by Mark Pitstick MA, DC

Note: If you are strongly suicidal, please contact a crisis support center now for help.  I also encourage you to tell your dear family, friends, health professionals, and minister so you don’t have to go through this alone.

by Mark Pitstick MA, DC

If you’ve not already, please read . . .

  1. ‘The Great News‘ (article #19 at SoulProof.com/Articles)
  2. ‘Eight Developments for Widespread Conscious Living Now’ (#125)
  3. Greater Reality LIVING Program: Integrating ‘The 8 Developments’ Into Your Daily Life (#72)
  4. Greater Reality HEALING Program: Journeying FROM Deeply Grieving TO Brightly Shining (#82)

The evidence-based information and holistic resources outlined in these articles will help you to:

  • realize your true nature as an eternal being of consciousness / life-force / energy 
  • receive guidance and assistance from highly evolved energies and Source / The Light
  • heal old wounds, release lower energies, and update erroneous teachings
  • create the greatest life YOU have envisioned (YOU = your higher self / soul)
  • help others by sharing your greatest gifts
  • make our world a better place

As enough people do this, widespread personal and planetary change will naturally unfold. 

Suicide: Core Causes and Holistic Solutions

In 2018, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported the results of a twenty-year study on suicide incidence.  The national average increased 25% during that period. 

Please take a moment and let that statistic sink in.

Your proactive response to this problem is greatly needed and may save the life of one or more of your loved ones.

Over the last forty-six years, I’ve worked with tens of thousands of people in crisis and suicide prevention centers, hospitals, pastoral counseling centers, mental health centers, and holistic private practice settings.  My experience provides a ‘big picture’ view of life and holistic solutions.  My training includes a pre-med degree, theology school with an emphasis on pastoral counseling, a master’s in clinical psychology, a doctorate in chiropractic health care, and extensive post-doctorate training in nutritional healing methods.

I am very concerned about the alarming increase in suicide.  I am also very concerned with the rise in other brain-related conditions – autism, ADD / ADHD, anxiety, depression, bipolar, OCD, memory loss, and others – but will focus on suicide in this article.  These conditions are affecting more sensitive people who can be seen as canaries in the coalmine.  Will we wake up and address the underlying problems or wait until matters are even worse?

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A patient of mine provided a great example of how resilient and self-restorative humans are.  Cindy suffered with severe depression, frequent migraines, soreness and stiffness throughout her body, nervousness, insomnia, and vertigo.  Her life was so unhappy and painful that she had attempted suicide several times.  Her family suffered immensely as Cindy’s life spun out of control and they felt helpless to do anything about it.

During her initial consultation, I explained that I would do everything possible to help turn her life around, but she had to do her part.  A thorough history and evaluation revealed many sources of her imbalances including that she:

  • ate only one meal a day and that was junk food
  • drank many servings of pop and coffee each day
  • smoked two packs of cigarettes a day
  • had misaligned spinal bones with slight pressure on her spinal cord and nerves
  • hadn’t released emotional pain about the deaths of several loved ones
  • was exhausted, worked excessively, never exercised, and rarely had fun
  • felt little connection with Creator and felt that life was hopeless and cruel

Where to begin?

We dived in and addressed each of the above factors. She was motivated to change since rock bottom had been her home for so long.  After just six weeks of holistic health care, we re-evaluated her symptoms.  She already felt eighty-five percent better: her headaches were gone, she slept well at night, her energy was greatly improved, and her imbalance was better so she wasn’t falling down like before.

Under ‘comments’ on her re-evaluation form, she wrote: “I want to live now!”

There are many people who are seriously imbalanced like Cindy was but they don’t know what to do about it.  Suicide rates, especially for young people, are soaring.  There is often a better way.  I’ll show you.

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As the CDC statistics clearly show, suicide is increasing at alarming rates.  In my experience, the underlying causes often involve imbalances of the brain, hormonal, and gastrointestinal systems.  Mark Hyman MD uses the term ‘broken brain’ to describe the origins of many common symptoms and diseases.  I agree but would also add ‘broken glands’ and ‘broken gut.’

