We embark on a wholehearted journey of faith, hope, and love, transforming lives and spreading light throughout the world.

Hi, I am Andrea Schmook and I am so happy that you are here on my website. I created my website with you in mind so I can inspire and share with you what I learned about spiritual healing and recovery from mental illness.

While I was receiving services, there was one topic that was taboo for discussion in group settings: religion or spirituality.

My problems started when I was a child. My father believed that God was a punishing God and he forced this into my thinking by repeatedly saying it to me at least once a day. Basically, he programmed my mind in my childhood and continued to reinforce my mental programming when I became an adult.

I believed there was an element of spirituality in my episodes of mental illness.

There was always a trigger that brought these episodes on. Sometimes it was something someone said, a phone call, or an event leading me into something deep within me that was hidden. When this happened, it finally reared itself up into a spiritual emergency because I was ready to deal with it. These were not considered spiritual emergencies by mental health professionals because they viewed them as part of the pathology of my diagnosis. They were never treated as spiritual.

I am not a religious person, believing in any uncompromising dogma of any religion or church as being the only truth. However, I have become a very spiritual person, believing now in a God of Love, especially in a relationship with the divine within me and within us all, which connects us together as one.

I recognize that everyone has their own path to spiritual healing. Some of what I did might work for you and some of it might not. I suggest that you take what works and leave the rest and discover your own path.

My spiritual healing was brought about by applying three universal principles: faith, hope, and love. Although many of my references come from a Christian perspective, universal life-giving principles are found in other of the world’s religions as well; for example, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Baha’i, Taoism, and any of the other remaining world religions.

Many people who do not believe in a Judeo-Christian God will typically acknowledge a “higher power,” the “universe”, or “divine intelligence” and are still guided by their own belief system, whatever that may be.

This reminds me of a poem written by Hafiz. Hafiz is a Persian poet whose collections are considered by Iranians as one of the most successful of Persian literature. His poem is titled, “Would You Think It Odd:

I am in love with every church

And Mosque

And temple

And any kind of shrine

Because I know it is there

That people say the different names

Of the One God.