, we will always be happy and at peace on the outside.
Unfortunately, I'm not sure people really understand that fact. They don't seem to make the correlation between the two.