In this guest episode with Eliana Regina from the UK, we unbox the mental health crisis affecting millions of people across the globe. Brazilian by birth, Eliana is a former school counsellor who left the profession to become a self-awareness and emotional literacy author/mentor. Eliana gives her take on the root cause of the mental health crisis, specifically youth depression and the topic that society has made taboo for a long time – suicide. We discuss our experiences and the limitations of conventional therapy methods in addressing these problems. Lastly, Eliana offers a possible solution with The Living Flower metaphor that she developed. Though deemed a controversial idea, it might hold the key to a renewed understanding of where our true selves lie – in the centre of the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual.
Xin Lei: Hello everyone, welcome to an episode of the Unbox Your Life podcast. Today we have a very special guest episode with someone from Wales, the UK. Her name is Eliana Regina and she is a self-awareness and emotional literacy author, mentor. So Eliana Regina, she’s from Brazil but she moved to the Wales after her marriage with her husband who took his own life due to his experiences with depression. Eliana and I will be talking about our experiences with mental health and what we can do when faced with emotional struggles, including suicidal thoughts and ideation, which seems to have become quite an epidemic nowadays. This episode is a very, very important one. Also, we’re going to do a serious deep dive into it. Eliana is someone whom I have a lot of respect for. She has a lot of expertise in this area, and she draws a lot from her lived experiences to do what she’s doing now. Hi Eliana, thank you for being on my podcast. Can you give a summary of what you currently do to our audience here?
Eliana: Absolutely. Thank you. First of all, thank you so much for taking the leap and showing up and having this serious conversation. It’s a sensitive, serious, meaningful, and really important conversation that we must have at this time when we’re facing so much struggle all over the world. It doesn’t matter where you are these days. Humanity is suffering, and it’s an important conversation. So thank you very much. I’ll give you a short version of my background. This is my third career. I was trained to become a linguist, so my first career was in linguistic translation interpreting, and I used to teach English back in Brazil, and then I taught Portuguese. Then I had a major breakdown. really. My husband took his own life, as you mentioned. The reason why I came to Wales was because I got married to my Welsh prince, and life took me here, kept me here. After my serious breakdown, I decided to become a counsellor. So I trained to become a counsellor. I worked as a school-based counsellor for a few years and a private practitioner, and I started creating content. Had a bit of a burnout in the industry and now I feel as if I’m stepping into my life’s purpose.
I published a book called Divine Soul, Sacred Body: From Suicide to Sovereignty, which gives context, sharing my personal experiences that also led me to struggle with depression. and suicidal thoughts until I decided no, that is not how we can solve this problem. Because you know, at the end of the day, the only way out is the way through. You know, if you think of a tunnel, if you’re in a tunnel, you can’t dig a hole in the ground hoping to find the exit, you know? So we have to go through everything. All the experiences that we go through in life, it’s important for us to deal with every single aspect of the emotional state that those experiences cause. So now I am stepping into my purpose. I feel I’m fulfilling my mission. I’ve always been driven, asking myself questions about Who am I? What am I doing here? And what is all this about? I’ve always been philosophical about serious, deep questions about me as a human and what I’m doing here. It can’t just be, a struggle, but it seems like humanity is and has been facing a lot of struggles for a very long time now. My aim is to raise self-awareness and provide emotional literacy tools and information for people who are ready to take responsibility over their own healing because no one can do it for you.
Xin Lei: True, true.
Eliana: I’m sorry to point the obvious, but no one can do it for you. We have to take personal responsibility, and it’s a long journey. So yeah, let’s dive straight in. And I am looking forward to answering your questions and engaging with your audience because young people really need more guidance, more tools, and the correct, relevant, and empowering information so that they can discern for themselves what’s best for them.
Xin Lei: Thank you so much, Eliana. I believe you have a lot to offer, to inform people who may need the information. And I believe there are so many of people out there, young adults like myself, who need this information. Based on my experience, I just wish someone could provide me with the information. So that’s why we are here today, and thank you for your courage and passion about this work.
