A talk with Elder Cornish about mental illness

[bsjkki]

The Deseret news published a podcast with an interview with Elder Cornish about mental illness. Here are a couple of quotes I enjoyed. https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900041896/am-i-good-enough-a-conversation-on-mental-illness-with-elder-j-devn-cornish-podcast.html

EC: You know, what I've learned from practicing intensive care medicine for so many years is that one of the saddest delusions of this mortal experience is the belief that we're in charge of our lives. We are not in charge of our lives. We do not control our lives. We are responsible for our lives. But we don't control our lives. But God knows how to manage the experiences for our lives in ways that will change and bless us. And rather than worrying about whether I'm good enough, what we should be asking is, am I trying and I do I believe that God wants to help me.

...

EC: Well, I talked in that particular address about being a resident at Boston Children's Hospital in pediatrics, accepting one after another after another admission from the emergency room. I remembered about 11 o'clock on a Saturday night, a 10-year-old boy with pneumonia was admitted. I'm a young intern and fresh out of medical school, I can hardly spell pneumonia. And here's a young boy who's really sick, and it matters. And as I was falling asleep, writing orders for him and trying to stay awake, because I've been working for, I don't know, 16, 18 hours by then and had a whole night ahead of me. I was so discouraged. I don't know how to take care of this boy, I don't know what to do for him. What am I doing here? I'm never going to make this. Fascinatingly, one of the senior residents came around as I was struggling between my discouragement and my fatigue, put his arm on my shoulder, shocked me awake as my pen was dribbling down the page as I fell asleep writing orders. We talked about my concerns about the boy, he helped me work through it. He said, don't you know that all of the senior residents and the faculty think you're one of the very best we've got? You are going to be a wonderful doctor. Well, I'm not sure whether anybody ever thought that about me. But his encouragement made all the difference. You see, what God expects of us is to try. What he expects of us is to not rationalize when we're not doing right. He expects us to repent and then to try again. But to think that we can't do this underestimates God, and underestimates what he's put in each one of us. Our goal is not to be better than somebody else. Our goal is to be the best of who we are. We have a wonderful 34-year-old son with Down syndrome. One of the most important things I ever learned was that the goal is not for him to be like somebody else. The goal is for him to develop into his best self. That's a good goal.

Edited November 14, 2018 by bsjkki

[Calm]

5 hours ago, bsjkki said:

You know, what I've learned from practicing intensive care medicine for so many years is that one of the saddest delusions of this mortal experience is the belief that we're in charge of our lives. We are not in charge of our lives. We do not control our lives. We are responsible for our lives. But we don't control our lives. But God knows how to manage the experiences for our lives in ways that will change and bless us. And rather than worrying about whether I'm good enough, what we should be asking is, am I trying and I do I believe that God wants to help me.

Fantastic

[Jeanne]

10 hours ago, bsjkki said:

The Deseret news published a podcast with an interview with Elder Cornish about mental illness. Here are a couple of quotes I enjoyed. https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900041896/am-i-good-enough-a-conversation-on-mental-illness-with-elder-j-devn-cornish-podcast.html

EC: You know, what I've learned from practicing intensive care medicine for so many years is that one of the saddest delusions of this mortal experience is the belief that we're in charge of our lives. We are not in charge of our lives. We do not control our lives. We are responsible for our lives. But we don't control our lives. But God knows how to manage the experiences for our lives in ways that will change and bless us. And rather than worrying about whether I'm good enough, what we should be asking is, am I trying and I do I believe that God wants to help me.

...

EC: Well, I talked in that particular address about being a resident at Boston Children's Hospital in pediatrics, accepting one after another after another admission from the emergency room. I remembered about 11 o'clock on a Saturday night, a 10-year-old boy with pneumonia was admitted. I'm a young intern and fresh out of medical school, I can hardly spell pneumonia. And here's a young boy who's really sick, and it matters. And as I was falling asleep, writing orders for him and trying to stay awake, because I've been working for, I don't know, 16, 18 hours by then and had a whole night ahead of me. I was so discouraged. I don't know how to take care of this boy, I don't know what to do for him. What am I doing here? I'm never going to make this. Fascinatingly, one of the senior residents came around as I was struggling between my discouragement and my fatigue, put his arm on my shoulder, shocked me awake as my pen was dribbling down the page as I fell asleep writing orders. We talked about my concerns about the boy, he helped me work through it. He said, don't you know that all of the senior residents and the faculty think you're one of the very best we've got? You are going to be a wonderful doctor. Well, I'm not sure whether anybody ever thought that about me. But his encouragement made all the difference. You see, what God expects of us is to try. What he expects of us is to not rationalize when we're not doing right. He expects us to repent and then to try again. But to think that we can't do this underestimates God, and underestimates what he's put in each one of us. Our goal is not to be better than somebody else. Our goal is to be the best of who we are. We have a wonderful 34-year-old son with Down syndrome. One of the most important things I ever learned was that the goal is not for him to be like somebody else. The goal is for him to develop into his best self. That's a good goal.

I do so love this as discouragement is a very real thing and can affect every corner of our world and how we feel about ourselves. 

I do wonder though...when one gets through these kinds of difficulties if we give credit to ourselves....or do we give it all to God?  Of course, this is not a bad thing..but I feel it is iimportant (not for ego or anything) that we give credit to our own endurance...with a grateful heart to God...not giving credit to Him.  Does this make me a bad person?   But I do love that reality meets up with capabilities...and our humaness.

[Glenn101]

2 hours ago, Jeanne said:

I do so love this as discouragement is a very real thing and can affect every corner of our world and how we feel about ourselves. 

I do wonder though...when one gets through these kinds of difficulties if we give credit to ourselves....or do we give it all to God?  Of course, this is not a bad thing..but I feel it is iimportant (not for ego or anything) that we give credit to our own endurance...with a grateful heart to God...not giving credit to Him.  Does this make me a bad person?   But I do love that reality meets up with capabilities...and our humaness.

I don't really know the answer to that. When I look at how miserably I have failed so many times I realize that without God I could not ever succeed in any spiritually meaningful way. The only thing I am pleased about for myself is that I have finally started to learn how to listen and am actually doing it somewhat better.

Glenn