I am a husband, writer, and teacher exploring what it means to cultivate mental silence.

Mental Health days and guilt...

Mental health days and guilt...This post is a stream of consciousness...a flow of thoughts that are on my mind...in this moment...mental health days...I work really hard...spend most of my waking hours thinking about the work I do...I'm not necessarily proud of that statement...it just is what it is...so...when days like today happen...for very legitimate as opposed to exotic reasons...it's very hard for me to unplug...I feel guilty...like I should be working...I know these thoughts come solely from me...I am judging me...no one else...why can't I just let things.....be?Ok...breaking the stream of consciousness for a moment. After writing the opening to this post I did a quick search about mental health days. The article below was an interesting read. I imagined a health care professional talking me through the content as I read.[Take a Mental Health Day Without Feeling Guilty](http://m.wikihow.com/Take-a-Mental-Health-Day-Without-Feeling-Guilty)I also found this article to be interesting. [Taking Mental Health Day: Your Rights in the Workplace](http://www.foxnews.com/health/2015/05/20/taking-mental-health-day-your-rights-in-workplace.html). A common theme in both pieces is the suggestion that one should plan how to spend the day and that that time be spent doing something calm or nice for yourself.I did not plan anything calm or nice for myself but I did treat myself nice after I took care of some things that warranted the day off.

Obsessed with the rings...

Even at arm's length...suffering endures!