Eliana: You know, it’s bigger than me. It’s not about me, you know. This work is bigger than my life. When we find a purpose and a mission, that becomes your sole focus. It’s not about my life. It’s not about me. Obviously, I’m a human being, and I’m here to experience this life, but unless I’m doing what I came here to do, it makes no sense to me. It has no meaning to just come here and be another number or just have a life that is dictated by external circumstances.
Xin Lei: Yes, it has to be for something bigger than ourselves.
Eliana: Absolutely.
7:48
Xin Lei: Okay, so in today’s episode specifically, we are diving into the mental health crisis. Mental health is a very big topic. Let’s dive straight in. What do you think is the root cause of such a global mental health crisis? Why do you think it’s gotten so bad and that people are so desperate that they’re willing to take their own lives?
Eliana: Wow. Yeah, let’s hit the ground running here. This is a big one, isn’t it? It’s a big question. It’s an important question. I would just like to rephrase it, actually, and focus on Yes, we are presented with all these illnesses and suffering, and traumas and depression. In my own personal experience, losing my husband to suicide made me realise that what actually killed him. So I’m going to give you and your audience a short answer and then we can elaborate a little bit. Basically, what I feel, what I believe, is behind and the root cause of such a global crisis — it’s not just mental, it’s mental, emotional, spiritual that leads to physical, all in one, it needs to be holistic, is the lack of self-awareness and the lack of emotional literacy. That is the short answer. Because at the end of the day, it’s about awareness. Everything, awareness is everything, and awareness relates to information, knowledge. So, self-awareness is about having, tapping into the awareness, the consciousness that we develop based on our cultural background, educational, all the societal systems, everything that is presented to us as we grow up, that we consume. Then we become who we become based on what’s around us. But I believe that we also come upon this human sacred body with a certain consciousness level. So there is this combination with the inner and the outer, nature and nurture. So it’s important for us to learn discernment.
So to answer your question, really, what’s the root cause is the lack of self-awareness and emotional literacy. Because at the end of the day, if people learn who and what they truly are, they are more empowered to make good decisions. And it’s a personal choice. It’s a personal responsibility to make personal choices. However, young people, children are highly influenced. So if they are not given the relevant information for them to develop in a way that they can deal with their emotions, they are given tools, they have role models, they have integrity, they learn integrity. Learning to be truthful is key. But unfortunately, we’re not here to blame but we have to point the obvious, because if we look around us, what we have been fed from institutions and entertainment and TV is turning us into what we see. And we can’t blame young people but at the same time, it’s important for us, people like you and I and other people who are doing great work, to bring this conversation out in the open and share the information for those who are ready to receive.
Xin Lei: Yeah, so as much as I believe we still have our free will and free will is kind of like the highest, but it is still very much a fact that we are a product of our environment especially if you are young and you are not empowered to make your own judgments, so you’re just programmed by what’s around you.
Eliana: Yes, yes.
Xin Lei: Like you’re very susceptible. Yeah, and then a lot of these programming and cultural conditioning, unfortunately is just quite disempowering for the individual. And so I think it can be said that it is a lack of awareness, and the manifestation of this is the mental health problems that we see today. We see in the news that the mental health crisis is affecting a lot of people globally.
14:04
And I think there’s so many mental health issues, but let’s kind of narrow down and talk about a more specific one. One of the most prevalent issues: Depression. Clinical depression, this is something I see very prevalent in my age group like myself included struggled with this issue. So I’d like to get your thoughts on depression. What is depression in your professional view? And I know you have also struggled with it as well. Can you tell us about your own experiences and how you managed to break free from it?
