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Inspiration July 21, 2018
Do you know what percentage of a person's daily thoughts are negative?
At Entity’s 2018 Love Yourself Summit, we had the pleasure of having Ione Butler speak candidly about her mental health conditions and the importance of mindfulness. Ione Butler is an English actress, host, and founder of a platform called Uplifting Content.
Uplifting content is a multi-faceted brand: it is a Facebook page, a website, a blog, a podcast, and a clothing line. Ione Butler started this platform to “create and share uplifting content,” and its impressive success since its founding is undeniable.
Despite the fierce competition in the field of feel-good branding, Ione Butler has stood her ground; and it has certainly paid off. The platform now has a following of 1.4 million, which proves how many people need to have supportive, constructive words of wisdom throughout their daily lives.
Butler knew what she was doing when she began this brand, because she knew the target audience all too well.
But how did she know how to connect with her followers on a deeper level?
Well, in her own way, she was one of them.
“All my life I’ve dealt with depression,” she explained. “When I’m not feeling depressed, I can get up on stage and speak to you lovely people. I’m building and growing my businesses, I’m traveling the world, I’m having an amazing time with friends and family, and I am so grateful and happy to be alive.”
This was the side of her that the audience could clearly see; with a contagious smile and a bubbly disposition, it was hard to imagine Butler as anything but joyous.
As with several of our other speakers, it was refreshing to hear someone admit hardship. Los Angeles residents (especially actors and actresses) are not famous for being their “authentic selves,” so hearing such honesty from a professional entertainer was a welcome change.
Butler mentioned that one of the most powerful tools to support your mental well-being is mindfulness. She highly recommended the audience read the self-help book “The Power of Now” in which author Elkhart Tolle emphasizes the effect our egos have on our self-perception.
“He talks about the ego, the voice in your head that tells you [negative] things about yourself. ‘I’m ugly. I’m not good enough, I’m never gonna make it, I’m gonna die alone.'”
She also explained that the ego can be the angry voice that always has to be right, or the ugly voice that encourages the “silent treatment” in conflict rather than just having a normal conversation.
“It’s that voice that is holding you back from creating anything you want to,” she disclosed. It made audience members and Entity team members wonder alike: how often are we the biggest critic of ourselves? Are we becoming our own worst enemies?
Butler continued:
This, along with several other beads of wisdom from the Love Yourself Summit, emphasize why mindfulness and self-love is so important for our mental health. We only hope to find more events like this where women can speak freely about their battles with mental health conditions and negative self-talk.
A big thank you to #womenthatdo like Ione Butler who are destroying the stigma of mental health, promoting self-care and encouraging emotional openness every day.
