By Flora Gonska:
While it is sometimes brushed off as a given or written off as esoteric or spiritual, self reflection is an incredibly important aspect of mental health. A Puzzled Mind has the incredible goal of helping folks get to know themselves better.
Tanita Risi has taken a personal journey, seen growth, and created an amazing guide that can open an internal dialogue about your thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Read on!
FG: Tell us all about you and your organization!
Hi, my name is Tanita Risi, and I am the founder of A Puzzled Mind. A Puzzled Mind was founded with the desire to help people get a better understanding of themselves. The school system is flawed in that it does not provide students with a solid foundation or the tools needed to help them navigate through life when they leave school and enter into their next phase in life. As students, you are asked to make big life decisions regarding your future careers and end up accumulating massive student debt in order to get a degree in an industry that you THINK you will love. You are expected to start chasing your dream and finding your purpose from the moment you finish school. But how can you find your purpose when you barely understand who you are as a person.
A lot of people end up making decisions based on what they think would be good for their image (and be accepted by society) or what they think they are supposed to do rather than what is in line with their core values.
A Puzzled Mind provides a 3-part mini-manual for understanding yourself.
The 3 parts include: Part 1: Understanding how your mind works. Learning how your mind is currently programmed will help you better understand your day-to-day thoughts, emotions, and behavior.
This knowledge can ultimately help you take back control of your emotions and your life. Part 2: The Impact of your Programming Once you understand how your mind works, you can start to recognize the areas in your life where your programming is negatively impacting your daily thoughts and behavior and begin to reprogram your mind.
Part 3: Taking Action & Creating New Habits It is not enough to simply know this information, you need to action these learnings and create new habits and beliefs in order to ensure a permanent change in thinking and reacting. The final part of the manual guides you on ways to do this.
With anxiety and depression on the rise, this kind of information needs to be learned now more than ever. Your mind requires training in order to be strong! I do not mean smart, I mean strong! When you want to get a strong body, you train it. You pay attention to the things you eat and the exercises you do. Your body then transforms based on the food it consumes and the constant training of your muscles. In order for your muscles to build, they first need to tear in order to grow back stronger. Your mind is exactly the same. If you want a strong and healthy mindset, you have to pay attention to the things you are putting in your body and, more importantly, the information you consume, which leads to the thoughts you create. In order to break away from a weak mindset, your have to tear down your limiting beliefs and learned behaviors and end toxic habits, thus allowing your mindset to grow.
This information is not taught in school and is desperately needed in order to live a fulfilling life. Which is why A Puzzled Mind is now providing it.
This is only the beginning; there are big plans to expand and provide even more useful information, so I suggest you subscribe on the website and get updated when future plans are announced.
FG: Why do you think it’s important for your generation to let their voices be heard?
Generation Z: Your voice is your greatest weapon! You have to believe that, and you have to believe in the power of people uniting for one cause. Change cannot happen without people coming together and using their voice, and the reason Generation Z’s voice is so important is because the future is yours! The choices and the changes you fight to make today will dictate the quality of life for your future children.
So if you are unsure where to use your voice, ask yourself, “What kind of world do I want for my children?” and start there. FG: Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the future?
Optimistic. 100% For 2 reasons. There is absolutely no benefit in being pessimistic. Change is inevitable, so why not lean towards positive change. Absolutely anything can happen in this world. I truly believe it only takes one generation to get the ball rolling and create big change, and I do hope Generation Z is that generation.
This is the era of information! Between Google and social media, you can find out absolutely anything in a matter of seconds, and you can spread that knowledge just as quickly across social media. You are the first generation to have grown up with this. You now have platforms where you can be heard, where you can reach millions of people around the world without leaving your house. Your voices can now be heard louder and quicker than any other generations could have when they were your age. It is time to take advantage of this! Educate yourself on matters that are important to you and spread the word! You have seen how quickly a topic can start trending on twitter—you have more power than you know. This is not the time to sit back and be pessimistic. If you are, read my manual and shift your mindset and start becoming the person you need right now. FG: What are the most important issues facing our world right now? And in the future?
Personally, I think it is mental and physical health. Students are still being taught outdated beliefs that do not serve them in life. Without the right understanding of how to remain in control of your mind, you are almost destined to suffer from some sort of mental illness. Society is designed that way, because it profits off of it. It profits off of your insecurities and your need to buy beauty products in order to get the perfect Insta pic. It profits off your lack of knowledge of healthy foods and the long-term side effects of fast food or cheaply produced food. There is way too much money in mass production for them to want to change that. Society is not designed to keep you happy. It is designed to keep you spending. Spending money on things you don’t need in order to impress people you don’t know. The masses are controlled through fear. Hate is pushed so the “big guys” can push their agenda. Dividing the masses is what keeps them in control, because the reality is if everyone came together, they would be powerless, so they benefit from racism and creating the idea that you should fear those who are different from you. The biggest issue we are facing is that people are not educated enough on how much their life is influenced, and therefore they have very little control over it (which explains why some people can feel pessimistic about the future, because they are a passenger of their own life). It is time to educate yourself and learn what the schooling system failed to teach and get your driver's license for life!
Heal yourself so that you can heal the world. It all starts from within.
FG: What does your organization offer that helps the world be a better place?
Information that was not taught to you when it should have been. Information to help you find yourself and take back control of your life. FG: Please tell us all about your current campaigns, projects, and endeavors.
At the moment, the main priority is to get the manual completed. I am still finalizing a few things. After that, there will be many more projects, all centered around education, empowerment, and awareness.
FG: Tell everyone where to find you online and on social platforms.
Facebook: facebook.com/apuzzledmind/ Instagram: @a_puzzled_mind Twitter: @a_puzzled_mind FG: If there is anything else you would like to say, please do!
Please take the time to invest in yourself. Figure out what limited and outdated beliefs are currently stored in your subconscious and are therefore impacting your life. Learning to understand yourself from the inside out is probably one the most important gifts you can give to yourself. Until you fully understand your actions, thoughts, and behavior, you cannot change them.
Don’t make the same mistake as the generation before you. Most of Generation Y is only starting to understand themselves through a lot of trial and error. They were not privy to this information and, honestly, most generations still have no idea who they truly are and what they stand for, which is made quite clear when you look at the state of the world. We have millions of people walking around who have absolutely no sense of self. Do not be one of them.
A Cleveland, OH, native, Flora Gonska is a non-binary trans woman from a big family. She's a writer, video producer/editor, and artist. An avid supporter of the LGBTQ+ community and equality movement, she has lived in Los Angeles for three years, and she's involved in and enjoys writing on politics, the LGBTQ+ community, and life in the U.S.
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