Eliana: Yeah, thank you. Yeah, important question. So again, I will give you the short version. In a nutshell, depression is the lack of self-expression because when someone is unable to express what they’re feeling, to express what they need, to express their wants, to be able to ask for help, then they start suppressing. And in the systems around us, it seems, well, it’s evident. Let’s be honest, let’s call a spade a spade. We are encouraged to suppress. There are many, many ways this has been done, through education, through many many ways. So if we suppress our feelings, we suppress our experiences. What causes us to feel emotions is the experience that we go through. And if you’re not able to reflect, and process, and feel those emotions so that they flow, because emotions are energy in motion, they are not supposed to be stuck in our physical body, our emotional, mental, spiritual body. If they’re not processed and felt, dealt with, then that’s where the problem starts. So if you’re not expressing, that’s what causes us to feel depressed. And that can manifest in many different ways, in many different degrees, to a level that a person is so lost in their suffering, they will resort to something like suicide, which is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. You can’t, there is no turning back. If you take your own life, that’s it. But you know, there are other dangers about it that I speak of in my book, that will be a different conversation. We’re not going to have time to touch on that.
But essentially, depression is the lack of self-expression. It’s important that a person asking for help is a sign of strength. And we, unfortunately, especially in some cultures, I’ve been fortunate enough to be brought up in a culture with the Italian-Latin kind of blood in Brazil that there was no fear about expressing our emotions. I felt safe to express my emotions. So, in that respect, I’m very blessed, and I was very lucky to be brought up in that way. And, you know, to show affection, but at the same time to be able to express my sadness when I felt sad. So that is key. And that’s in a nutshell what depression is. I never really knew much about depression until I came to this country, until my husband took his own life, until I started having my cycles of depression. And I had a lot of resilience within me. And every time I dug myself out, it wasn’t permanent. It wasn’t something that I could just heal because things kept happening. So it is not a one shot deal. Because the thing about depression is it can either lead you to destruction or it can lead you to sovereignty. And that’s what I talk about in my book: really being able to resolve your issues, take personal responsibility and look for help. We’re not saying do it on your own. I did a lot of it on my own, but I’ve learned a lot. And I would like to think that I have a lot of tools and inspiring information to empower people, especially young people, to be able to discern and deal with our issues. Because at the end of the day, we are not our stories. What really matters is what we deal with, what happens to us, not really what happens. And that is a very fine line because, unfortunately, a lot of us get stuck into this, the traumas and the dramas and the experiences itself rather than being able to discern and look a different perspective. Because once you raise your self-awareness, you will realise that your story, your experiences., we’re so much more than that.
Xin Lei: Yes, I like your expression that depression is the lack of expression.
Eliana: Yeah, it is. I think for young people, if they are told that depression is the lack of self-expression, that is thought provoking. They, oh wait a minute, so does that mean once I start expressing, I mean, it needs to be done in a safe way. You can’t just express your feelings with people that you can’t trust. So it needs to be with a professional or a member of your family, a friend that you really trust. And you can do it once you’re given tools. It’s important for us to learn tools and mechanisms to self-soothe and to self-govern so you can do journaling, you can.. but then again, it’s information and learning the relevant important skills and information that leads to empowering.
Xin Lei: Yeah, from that point of view, that sounds like that is the way to tackle it. I just like to add on, you know, when you were speaking about the cultural aspect of it. I think when I look upon my own experience, I can now understand why I was stuck in a state of depression because in the culture that I grew up under, it doesn’t encourage expression of emotions. This governs the social relationship between people as well. Like for example, how parents show their love for children, it’s not through emotions but more rituals, like they do things for you. So, emotions are not a big part of the culture that I grew up in. And because of this, I think it led to this very emotionally stifled state of being for many people growing up. And then it’s kind of like a circle, it perpetuates. Because if you don’t know how to deal with your emotions, then you won’t teach your children.
Eliana: Exactly. We can’t blame our parents. We can’t. You know, they would do better if they knew better. If they had the tools, they would have passed it on to us. We depend on our elders as young children and young people to give us the foundation. If you don’t have the foundation, then you’re more susceptible to fall, to stumble.
Xin Lei: Yeah. So I used to kind of resent my parents for this, but then as I grew older, now I see that this is a generational thing, it’s a cultural thing, and it happens, yes, in some cultures this is kind of a bit more tricky when it comes to expression of emotions. And so, yeah, I’m still learning.
