Wellness
Wellness is the act of practicing healthy habits on a daily basis to attain better physical and mental health outcomes, so that instead of just surviving, you're thriving.
May's Journey - Part One, by May Martinez, 7/10/2024
May Martinez
My world changed dramatically when I discovered that God was speaking to me from within. This first happened when I was sitting on a hillside in Asturias, Spain over-looking a beautiful farm with fig trees and plum trees, with mountains in the background, and with the sound of bells on cows and sheep ringing in the distance. It was such a magical moment when I consulted this inner voice and it confirmed to me that it was God.
My life changed in that moment because I hadn’t believed in God before. I grew up in a household with very loving parents and they didn’t believe in God. My Dad is an atheist and follows science religiously. My Mom leans towards Buddhist and she greatly influenced me by teaching me meditation. But I didn’t grow up learning about God or the Bible. I remember going to University and meeting some friends who were in the Acadia Christian Fellowship. I attended just out of curiosity. I told myself “This doesn’t feel right. There’s a lot of pressure to join the group but if one day Jesus or God reveals themselves to me then maybe I will believe”.
This moment on the hillside was when I first believed in God. Leading up to that moment I had been learning about a group called Followers of the Way from the farmer who I was staying with and helping as a volunteer. He and his friend were teaching me about the Bible and I was very curious. It opened my heart and mind to the possibility that there is a God and the possibility that Jesus Christ exists. So that was the beginning of my journey with knowing God but also a forerunner to my mental health challenges.
Since I believed that this voice from within was God, I wanted to obey that voice. I would receive commands. A lot of the time they were very loving and peaceful types of requests. One time I was guided to do a one-week cleanse where I ate soups and juices and did yoga every morning at the sunrise. I was guided to make tea with certain herbs. I trusted this voice very much. I had many magical, beautiful experiences that confirmed to me that this voice was from God.
I eventually made it back home to Nova Scotia, Canada. At that point I was a devout member of the Followers of the Way. The Followers of the Way believe that the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Koran are the three sacred Holy texts of the Abrahamic lineage. I was studying those texts and we were taught that all of the laws, all of the rules, maybe with a few exceptions, still applied. It was a bit scary for my parents. They did not understand my new belief in God. They did not understand why I was trying to follow these laws so devoutly. For example there was a law or rule about women covering their heads. I started to use a headscarf and covering my hair. Another thing that we were told to do was to call our parents “the body’s parents” to give ourselves separation from our bodies and identify more with the soul. But this was definitely unhealthy.
I had developed a profound trust in this voice that I was listening to and it guided me one time while I was in Nova Scotia to go on a walking pilgrimage. I packed my backpack full of stuff that I would need, including a tent, and I had a walking stick. With just a few days of planning, I set off on this walking pilgrimage. I was staying with my parents at the time and they let me go but they were worried. My first stop was a sacred site on the side of an estuary where God shared many beautiful things with me. I remember seeing a red light streak across the sky. I was given a quest for my soul, a quest for my journey on Earth. I stayed up very late that first night and I started to hear multiple voices that were confusing. I believed that it was a test from God. God wanted me to obey His command and discern which was His true voice.
I went walking towards my friend’s home and ended up camping in her backyard. I was full of joy, I was ecstatic because it was like arriving in paradise. There were phlox in bloom. I set up my tent under a beautiful tree with a low hanging branch that I could sit on and it was by a river. It was a very beautiful scene. But I also remember that reality was starting to look a bit strange. It was starting to become a bit of a time warp. It was partly from the lack of sleep but it was also because I was very close to Spirit, I was very close to God at that time. And I remember singing about God and about the end times and dancing and it started to worry my friend. She called my parents and let them know what was happening. They came to pick me up, they thought that they could convince me to go home. At that point I believed that this was Satan’s influence trying to stop me from doing this walking pilgrimage. I packed up my tent and waded across the river and basically started to run away from my parents. This was the beginning of a very big challenge in my mental health. Eventually I ran through part of the town and the police caught up with me, captured me, and took me to the mental health ward of the hospital. That was my first spiritual awakening or psychosis event.
In the hospital, it was quite shocking and traumatizing. I was forcibly injected, even though I didn’t want to be, with medication to help me with the auditory hallucinations or with the voices I was hearing. I did not want to be in that ward. But after a few days I gradually started to accept being there and I decided that I could make the most of my time there. I got into arts and crafts. I started meeting people who were very kind who were on similar journeys and challenges with their mental health so we could commiserate with one another. The nurses were very friendly which really helped. Slowly I came down from my spiritual climax. I decided that the Followers of the Way was not serving me. I decided that following all those laws was very hard on my mental health. I started calling my parents my parents again. It was the beginning of a kind of healing.
After the three or four weeks that I was in the hospital, I returned home traumatized, lacking confidence, with a new vision of my spiritual beliefs. But still with a deep connection with God and belief that this voice inside is from God. Although I think at that point I started to be a bit more cautious with how much I was believing that voice. I was home for several months. I became somewhat depressed. It could have been partly because of the medication I was on. I remember the turning point in my depression was when my brother suggested that I try out these online exercise videos. I started running around the lawn in my bare feet to get a bit more exercise and to connect with nature. I slowly built back up.
