my MRI

Truths to live by

Contained herein are several truths that I live by. This is my MRI.

During a session with a client-friend in June, 2023, I learned something: There are truths that we live by, morals/standards that shape us and our lives and all aspects contained therein accordingly. That client expressed a truth that overwhelmed them, and they immediately reached for their journal (which is AWESOME, by the way) so they wouldn’t forget that really insightful piece of information. In doing so, we both realized this wasn’t a typical piece of information for a typical journal. No. This required something special. Together we coined the acronym MRI: “Massive Realization Index.”

This will be an ongoing blog of my suggestions for life. Some of these come from my own mind, and some are borrowed from others’. These are the truths that I myself strive to live by. Even though I will not succeed every time, I know that these guiding principles are a great foundation.

  • If you have to ask someone to carry the bricks with you, then perhaps they aren’t the people you want to build with. This was just handed to me by a client during a session. While this isn’t 100% always the case, it certainly is food for thought. Perhaps those would be brick-handlers aren’t aware of how much we need their support? Perhaps YOU haven’t made it clear enough? Either way - if we have to beg people to help us do the things that help us sustain life, then they might not be the people to rely on. We should always be willing to ask for help - but never beg. There are always people around you (whether you know them or not) who will gladly help you.

  • Childhood ends when you stop worrying it’s over. This came while watching a new tv series. I have long felt it was extremely important to “feed your inner child.” If we are no longer thinking about our childlike side, we are destined to grow old too quickly. Wd don’t need to “grow up” to be an adult. We just have to understand the balance.

  • The real currency of change is time.‍ ‍Many of us live in a world that is based around instantaneous gratification. We get what we want, whenever we want it, and that is often (usually?!) what gets us into trouble! If we are going to make significant and sustainable change, that takes time. We must rewire our brains, our thoughts, and our patterns. We must learn new skills, find ways of coping, mend relationships, and often lick our wounds. Those things, as hard as we wish for them to be done, simply cannot be done overnight. If we want true change, we have to spend time.

    I’ve been pondering this deeply today, have spoken to at least one client about it, and even fed it into AI to help me unpack and understand exactly what it means.

    The truth is, this thought came to me today while driving home, almost as if it were fed to me. I know enough in this life to know I don’t know anything. But, I do know this: The universe looks out for “its own.” I believe this thought was given to me by something (or someone?!) I don’t know or fully understand.

    As far as who, where, or what it came from, I’m not meant to know. However, now I know it—and it’s incumbent upon me to utilize this insight to its fullest extent.

  • Being benevolent is a lonely, yet important self-imposed job that we often choose. The child who grew up feeling unseen learns to pour into others hoping that, one day, someone will pour into them. They become the caretaker, the fixer, the one who gives without limits. But deep down? They’re just waiting for someone to do for them what they’ve spent a lifetime doing for everyone else. (I found this as a posting when I was on social media. I wish I knew the source)

  • Vision is a blessing and a curse. The curse and gift of seeing too much is the highest price most brilliant minds often pay. For they don’t just see the world - they oversee it. They notice the tiny cracks in conversations, the hidden connections others miss, the future unfolding before anyone else catches on. Their mind is always a few steps ahead, scanning not just what is, but what could be. It’s a gift: foresight, creativity, pattern recognition. But it’s also a curse: overwhelm, anxiety, the weight of carrying knowledge others can’t, won’t or refuse to see. To see too much is to live in a double-edged state perpetually - always aware and never at rest. And yet, this is where genius lies: in the mid that sees the storm coming and names its hidden order. (I found this as a posting when I was on social media. I wish I knew the source)

  • Expectation is the root of heartache. This isn’t original, but we owe it to ourselves to manage our expectations. If we don’t they will take over a create a world of their own that doesn’t actually exist.

  • Stop worrying that others think you’re strange. You will simply attract the correct people to you just by being who you are, naturally. By the way, you ARE strange and that is OK. We all are. Be stranger and embrace it! To borrow from Shrek, what makes us different makes us strong. Let your freak flag fly!

  • We should value our own happiness over and above valuing what other peo0ple think of us. In order to truly level the playing field, we should all see ourselves as fumbling children in the dark. This is true no matter what anyone will tell you. Only those who seek true authenticity and vulnerability (used as superpowers!) will be able to understand this truth, even in absence of the courage to express it. The more authentic we are to our spirit, the more bulletproof we become.

  • We likely have a natural ability to connect with people and facilitate meaningful change. Even if we struggle to put that into words. That is the work.

  • Stop automatically rebuking people’s kindness as manipulations. We should, instead, spend our energies on focusing on sender’s intent. Otherwise we are using our poor sense of self esteem, checkered history, anxiety or the like as a reason to keep love away. Why? What does THAT do for anyone?

  • Grief destroys neuropathways. When we experience a significant loss (remember: loss isn’t just death), the ways we normally do things can seem alien to us. While we are challenged with that grief, allowing it in to overtake us and teach us, we will feel lost. While we allow our loss to sink in (instead of stifling the incredibly important feelings by “staying strong”) we are letting ourselves experience and process the loss. In doing so, while we process and mourne as healthily as possible, our usual way of doing things will inevitably change. We should be gentle with ourselves. Those pathways are the incredibly important and most overlooked roadmap to the way we live.

  • Don’t attribute to malice what can be explained by ignorance. This is a variation of Hanlon’s Razor. This quote serves as a constant reminder to choose empathy over resentment, preventing me from taking others' mistakes personally. Adopting this mindset has transformed how I handle conflict by allowing me to approach misunderstandings with curiosity instead of anger. It creates a foundation of trust that makes collaboration much more effective. I live by this rule because it stops the cycle of negativity before it starts, keeping my perspective grounded in reality rather than assumptions. It is my primary tool for protecting my mental energy and fostering healthier relationships.

  • “Forgive yourself for not knowing what you didn’t know before learned it.” - Maya Angelou. We often punish ourselves by judging our history through the lens of our current wisdom, unfairly expecting that we 'should have known better' before we possessed the tools to understand. This creates regret that serves only to keep us in the past rather than moving us toward growth. We owe ourselves the grace on our own journeys that we so freely offer to others. Accepting that we did the best we could with the knowledge we had at the time is the only way to truly make peace with who we are becoming.

Gary Nelson, LCSW

Hello, hello, hello!

My name is Gary. I’m here to help.

It’s sometimes hard to know when to ask for help, and i’m happy that today is the day for you! I hope you will find my abilities to your liking and my style to your comfort.