Eliana: Okay, well, first of all, let me acknowledge you for your discernment, for you to realise that wait a minute, I can’t blame my parents because if they knew, they would have given it to me. So well done for recognising that. That’s important. And we can all do that because again, sometimes it’s just like one little thought-provoking idea that people will just switch and say oh wait a minute, because for us to live in blame, it perpetuates the suffering anyway. So it’s important for us to disentangle ourselves from that.
24:50
Xin Lei: Exactly. Yeah, so you mentioned you went through depression, and I’m assuming at that time you did not have the knowledge you know as you do now, and so you probably had to look for help with that. Did you seek counselling?
Eliana: Yes, I did. Well, my initial course of action was to go and see a doctor because, you know, I was at the verge of suicide. I was struggling with suicidal thoughts, and fortunately, my five-year-old saved me because as I was pleading for God or whoever that is, whatever force that is, to kind of take me because I just couldn’t cope anymore. My son called my name and I was immediately jolted out of that state of mind and said, wait a minute, I can’t do that. How am I even thinking, contemplating that kind of thought? So my first course of action was to go and see a doctor. Unfortunately, there was no compassion. and to cut the long story too much on it but the response was, here is a prescription for Prozac. And I looked at it, walked away, and I have to be honest with you, I have never been to a doctor’s office ever since. That’s like over 30 years, well, 25 years. I don’t take any medication, don’t seek medical help because I realised that the pharmaceutical industries, it wasn’t the route for me.
So then, okay, what else can I do? I thought, okay, counselling was kind of starting really. Because to this day I think there’s still a lot of stigma attached to counselling because people think that if you go to a counsellor you know you’re not coping well of course. You know if you need help, it’s like people still think you know you should be able to stiff up your lip and deal with it. It’s like no, I need a space to talk. So that was important. So I made the most because remember I’m now here in Wales, away from my background, away from my culture, away from sunshine, away from my family, away from everything I knew that was familiar and dear to me and supportive, and I have no network. I have no help, really. So I went to see a counsellor and decided to then become a counsellor. So I did a degree in counselling, but what I realised, although it was a boost, it took me back to my centre, it took me back to my ability to deal with my day-to-day routine and look after myself and look after my son, what I realised was that I needed more than that. Counselling, in and of itself, wasn’t enough.
So I started looking for alternative ways, energy work, and I started developing my spirituality, my sense of connection to something intelligent, powerful, and beautiful. And that’s still my journey. It never ends because this journey is never-ending, really. It’s the path of self-awareness and personal development and what in the counselling world is known as self-actualisation, self-realisation, first coined by Maslow, but it’s more how Rogers came up with this terminology of self-actualisation. He said that we are born with this inner drive to evolve, to expand, to develop and grow as an individual. So, I started giving more attention to that, and that’s an inner journey. So, counselling had its place because it was where I could verbalise and self-express and be heard, because the important thing about us self-expressing is to feel heard and held and seen by someone else. You know, that’s an important element.
But then I started developing more of my spirituality and I realised that as a counsellor myself, I wanted to do more, to give more, but I was limited. Especially as a school-based counsellor, I found my experience frustrating because I wanted to do more. But the schools I was working with, and the organisation I was working under, and the association that I had to abide by, they wouldn’t really give me this free-range way to be holistic and educate the young people in a different way, in a holistic way. So I had a burnout. The first book I published when I was working as a school-based counsellor, A Book About Us for young people, especially the children transitioning from primary school to secondary school. I created workshops, but the schools weren’t interested. So, it was really tough. It was challenging to work as a school-based counsellor within a toxic, rigid environment.
So that became, for me, more apparent that counselling wasn’t as empowering as I thought it should be. I mean, I’m not here to criticise the industry, just here to share my own professional experiences. So hence, I don’t practice as a counsellor anymore because it goes against my beliefs, because I really believe it’s not empowering enough. So I need to do more than that. So, I became a mentor instead and teacher. With my writing, my intention is to reach people across the globe by reading my books and taking my courses and working with me. And I’d love to touch on a little program I created for young people in particular. We can talk about that in the end. But basically, my counselling journey has come to an end in terms of me practicing as a counsellor. But of course, I use a lot of my skills. It’s all transferable. So I’ve transferred all my knowledge and developed even more through creating content.