In my opinion, and those of many holistic physicians, root causes of the above problems include:

  • deterioration of the topsoil so that even “healthy foods” no longer contain key nutrients.
  • agri-business that routinely sprays crops with chemical pesticides and herbicides.Animals are raised in unhealthy conditions and given drugs so they can survive until slaughtered.
  • excess junk and fast foods that can negatively impact the brain via stimulating and potentially addictive sugars, artificial sweeteners, and chemicals.
  • children given too many vaccinations containing potentially harmful ingredients such as mercury, formaldehyde, and dead or weakened viruses.
  • polypharmacy issues as people suffer from combinations of prescribed drugs whose synergistic side-effects have not been researched.
  • routine prescribing of pharmaceutical drugs with potentially dangerous side-effects for common ailments that respond very well to natural methods.The current opioid pandemic and antibiotic resistant microorganisms are just two examples of what can go very wrong when drugs are routinely given as the initial treatment approach.
  • lack of basic self-care practices such as exercise, proper rest, good nutrition, moderate sunshine, relaxation, and leisure activities.
  • less supervision in the raising of children due to single-parent families and breakdown of extended family support systems.(I know that some single working parents do a great job, but you can only be in one place at a time.)
  • excess exposure to violent, pornographic, and other mentally stimulating content on TV, online electronic devices, and video games.
  • government subsidies for chemical-laden, genetically engineered, and nutritionally deficient foods that makes them cheaper and more available than healthy whole foods.
  • synthetic, fractionated, high dose vitamin supplements that can cause nutritional imbalances and health problems.
  • public access – even for persons with histories of mental illness and/or criminal convictions – to assault weapons
  • excess negative media reports that increase fear and stress while ignoring the great majority of people around the world who are kind, loving, and peaceful.
  • lack of awareness about open-minded, service-oriented spiritual centers / churches that don’t perpetuate divisiveness and fear.
  • readily available ultra-powerful pain killers that contribute to addictions.
  • insufficient use of centering practices such as prayer, meditation, time in nature, yoga, and other activities that quiet the mind.
  • lack of preventive and wellness-oriented natural health care.Lobbyist-influenced lawmakers and big businesses result in most insurances covering drug and surgical treatment, but not safer and effective natural care.
  • cigarette smoking and smokeless tobacco.
  • excess alcohol, marijuana, mushrooms, and other ‘recreational’ drug use.
  • blocked emotions, old emotional wounds and accumulated stress.
  • malaise and lack of meaning because of not serving others.
  • excess chemicals, heavy metals and other toxins.
  • overgrowth of internal microorganisms – viruses, bacteria, parasites or yeast / fungus.
  • a hypercritical trend accelerated by negative and disrespectful comments on social media and those in leadership positions.

These factors contribute to dysfunction of the brain, gut, and endocrine system.  They also increase societal and psychological stress.  The summation of all this creates feelings of anger, hopelessness, bitterness, anxiety, loneliness, disempowerment, and other lower energy emotions.  Over time, people who feel like this are more prone to attempt suicide as a way to signal their distress.  Others want to leave this planet because they just can’t take it any longer. 

Some people might feel overwhelmed after reading this list of causes.  However, the good news is that all of them can usually be remedied with holistic approaches. 

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A great start in that direction is using the information in my books Radiant Wellness and Greater Reality Living (co-authored with Gary E. Schwartz, Ph.D.).  You can help change the world by sharing this article with your family, friends and co-workers.

As a human being, you possess a dual consciousness:

  1. Your transcendent source of consciousness (TSC) that existed before you were born and survives bodily death.
  2. Your brain-based consciousness (BBC) that is determined by your general health, self-care habits, nutrition, brain chemistry, personal experiences, and genetics.

The quality of your life is directly affected by the degree to which your TSC and BBC are optimally functioning and on the same wavelength.  How much are they communicating and congruent?  When your body and brain are strong, flexible and balanced, you can best remember and demonstrate your timeless essence as an infinite being of energy, spirit, and consciousness.

