Sue Tushingham, MS

03/23/2024

Available Resources:

988 is the 3-digit nationwide phone number to connect directly to the Su***de and Crisis Lifeline. By calling or texting 988, you will connect with a mental health professional. The Lifeline provides 24/7 confidential support to people in suicidal crisis or mental health distress. The 988 Lifeline is a nationwide network of more than 200 crisis centers that helps thousands of people overcome crisis situations every day.

There is a Mental Health Support Line that serves all residents of Pennsylvania 24/7 and 365 days per year. The phone number is
1-855-284-2494. When you call, you are connected to a person who provides emotional support and may help you find a counselor in your area.

Silent Unity is a prayer ministry that has been in existence for 130 years. A prayer request can be made to Silent Unity by phoning
1-816-969-2000 from the hours of 5:00am-11:00pm EST. I have given Silent Unity’s information to many clients over the years and have called myself. When calling, the prayer associate listens to your concerns, kindly prays with you, puts your request in a chapel for 30 days where there is continuous prayer, and then leaves you with a helpful affirmation. For more information on this resource, please look up Silent Unity on google.

In Lancaster County there is a Warm Line at 717-945-9976. Residents can call to receive emotional support from a peer who has gone through mental health challenges in their own life and has overcome them in recovery. Lancaster County’s Warm Line is available from 2:00-10:00pm every day.

I hope this information is helpful. Please pass the info along to anyone who made need the help.
I continue to be available for counseling support and am taking new clients.
Best wishes to you on your life's journey and remember to be kind to yourself.

03/07/2023

Touching Our Inner Peace

Our thoughts lead to our feelings and behaviors. Many of our thoughts are unhelpful, habitual, and lead to unpleasant feelings. We need to become more aware of our thoughts.
When we create awareness, we can start to disengage from our thoughts, and make space inside ourselves. We can begin to know that we are not our thoughts. Our truest self is the screen on which our thoughts and feelings manifest. Our truest self is our ‘I am’ presence, an inner peace that is always inside, maybe hidden, but there.. You can learn and teach yourself how to tune in more frequently to the inner peace inside, your ‘I am’ presence. Your mind will judge you, but the ‘I’ will not. You are your truest self when your mind is quiet.

How do we begin to touch on our truest selves?

Breathe deeply. Take deep breaths in through your nose, hold it in your belly for 2-3 seconds, and then breathe out through your mouth. When you breathe like this, your mind is quiet because it is following the breath. This is an ancient spiritual practice.

Look at the sky for 30 seconds to a minute throughout the day. The sky is expansive, open, always there, whether it’s a blue sky or gray and rainy. Looking at the sky can give you an expansive, open feeling, helping you to touch upon your truest, peaceful nature that’s inside you.

Observe nature and spend time in nature. Nature has a peaceful, quiet quality to it. It can be easier for your mind to be quiet when you’re immersed in nature. You can say to yourself, “aware”, and then look around at the sense perceptions, the trees, the birds, the flowers, the leaves, the water, the sunshine, and notice how the sun and light reflect on the trees and water. As you say to yourself, “aware”, just notice what is around you with your senses without the mind interpreting.

Say to yourself “I am". When you say this to yourself, it can quiet your mind. It helps you to tune into the deep “I am” presence within. You are conscious now; you are present. When you say to yourself “I am”, observe what happens inside. I say this frequently to myself. It helps me to remember the ‘real me’ in the present moment, where life is always occurring.

Love and accept yourself right now. Love and accept your past self knowing you did the best you could at the time with the knowledge, understanding and awareness you had. You can learn to love yourself. If you don’t know how to, just be willing to love yourself. When you love and accept your past self and present self, it can quiet the judging mind. The mind will judge you, but the ‘I’ will not. Your soul loves you unconditionally and without conditions.

09/15/2021

This is a list of coping strategies I wrote. Hope it helps you on your path.

COPING STRATEGIES
1. Take a daily vacation for 15-30 minutes each day. This is a time you spend doing something you really enjoy. Time for yourself.

2. Golden Key- every time you think about something you don’t want to think about, you turn your attention to your Higher Power.

3. Positive Mental Image- every time you think about something you don’t want to, shift to a positive mental image in your mind. This could be a scene in nature or a beloved pet, etc.

4. When you are thinking a thought you don’t want to think, acknowledge the thought and go beyond it. Say to the thought, “Thank you for sharing, thought, I now choose to think differently.” You could also say to yourself, “I release the need to scare myself. I choose to live freely from this moment on.”