Xin Lei: Well, I’m actually really inspired by the evolution of your journey.
Eliana: It’s been very bumpy. I know you read my book so you know it’s been a roller coaster. It’s been really challenging. But when I look back, I would go through everything all over again because I became the person who I am today because of my based on my experiences and how I dealt with the experiences, knowing that there’s so much more still to come and to grow and develop. Because, like I said, the journey to self-actualisation is never-ending. How about you? Tell me a little bit about your experiences going through depression and your own counselling experiences. How was that for you? I’m very curious.
Xin Lei: It was so difficult. When I was 12 or 13 years old, that was when I realised that something was wrong. I kept feeling very down, like I lost interest in what I used to be interested in, and then I was having thoughts of dying. And back then, I was too young to even know depression or something, but I just knew something was wrong, like I can’t be like that all the time. And I tried to voice it out to my parents, like my mom, but they didn’t understand depression. I think their generation is like they don’t really understand mental illness, and they have a lot of stigma against it. But yeah, like they back then, they really had no concept about what depression is. So, they didn’t even suspect that I could be suffering from depression. But I knew something was wrong, and I tried to ask for help. But it’s really, really tough to ask for help that you don’t even know what the help is. I think I said something like, can I go to a doctor or something? And my mom was like, no, I have no money for you to go to a doctor. And then I tried opening up to my friends, but you know, like young people at 13 years old, what would they know about these kinds of issues, right?
Eliana: They don’t.
Xin Lei: So I felt all alone, but I knew I had to keep trying. So I just kept trying. I think my journey with mental health is just like, I just kept trying whatever I could. So I think went to a teacher, and then like teacher led me to the counsellor. And I thought like okay maybe the counsellor can help me. I had a glimmer of hope. But yeah like I soon realised after a few sessions with the counsellor that she’s not able to help me because I mentioned to her the problems, but I don’t know for some reason like she’s just not really getting to the root of the problem and like kind of assumed that I’m facing stress from other issues like my studies instead. And that has been my realisation of school counselors in general. Like they seem to focus more on your stress from studies because the education system in my country is very stressful and stress is a very, very huge problem. So they just kind of assume that if you’re depressed, it’s coming from stress of schoolwork. I subsequently had more experiences with counsellors in uni because this became a recurring problem. It was never solved.
So I was kind of depressed throughout my whole adolescence, but I was just suppressing it and dealing with it, trying to get through it. Like I had several suicidal thoughts. Thankfully, I didn’t act on it because I had this hope, I held on to hope that I can find a solution. But each time I went to counsellors, even in uni, I had a breakdown and I went to a counsellor, they were just addressing superficial things like how to manage your symptoms and stuff. And then I feel that to some part, they’re kind of inauthentic, because there were things I felt they were like not able to do under their professional limitations. I needed a human to listen to me, but the human element was kind of missing. So I knew that it was not enough. Like it was good that there’s someone to talk to, but even so, it’s a bit depressing the fact that I had to go to a room to talk to someone instead of having friends or a network of people around me whom I can talk to, like the fact itself is kind of depressing. So I knew there was something kind of deeply wrong with the way our culture or the whole system looks at mental health. Yeah.
And like you, I actually went to a psychiatrist. That was when I was like at a very, very low stage. Like, in uni, I had this breakdown and I was just struggling to even get through the semester. I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t wake up at all to even do my work. And I went to the psychiatrist as a last resort because I don’t really want to approach it from medication, you know. And what threw me off was that the psychiatrist was like, yeah, so uncompassionate, totally lack compassion. Like, I cried in front of her because she asked me to tell her what’s wrong. But how do I even start to tell you what’s wrong in my whole life? Right? Like then I started crying. Then she was saying like, oh don’t cry, I have no time, like quickly tell me your problem, otherwise I can’t help you. And I feel like I’m just one of the many patients in her list. Like my life, my humanity was disregarded.
Eliana: It’s just a numbers game, isn’t it?