*Look forward to the second part of May's three part chronicle in the coming weeks
My life changed in that moment because I hadn’t believed in God before. I grew up in a household with very loving parents and they didn’t believe in God. My Dad is an atheist and follows science religiously. My Mom leans towards Buddhist and she greatly influenced me by teaching me meditation. But I didn’t grow up learning about God or the Bible. I remember going to University and meeting some friends who were in the Acadia Christian Fellowship. I attended just out of curiosity. I told myself “This doesn’t feel right. There’s a lot of pressure to join the group but if one day Jesus or God reveals themselves to me then maybe I will believe”.
This moment on the hillside was when I first believed in God. Leading up to that moment I had been learning about a group called Followers of the Way from the farmer who I was staying with and helping as a volunteer. He and his friend were teaching me about the Bible and I was very curious. It opened my heart and mind to the possibility that there is a God and the possibility that Jesus Christ exists. So that was the beginning of my journey with knowing God but also a forerunner to my mental health challenges.
Since I believed that this voice from within was God, I wanted to obey that voice. I would receive commands. A lot of the time they were very loving and peaceful types of requests. One time I was guided to do a one-week cleanse where I ate soups and juices and did yoga every morning at the sunrise. I was guided to make tea with certain herbs. I trusted this voice very much. I had many magical, beautiful experiences that confirmed to me that this voice was from God.
I eventually made it back home to Nova Scotia, Canada. At that point I was a devout member of the Followers of the Way. The Followers of the Way believe that the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Koran are the three sacred Holy texts of the Abrahamic lineage. I was studying those texts and we were taught that all of the laws, all of the rules, maybe with a few exceptions, still applied. It was a bit scary for my parents. They did not understand my new belief in God. They did not understand why I was trying to follow these laws so devoutly. For example there was a law or rule about women covering their heads. I started to use a headscarf and covering my hair. Another thing that we were told to do was to call our parents “the body’s parents” to give ourselves separation from our bodies and identify more with the soul. But this was definitely unhealthy.
I had developed a profound trust in this voice that I was listening to and it guided me one time while I was in Nova Scotia to go on a walking pilgrimage. I packed my backpack full of stuff that I would need, including a tent, and I had a walking stick. With just a few days of planning, I set off on this walking pilgrimage. I was staying with my parents at the time and they let me go but they were worried. My first stop was a sacred site on the side of an estuary where God shared many beautiful things with me. I remember seeing a red light streak across the sky. I was given a quest for my soul, a quest for my journey on Earth. I stayed up very late that first night and I started to hear multiple voices that were confusing. I believed that it was a test from God. God wanted me to obey His command and discern which was His true voice.
I went walking towards my friend’s home and ended up camping in her backyard. I was full of joy, I was ecstatic because it was like arriving in paradise. There were phlox in bloom. I set up my tent under a beautiful tree with a low hanging branch that I could sit on and it was by a river. It was a very beautiful scene. But I also remember that reality was starting to look a bit strange. It was starting to become a bit of a time warp. It was partly from the lack of sleep but it was also because I was very close to Spirit, I was very close to God at that time. And I remember singing about God and about the end times and dancing and it started to worry my friend. She called my parents and let them know what was happening. They came to pick me up, they thought that they could convince me to go home. At that point I believed that this was Satan’s influence trying to stop me from doing this walking pilgrimage. I packed up my tent and waded across the river and basically started to run away from my parents. This was the beginning of a very big challenge in my mental health. Eventually I ran through part of the town and the police caught up with me, captured me, and took me to the mental health ward of the hospital. That was my first spiritual awakening or psychosis event.
In the hospital, it was quite shocking and traumatizing. I was forcibly injected, even though I didn’t want to be, with medication to help me with the auditory hallucinations or with the voices I was hearing. I did not want to be in that ward. But after a few days I gradually started to accept being there and I decided that I could make the most of my time there. I got into arts and crafts. I started meeting people who were very kind who were on similar journeys and challenges with their mental health so we could commiserate with one another. The nurses were very friendly which really helped. Slowly I came down from my spiritual climax. I decided that the Followers of the Way was not serving me. I decided that following all those laws was very hard on my mental health. I started calling my parents my parents again. It was the beginning of a kind of healing.
After the three or four weeks that I was in the hospital, I returned home traumatized, lacking confidence, with a new vision of my spiritual beliefs. But still with a deep connection with God and belief that this voice inside is from God. Although I think at that point I started to be a bit more cautious with how much I was believing that voice. I was home for several months. I became somewhat depressed. It could have been partly because of the medication I was on. I remember the turning point in my depression was when my brother suggested that I try out these online exercise videos. I started running around the lawn in my bare feet to get a bit more exercise and to connect with nature. I slowly built back up.
*Look forward to the second part of May's three part chronicle in the coming weeks