However, you are more likely to pass on by suicide if your TSC and BBC are out of balance.

The quality of your earthly experience is also greatly shaped by your degree of health.  As you know, life on earth can feel like an uphill struggle at times.  Being vibrantly well gives you the best chance to handle life’s changes and challenges with style.

The seven keys below describe how to feel happy, healthy, and energetic all or nearly all the time.  Following these keys most of the time – you don’t have to be obsessive about them – addresses the core causes of the suicide epidemic.

     1. Renewal

  • Get enough sleep – about eight hours for most people – so you feel happy and rested throughout the day.
  • Be asleep by 10:30 p.m. and even earlier when needing extra rest.  Natural health experts say the hours of sleep before midnight are most beneficial.
  • Avoid staying up late because it often leads to excess TV viewing, computer or video game use, and snacking.
  • Listen to your inner wisdom when you don’t feel well.  Lighten your schedule, go to bed earlier, sleep in, cancel social engagements and get a nap.
  • Open your bedroom window for fresh air; just a crack during cold weather.
  • Benefit from creative insights that can occur just before and after sleep or while dreaming.  Keep a notepad and pen on your bedside table to capture valuable ideas and inspiring thoughts.
  • Review your goals and read or listen to inspirational and motivational material just before going to sleep.  This fills your heart and mind with positive themes instead of the latest tragedies on the 11 o’clock news.2. Activity
  • Even Jack Lalanne D.C., didn’t enjoy exercising, but he liked the way he felt, looked and functioned – so he did it and so should we.
  • Stretch once or twice a day for five minutes to promote health of your soft tissues (muscle, ligament, tendon and disc); prevent or slow arthritis; help maintain normal skeletal and spinal alignment and flexibility.
  • Aerobically condition (walk, bike, jog, elliptical, etc.) three times per week for 20 minutes using interval training methods.
  • Resistance train 3 times per week for 45 minutes using weights, thera-bands, or your body weight with yoga, Pilates or floor exercises.
  • Develop an active lifestyle by enjoying time with dear ones while walking in nature, biking, kayaking or canoeing.  Take dance, yoga or martial arts lessons.
  • Climb stairs, park further away, and pick up the pace while cleaning the house and doing yard work.3. Diet
  • Note: See article #88 Whole Food Supplements and Way of Eating.  I consider this and nutritional based health care to be the two most important factors.
  • To motivate yourself to eat more healthfully, go to a grocery where unhealthy foods are sold.  Observe how people who are pushing a grocery cart loaded with poor quality foods look and move.   This isn’t about being judgmental but, rather, awakening you to the link between diet and well-being.
  • Avoid chemical-laden, GMO and radiated foods.
  • Avoid processed foods, especially those containing white sugar and flour.
  • Avoid artificial sweeteners that can act as neuroexcitins/toxins.
  • Use minimal amounts of natural sweeteners: honey, maple syrup, molasses, xylitol, agave.
  • Eat fresh organic or “beyond organic” food from healthy grocery stores and local farmers who use sustainable agriculture and pasture-raised methods.
  • Eat mostly real food: vegetables, low glycemic fruit, raw nuts and seeds, lean meat and eggs.  Include some legumes, grains and sprouted breads.
  • Get sufficient healthy fats: butter, coconut butter and oil, olive oil, ghee, etc.
  • In addition to eating fish, walnuts and seeds (flax, chia and hemp), you can obtain additional omega-3 essential fatty acids from unprocessed pristine sources of tuna oil or cod liver oil.
  • If you are a vegetarian, obtain sufficient protein from grain and legume combinations, plant-based protein powders and bars, and raw foods.  Get vitamin B-12 from whole food supplements.
  • Avoid the most common offending foods: wheat, corn, soy, sugar and processed dairy.  This is most critical in industrialized countries where agri-businesses use pesticides, herbicides and GMO seeds.
  • Drink pure water with daily ounces equal to 1/3 to 1/2 of your body weight in pounds.
  • Avoid flimsy plastic containers for water since they can contain endocrine system disrupting plastic molecules.
  • Limit tea or coffee to 2 or 3 servings per day and none after early afternoon.