Xin Lei: Yeah, yeah. And that really kind of showed me the ugly reality of our society. Like just trying to keep people functioning and keep up with the efficiency. I felt like I was a robot. She was just asking me each time I visit her like, oh, how do you feel? Do you feel better? Do you feel more energy? Can you function? Then I felt like I was a robot being sent to servicing. And I felt so dehumanised. And I think that is a big part of why I took up this journey that I’m on, because I was completely disillusioned with the way things work. Um, so yeah, I visited psychiatrists, psychotherapists and counsellors. My conclusion is that these are not enough. Yeah, so I kind of also embarked on a, I took up personal responsibility to dive into alternate solutions. I did my own studies and I’m taking experiments in my life to do things that I’m not “supposed” to. But yeah, I can see that there are obvious limitations in the conventional solutions that society assumes that if you go seek these solutions, then you’ll be fine. But that’s not how it is, and the very idea that you need to be fixed by this thing, it’s kind of what’s wrong right? Like I think the pain that we’re facing it’s like something crying out for our attention to look at something deeper, not something to be taken away to be fixed so that we can continue to be productive citizens or something.
Eliana: Yeah, that’s true. So, well, I’m sorry. I’m sorry you had to go through that. I’m sorry about your experiences. But on the other hand, well done for coming to the realisation and taking personal responsibility, which is key. You know, it is key because it is by taking personal responsibility that you can make the decisions that suit you. We are unique individuals. Not everything is going to work the same way for everybody. And you know my experience going to see the doctor, I was pouring my heart out and then the phone went and the man, he decided to answer the phone whilst I was in tears and I’m thinking, wow, what has just happened here? And then he put the phone down, writes me a prescription here, you know, if you’re don’t feel better in six months, come back to see me. I’m thinking, I don’t think so. This is not how I’m going to heal myself. So it’s very robotic, it’s very clinical in how we can effectively heal ourselves and take ourselves on a journey to health and well-being, because the flip side of all this mental illness is health and well-being.
43:01
So, wellness needs to be a holistic endeavor. You can’t just heal the mind by talking. You certainly cannot heal that with medication. That is really, as far as I’m concerned, this is my opinion, so everybody’s entitled to their choices and opinions, we’re not here to compare, everybody has the free will to make their choices. My choice, and I’m glad that your choice was also a more holistic, energetic, spiritual, emotional, physical, mental way. Because you touched on solutions. Counselling is an intervention, it doesn’t really offer solutions. So what I feel I created through going through my experiences and writing my latest book is that we need to operate existentially speaking. So, I created this metaphor with a four-petal flower and it’s important for us to realise that we have all these four main elements. We know we have this body, we’re not our bodies. We create through our minds, we experience life through our emotions. But we are a divine, spiritual, eternal, infinite, cosmic fractal of pure light and love and intelligence that that embodies life through this physical vessel. So, it’s important to nurture and learn about all those four elements in a holistic way so that in the middle of it is you, is your center yourself, your self-awareness.
So it’s important for you to know who and what you are so that you can empower yourself and make decisions that are based on what fits you, what’s unique to you, what suits you, what empowers you. We’re all entitled to our own realisations but it starts with personal responsibility. It is like a metaphor that I used to use as a counsellor with my young people in schools. They always, they were kind of sent to me in the room as if it was a punishment, which was hard. But I always managed to give them the power to choose. And then, once they got to know me a little bit, my metaphor that I used to share with them is that coming to see me, it’s like, jumping on this boat that will take you across this turbulent water so that you can cross the river, get out, and walk with your own two feet. It can be something that you become dependent on. The counsellor or anybody, no one has the solutions and the answers for you. But we can find solutions in newer, alternative ways. So, it’s important to take care of the whole of you. We have to treat the whole of you.
Xin Lei: Indeed, I think it’s a very holistic thing. And I’m starting to see that in my journey now that yes, there are multiple dimensions involved. Just now you mentioned the metaphor that you had. Like in your book, you write about this living flower metaphor. I think that’s a very beautiful metaphor.
