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Mental Illness vs. Circumstance

The difference between mental illness and circumstance is a line that is often blurry to most people. Some believe there is a correlation between the creativity and drive of entrepreneurs and mental illness. The extent of this link is up for debate, but in order to help entrepreneurs thrive and divert them from depression, life and business coach James Arthur Ray would like to discuss the difference between true mental illness, what he calls our Magnificent Obsession, and merely our human response to adverse situations.

The mental illness crisis is running rampant in our country at the moment. Suicide rate is at an all-time high with one person committing suicide every 16 minutes in the United States. Suicide is the third-leading cause of death for 15 to 24-year-olds and second for 24 to 35-year-olds. According to World Health Organization, approximately one million people commit suicide every year worldwide. That’s about one death every 40 seconds or 3,000 per day. And for every individual who takes his/her own life, at least 20 people attempt and fail.

James Arthur Ray urges high-profiles, creatives, and entrepreneurs to be self-aware when it comes to mental illness and use that awareness as a tool for self-improvement instead of impairment.

“Depression is a common experience, particularly in entrepreneurs, creatives and true leaders. It’s the opposite of expression; and it’s human to feel it. It’s not ‘bad’ or ‘wrong.’ Only a signal.”

James Arthur Ray continued, “The true leader learns to take depression as a biofeedback mechanism that something is waiting to be expressed; and then finds that something, versus allowing depression to pull him down the drain. Feel the depression and allow it to fuel the new expression waiting to emerge.”

According to James Arthur Ray:

*There’s a vast difference between mental illness and the shared human response to challenging circumstances with which we are forced to deal with in life and business.

*For a long time, a stigma surrounding mental illness prevented many people from admitting that they were suffering from its effects. But that stigma is beginning to give way to a more honest and understanding view on the matter.

*Mental illness can be biological and require medical attention, but many times it is mistaken for circumstance. More often, it’s the outcome of faulty expectations and al severe lack of meaning. If feelings of anxiety or depression are relatively new to you and come out of the blue, there’s a good chance that what you’re feeling is circumstantial, expectations that need to be realigned in this “market of comparison and competition”, or a lack of clarity of purpose and meaning.

“We don’t so much have an economic crisis, environmental crises, energy crises, or crises of terrorism—we much more so have a crisis of meaning.”

James Arthur Ray uses his own life and professional experience, extensive study of behavioral sciences, and tireless quest for spiritual knowledge to coach some elite, ultimate-performing entrepreneurs in all areas of life so that they can build personal and professional resiliency, mental toughness and emotional strength. He has dedicated his life to helping influential individuals build the personal resilience to survive the obstacles life will inevitably throw at them.

James Arthur Ray is considered one of the world’s foremost leadership and performance advisors and he is also a New York Times best-selling author. He has inspired and educated over a million people from 145 different countries across the world through his keynote speeches, events, and retreats. He has had success working with individuals from a variety of industries, and as a result, he has been featured on national media outlets such as Fortune Magazine, People Magazine, Huffington Post, Larry King Live, Piers Morgan, the Today Show, CNN and Oprah.

 

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