  • Avoid synthetic nutritional supplements that you find in most stores.  These high dosage varieties are created in labs mostly from chemicals and are poorly recognized and absorbed by the body.
  • Use cold processed whole food supplements from organic plant sources that are raised in rich topsoil from companies like Standard Process.
  • Get a personalized nutritional evaluation from a licensed health care practitioner who uses Nutrition Response Testing or Applied Kinesiology.  To find a local practitioner, visit Nutrition Response Testing or Applied Kinesiology.  (articles #32 and 33.)
  • Use raw concentrated green powders in your smoothies or green drinks.
  • Learn more about the dangers of fast foods by watching videos such as Food, Inc., Knives Over Forks, Fast Food Nation and Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.
  • Read articles by: Mark R. Anderson at SeleneRiverPress.com; Weston Price DDS and Francis Pottenger M.D. atppnf.org; experts at StandardProcess.com; Royal Lee DDS at DrRoyalLee.com; and others cited in this chapter.
  • Take this challenge: enjoy the Real Food Way of Eating for just 60 days.  Then revisit your old fast food restaurants, conventional grocery store and vending machines.  If you’re like most people, processed junk foods will now taste sickeningly sweet and artificial.  You also may experience fatigue, brain fog, depression, intestinal symptoms, and muscle and joint aching.4. Inner Cleanse
  • Remove bodily wastes and inner toxins by regular bowel movements, urination, sweating and deep breathing.
  • Detoxify your body at least twice per year with a gentle but powerful program such as the 21-Day Purification Program from Standard Process.
  • Minimize exposure to chemicals and heavy metals in your body care, home cleaning and laundry products.  Hair dyes are just one of many sources of toxins that can especially impact the brain and hormonal organs.  That is one reason for the increase in neuromuscular disorders, mental illness and other imbalances.  (article #34)
  • Educate yourself about the dangers of excess electromagnetic radiation and how to minimize exposure to this.  (article # 43)
  • Avoid cigarettes, smokeless tobacco and excess alcohol and marijuana.  Instead, use powerful breathing techniques to relax, release stress, and get high naturally so you don’t ‘come down’ and have negative side effects like a hangover or lung disease.  (article #86)5. Awareness
  • No matter what is going on around you, you can always choose to focus on higher energy thoughts of peace, joy, love, gratitude and enthusiasm.
  • Use centering practices – prayer, meditation, time in nature, yoga, soaking in a hot tub, etc.  – to become calmer and access your inner wisdom.  (articles #51 and 77)
  • Realize that your thoughts, words and deeds have a ripple effect – for good or bad – on you and others.
  • Give thanks for the good parts of your life and work to improve the bad ones.
  • Remember that golden opportunities for growth and service always accompany difficulty and suffering.  (articles #10 and 29)
  • To release old emotional baggage, use the Holistic Breathing Technique.  You can also hold a pillow over your mouth and scream; hit a cushion with your hands or whiffle ball bat; write out your concerns and then burn or tear up the paper.
  • Shield yourself from emotional sappers and zappers, especially if you are sensitive or empathic (article #23)
  • Limit negative input from sensationalistic news sources.
  • Avoid pornography for many reasons.  (article #30)
  • Enjoy uplifting TV, movies, plays, music, art and literature that increase, refine and balance your awareness.
  • Nourish loving relationships with significant others, family, friends and pets.
  • Respect, appreciate, and enjoy the richness of diversity in skin color, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, age, gender and other outward differences.
  • Follow your heart-felt callings, even if just part time.  (article #21)6 Natural Care
  • Avoid invasive drug and surgical approaches whenever possible.  Why? The New England Journal of Medicine recently reported that over 750,000 Americans physically die each year from prescription drug reactions, hospital-borne infections, complications from unnecessary surgeries, and outright mistakes.  In addition, the underlying imbalances are not addressed.
  • To learn more about the dangers of medical care, read What Doctors Don’t Tell You by Lynne McTaggart and Death by Medicine by Gary Null PhD, Martin Feldman MD, Debora Rasio MD, and Carolyn Dean MD, ND.