Eliana: It’s really meaningful, really, because it all started with the loss of my husband when he left me a note saying that he was going to take flowers to his mother’s grave because he committed suicide on his mother’s death anniversary. And that was meaningful and significant. And that kind of stayed with me. And then it became the metaphor that I created when I started doing my degree. It was part of my assessment, the papers that I wrote, and it evolved, and it keeps evolving. I have flowers in many different ways to inform, inspire, educate, and empower young people.
Xin Lei: Hmm. Yeah, that’s really nice. What do you think this has to offer that traditional counselling does not?
Eliana: Well, let’s think about counselling being one of the petals of the flower. You have the flower over there, you have it in the book (points) So if you think about counselling as being one petal of the flower, you need to look after your body, you need to look after your emotions, find tools, but most importantly, you need to realise that you are this eternal fractal of intelligence that never dies. So in that respect, when someone realises that, wait a minute, so if I never die, my soul, my consciousness never dies, only my body does, then killing the body doesn’t really guarantee the end of suffering. Because someone is going through depression, any mental health issue, challenge, the pain is not of a physical nature. So what’s the good in killing the body? It’s like someone who becomes self-aware. So if we can link back to your first question about the root cause of mental illness, the lack of self-awareness and emotional literacy, then this flower metaphor gives a lot of information, inspiration, education, and empowerment for you to raise your self-awareness and become emotionally literate, to be able to deal with your issues in a powerful, meaningful way that you can discern for yourself what’s best. So, if visiting a counsellor is a starting point, then you can add to it. It’s like building the flower. So, have the counselling as one petal, but then look after your body and your nutrition. Make sure you are resting and you are expressing yourself in a safe environment to someone who can see, hear, and hold you in an empathetic, compassionate way, but develop a sense of spirituality that makes sense to you. Have time to yourself for reflection, journalling, meditation, and walks in nature. So all those elements are really important.
Xin Lei: Hmm, yeah.
Eliana: I would like to finish with a message to young people: Find what you love doing. Follow your heart’s deepest desires. Ask questions. Don’t just accept what’s imposed or strongly impressed upon you by social systems, social media, and expectations. Personal development is absolutely vital to your health and well-being and fulfilment. So find what you are passionate about. And I created a program called Teen Talks Club. I’ll give you some more information. I’ll create a webinar or something. I also contributed to a book for teenage girls. You can find my work accessing my website www.betalksbooks.com.
Xin Lei: Yes, yes. And if they are interested to read your book in which you talk more about the living flower metaphor, how can they find this book? Can you say the title of the book again and how can they find it?
Eliana: The book is called Divine Soul, Sacred Body: From Suicide to Sovereignty. Divine soul, so we have this divine element, this divine spark of source creation, calling what you will, that gives life to this physical, sacred body. And the sequel of this book is gonna be called Creative Mind: Empowering Emotions. And that’s gonna be how to embody your sovereignty. So that’s a project that I have on the go at the moment, but I have no idea when it’s gonna be finished because I got so much going on at the moment.
Xin Lei: Well, but that’s exciting. I’m glad to hear that you have constant developments in your work.
Eliana: It’s never ending. You know, I’m a solutionary. And I have, in some ways, I feel my work is kind of pioneering, and one of the reasons perhaps, I’m finding so much obstacles in my ways because it’s different. So in the counselling industry, I’m finding resistance, and it’s different and challenging and controversial.
Xin Lei: Yeah, yeah. But I really appreciate your insights on this kind of out-of-the-box perspectives. I think we need that.
Eliana: I think it resonates with the work that you do. Absolutely. It’s completely out of the box.
Xin Lei: Yeah, yeah. That’s why I’m very happy to have you here share with us. I do think that these insights have a lot of value, and we do need to look at things from a different angle. And it’s a lifelong mission, like in our own journeys.
Eliana: Maybe we can create a series, maybe we can have shorter talks and focus on one thing, and maybe we can develop this talk about the four different elements of the existential idea that I bring into my work. So maybe we can do that.
Xin Lei: Yeah, sure. Thank you so much for today. Thank you for coming onto my podcast and sharing your insights.
Eliana: It is a privilege. Thank you. And well done for doing the work that you are doing. That’s amazing.
