Suicide Prevention
In his suicide note Phillip Herron said his family would be better off if he wasn’t there any more.
Phillip Herron was a 34 year old guy you might pass on the street without seeing. Just a single dad factory worker living paycheck to paycheck to support his kids. He loved his kids and attempted to give them whatever they wanted. But he was deeper and deeper into dept, owing 20,000 pounds including payday loans with 1,000 percent interest, Finally finding it impossible to work and take care of his three kids, he quit his factory job and applied for universal credit. UC is a benefit payment for those out of work in England and Wales. He was eligible, but there was a five week wait and he had 4.61 pounds left to his name in his bank account. The final straw dropped in the form of an eviction notice.
He posted this image on social media minutes before his suicide.
Suicide Prevention – Compassion
We all have our hidden loads to carry, some just too heavy to bare. With such a lack of compassion in most of our lives, why not be as real and compassionate as we can? Kindness and compassion reduce the emotional distance between people, so we feel more connected, possibly even “bonded.” You can feel if it even in the brief interchange at a checkout counter. We walk away with our spirits uplifted.
If you need science behind it, there is a link between compassion and the activity of the vagus nerve. Kindness and compassion even produce the hormone oxytocin in the brain and throughout the body. Oxytocin causes the release of a chemical called nitric oxide in the blood vessels, which dilates (expands) the blood vessels and warms the body – a natural heart medication.
When we act and react with warm and compassion, the same warming takes place within us – a powerful win win.
ttps://metro.co.uk/2019/07/21/dad-34-took-his-own-life-after-wait-for-universal-credit-left-him-with-4-61-10434856/
Self-help books that help:
Total Self-Renewal through Attention Therapies and Open Focus
The Open-Focus Brain: Harnessing the Power of Attention to Heal Mind and Body