5. Become aware and surrender to your situation. “I let go and accept what is”. You may not like the present moment, but when you accept it, you create space & calm and can move ahead with a more peaceful presence.

6. Choose to be around supportive people; people who lift you up and don’t drag you down. If you have to be around people who are challenging, limit your time with them.

7. Take a “time-out” if you are really angry with someone. Wait until you are calmer to engage in a discussion with them. If you talk with someone and you are really angry, you will just get into a power struggle with them. Walk away and even schedule a time with them later to sit down and have a heart-to-heart talk.

8. Engage in Relaxation Techniques: gratitude exercises, journaling, yoga, deep breathing, relaxation visualization, or listen to guided meditations.

9. Spend time in nature. Take a walk or sit on a park bench. Bundle up if it’s cold, but attempt to get outside. Nature is alive, expansive, and peaceful and can bring you a greater sense of peace and help you tap into the peace that is inside you.

10. Change your self-talk. Use positive, present tense affirmations. Helpful affirmations:
 Today I love and approve of myself. I trust the process of life. I am safe.
 Today loving myself and others gets easier.
 Today I help to create a world where it is safe to love each other.
 Today I choose thoughts that support and nourish me.
 Today I am secure with being myself in all situations.
 Today I am willing to let go of all negative beliefs and allow my own deeper wisdom to reveal itself to me.
 All is well in my loving world.

11. Look at mistakes as learning opportunities and don’t shame yourself. You need your own help and support to live your life. Help yourself to figure out where you will do it differently next time.

12. Let go of self-criticism. Forgive and accept your past self. Love and approve of yourself as you are right now. You are good enough as who you are.

13. Listen to your gut/your inner voice. When you can listen to and follow your inner voice, your life will go easier and more smoothly.

14. Be gentle and kind to yourself. Stop using the word “should”, and say “thank you” to compliments you receive.

15. Look to nature to see Divine Order. Every day the sun rises and sets; every 28 days the moon goes through its phases; every 13 hours the waves go through their high and low tide cycles. The leaves know when to fall and when to bloom in the spring. The birds know exactly where to fly for the winter. There is an order and rhythm to nature and humans are not controlling it. Humans, however, are a part of nature, and so there is a rhythm and Divine Order to our lives too.

16. Let’s stay away from “if onlys” and “what ifs”. When we are thinking “if only that would not have happened" or "if this would have happened…”, we are regretting the past and not being in the present moment. When we are thinking ”what if this happens…”, we are scaring ourselves about the future. Again, we are not staying in the present moment, which is all there ever really is. The past and the future are really just concepts in our minds. They are not reality. All that is ever real is the current moment, the Present Moment. Anything else is imagination. And many, many people are in the habit of mentally projecting into the past or the future and then creating havoc in their minds and bodies. So, let’s stay in the present moment because that is where life truly is.

17. Take it to the body. One way to quiet the mind is to go within the body. You can do this by taking some deep breaths in through your nose, and out through your mouth. The breath is powerful in grounding us in the present moment.

Sue Tushingham

03/04/2021

I wrote this short article called Cultivating Faith. I write about looking to nature to see Divine Order, and about the importance of practicing self-compassion.

Hope you find it helpful. :)

Cultivating Faith

During challenging times, loss of faith and discouragement often occurs. When it’s black, bleak, and difficult to understand what’s going on in life, keep faith. This can be faith in a Divine Presence, and/or faith in Divine Order.

Look to nature to see Divine Order. Everyday on this planet the sun rises and sets. Every 28 days the moon goes through its phases. Everyday the waves go through their high and low tides. The trees shed their leaves in autumn and bloom each spring. The birds instinctively know where to fly for winter and summer. There is an order and rhythm to nature and humans are not controlling it. Humans are a part of nature though, so there is an order and rhythm to our lives too, even during an emotional storm when the way is unclear.

When people go through down times, it often leads to good, growth, and more fulfilling ways of living. Remember to be gentle and kind toward yourself, especially during challenging times. Supporting yourself is so important, as learning and change occur. Love and approve of yourself and let go of self-criticism. Criticism breaks down the spirit, but praise and self-approval build it up. You have power over what you think of yourself, whom you choose to hang around with, and how you treat yourself.

Reach out for help. It is a sign of strength to say you need help. It shows willingness to grow, change, and become more of your true self.

02/18/2021

02/14/2021

Good morning,

Please check out the article I wrote on Practicing Self-Care, which is always important, but especially during covid. :)

We are living in very different times right now, still finding a new normal. There is much global, collective and individual anxiety. One important question is - how do we care for ourselves and our families both physically and emotionally? The importance of practicing self-care and finding ways to....