Naomi Judd passed away yesterday and her daughter, Ashley Judd released the following statement -
"Today we sisters experienced a tragedy. We lost our beautiful mother to the disease of mental illness. We are shattered. We are navigating profound grief and know that as we loved her, she was loved by her public. We are in unknown territory."
My heart immediately went out to Naomi's family, but also to Naomi herself and what she must have had to endure in this life.
It's heartbreaking.
I did some reading about her life and read that she had experienced some painful trauma in addition to the mental illness.
It made me think about a video I had seen earlier this week that had a couple of well-known, HIGHLY-REGARDED influencers talking about the law of attraction and how if you aren't getting what you want in life, then there is a "manifestation mishap" happening. In other words, if you are suffering, then you are doing something "wrong."
Wow. Just wow.
I guess they would say that Naomi Judd's life was a series of "manifestation mishaps."
How absolutely abhorrent.
How cruel and ignorant.
How completely unaware and self-centered to say such things.
I wonder what Namoi Judd's daughters would think of this idea.
Her death is just one example of how life is not always easy for people. Not everyone is dealt the cards that allow them to ease suffering through "good vibes" and a few calculated manifestation "steps." I imagine Naomi must have done everything she possibly could have to break free from her own torment.
It's absolutely appalling to me that our culture is still not only spreading this stuff, but celebrating it.
I'm sure there are PLENTY of mental work-arounds here for people who believe in the law of attraction and want to explain away tragedies such as these, but I would like to call out the absolute horrendous victim-blaming that is occurring with this belief system as a basis for thinking and interacting with the world.
I found this article by Cheryl M. Bradshaw, whom I don't know but just appreciate and admire. She is a licensed psychotherapist who is actually IN THE ARENA WITH MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF REAL PEOPLE WHO ARE NAVIGATING REAL LIVES. In other words, she has a lot of experience working with humans with a very broad perspective on things. She is not trying to sell you a simplified answer to the complexities of life. I believe her words are worth considering, even if you are a believer in the law of attraction.
I hope that one day our society can get past this unhealthy obsession with the "get anything you want in life" kind of thinking and focus more on the proven principles found in frameworks like CBT and ACT. I don't even care if you want to add in a dash of prayer for good measure, but let's stop thinking we can get whatever we want if we just "vibrate" correctly. It's not fair to ourselves and it's not fair to others.
According to the wise words of my best friend,
"you'd think it would debunk itself."
And to that I would say that I think it has. People just refuse to see it.
Lots of love,
As a side note, I want to be clear AGAIN that I am not saying there is no such thing as God or miracles or that a positive, healthy mindset isn't helpful. I'm just saying that I can't get behind a belief system that blames victims for their suffering. I just can't. I'll choose CBT and ACT any day of the week.
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