  • Assemble a natural health care team to provide specific chiropractic and cranial adjusting, acupuncture, deep-massage and aromatherapy.
  • Again, I highly recommend a personalized nutritional evaluation to help your body heal itself by balancing weak and stressed organs.  This usually improves or reverses physical and mental symptoms, even those involving named diseases.  To find a local practitioner, visit Nutrition Response Testing or Applied Kinesiology. 
  • Have an integrative medicine physician who will prescribe potentially dangerous drugs only when absolutely necessary.  To learn more about this new breed of medical doctor, read articles by Julian Whitaker MD, Joseph Mercola DO, Mark Hyman MD, John McDougall MD, and Andrew Weil MD.
  • If you are depressed or suicidal, please seek help from a crisis support team, psychological and/or pastoral counseling, and both orthodox and natural health care providers.  (articles #5 and 26)
  • Remember the 3 L’s for babies: Leboyer (optimal care just after birth), La Leche (breast-feeding) and Lamaze (natural childbirth).
  • Educate yourself about the potential short and long-term dangers as well as questionable effectiveness of vaccinations.  Visit the National Vaccine Information Center at nvic.org.  Recommended reading: Childhood Vaccination by Tedd Koren DC, A Shot in the Dark by Harris L. Coulter PhD and Barbara Loe Fisher, How to Raise a Healthy Child in Spite of Your Doctor by Robert S. Mendelsohn MD, Vaccines: Are They Really Safe and Effective? by Neil Z. Miller, Vaccines by Sherri Tenpenny DO; The Sanctity of Human Blood by Tim O’Shea DC.
  • Contact your lawmakers to level the playing field by requiring insurance companies to cover care by licensed natural health care providers when appropriate.  This will make safe and effective care available to more people.
  • Urge your lawmakers to require multi-disciplinary ‘triage’ screening for all non-crisis patients so the most appropriate treatment can be delivered.  This will greatly improve health care and eliminate excessive costs.7. Transcendence
  • Know thyself: you are an indestructible being of energy and consciousness.
  • You are on earth for SAGE training: Service, Adventure, Growth and Enjoyment.
  • You and your loved ones continue living after the body dies. (articles #1 and 60)
  • Much evidence indicates that you will see your ‘departed’ loved ones again and likely can sense them now.  (articles #9, 28 and 35)
  • Realize that change is good for growth and development.
  • Life Source appears to be a dynamic and evolving creativity, power, love, and intelligence.  (article #13)
  • Humans experience life from a unique time and space perspective, then relay that information to All That Is.  It’s an immensely worthwhile adventure that is way beyond the level of heroism in Star Wars and other inspiring stories.
  • Beware of pondering too much about ‘Why is there so much suffering?’  A better question would be ‘How can I lessen my suffering and that of others?’  The quality of your life is impacted by the quality of your thoughts and words.  Do you think and talk too much about past wounds, losses and disappointments?  Or do you focus on the magnificence, richness and wonder of life? (article #29)
  • Remember that optimally caring for your body / brain can increase your mental clarity, and realize, as William Blake stated: “If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.”
  • Develop a circle of kindred spirits who are also realizing the great news that we are forever beings living in a totally supportive universe.
  • Understand that you are a special and beloved being who came here with special gifts to share and lessons to learn.  (article #21)
  • Join an online or local Greater Reality Living group.
  • Reconsider fear-based teachings about sin, hell, guilt, etc. (article #16)
  • Join a heart and service-oriented church or spiritual center.
  • Learn contemporary understandings about life’s biggest questions from twelve consciousness experts – Raymond Moody, Caroline Myss, Anita Moorjani, Gary Schwartz, and others – in my book The Eleven Questions.
  • Nurture your relationship with your Higher Power: start by asking to better know the heart and mind of Creator; converse with daily prayer; and sense responses via meditation, time in nature, serving others and other centering practices that quiet the brain.

The first letter of each key above spells the word RADIANT.  That’s what you really are: a radiant being of light and awareness who is temporarily visiting this planet for meaningful reasons.  I hope you will:

1. love yourself enough to spend some time, energy and money to tune up yourself.

2. learn and follow the recommendations above, especially those in article #88 Whole Food Supplements and Way of Eating.

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Thank you for telling others about this article!  Your life, and that of others around you, will be more enriched when you:  

  1. read the article again so you really know it.
     
  2. discuss with close family and friends to more deeply internalize it.
     
  3. take action steps that seem right for you.
     
  4. share it with others via social media, discussion groups, and other ways.

Hugs, love, blessings, and let it shine!
Mark

Mark Pitstick, MA, DC
author, lecturer, counselor, and holistic chiropractic physician; spokesperson, research assistant, and strategic planner for the SoulPhone Project; founder of Greater Reality Living, Healing, Helping, and Sharing Programs

SoulProof.com    SoulPhone.org   GreaterRealityPrograms.com

Mark Pitstick, MA, DC is a master’s clinical psychologist, holistic chiropractic physician, and clinical nutritionist.  He has also helped others in pastoral counseling and suicide prevention / education settings.  His goal is to help you know and show that this earthly experience is a totally safe, meaningful, and magnificent adventure amidst eternity. 

To learn more about the Greater Reality LIVING, HEALING, HELPING, and SHARING Programs, visit ‘Greater Reality Programs’ top tab at SoulProof.com and SoulPhone.org.  Also see  articles #19, 72, 82, 119, 122, and 125 at SoulProof.com/Articles.

SoulProof.com provides many FREE resources:

  • 8 e-books Radiant Wellness, Soul Proof, The Eleven Questions, Greater Reality Living, The Big Picture of Life, The Afterlife Evidence, Ask the Soul Doctor, and Shining Light Parents Speak
  • 10 audio programs Holistic Breathing; Afterlife Contact; Ask Your Soul, Angels, and The Light; Pre-Birth Planning; Identify and Fulfill Your Purposes AND Enjoy Your Greatest Life; Your Life Review; Appreciate, Realize, and Transform; Love, Acceptance, and Forgiveness; Past Life Regression; Heal and Transform Your Suffering
  • 4 audio books (Greater Reality Living, Soul Proof, Radiant Wellness, and Shining Light Parents Speak; we don’t have control over the others)
  • 125 Articles (as of 3/1/25) answering the most commonly asked questions and providing holistic solutions for your toughest challenges
  • 25 Radio Shows: interviews with experts on consciousness, afterlife, and creating an optimal earthly experience. These include Wayne Dyer, Brian Weiss, Anita Moorjani, Raymond Moody, Michael Newton, Caroline Myss, and others. 
  • 27 Videos on different pages
  • Monthly newsletters (subscriber sign-up at bottom of each website page)

Instead of payment, he asks that you: (1) fully use and appreciate the products, (2) share them with others, and (3) help others in ways you feel called, that is, pay it forward.

The following are also available for a fee:

  • 8 printed books Radiant Wellness, Soul Proof, The Eleven Questions, Greater Reality Living, The Big Picture of Life, The Afterlife Evidence, Ask the Soul Doctor, and Shining Light Parents Speak
  • Coaching / Counseling Sessions with Dr. Pitstick by Zoom to gain answers to your biggest questions and holistic solutions to your toughest challenges.

Note: This article is intended as a reference source, not to replace professional treatment for physical, emotional, or mental problems.  The author disclaims any liability arising directly or indirectly from the voluntary use of action steps discussed in article. 

I created this article while ‘wearing the hat’ of a clinician, counselor, and educator.  My statements are based upon some scientific research; much clinical and experiential evidence; my personal experiences; and my best current understandings.  This program does not reflect my roles with the SoulPhone Project since those require solid scientific data for all statements.