Beast of the Past Comes Back

For the once upon a time first lady Hillary Clinton, the past really haunts. Just as she prepares for the political run of human history, to be the first woman president of the most powerful and wealthy nation in the world, the past comes back.

I'm not sure how she feels as the public all ear in to this tape. It must be a very unsettling feeling, well if you do believe the political guru harbors much feelings at all. She is a lawyer after all.




She's a lawyer, her husband, Mr. Clinton is a lawyer, just as all the men and women on Capital Hill are.

Listening to the tape and the articles focus on this public thunder, I feel the pain lawyers may have, especially in cases they don't believe in.

As much as she might had felt bad for the 12 years old, that did not prevent her from using the knowledge and skills to defend her case. As a lawyer, she was able to separate feelings from thoughts almost as black and white with a real barrier in between.

About her chuckling, she might had chuckled about the lousy ways court personnel do their job, such as cut the whole in the evidence. For that, laughing or chuckling is not enough. It is more than ridiculous. It's berserk. 

Nonetheless, her feelings showed through when she said that the damaging act to the evidence against her client, Thomas Alfred Taylor, (a name not worth mentioning at all here) a "justice miscarriage." Nothing is as precious as the birth of a child, and Mrs. Clinton really sees justice bear such preciousness. 

As much as she was legally bound to the client, we almost see a hidden hope in her to find that the polygraphs test would fail, which it passed, lessening the gravity of Taylor's crime. 

This tape was recorded about 30 years ago, and she said, her then existent faith for polygraphs was "destroyed."

Despite her profession and her obligation to clients, whoever they are, she acted according to her heart. She went on to co-found Arkansas' first rape hotline. Like the saying go, "listen not to what one says, but see what one does," or something along this line.

Can't say that the democratic presidential candidate is all for women, but she cannot and never could be against women.

“We’re hired guns,” Ronald D. Rotunda, a professor of legal ethics at Chapman University

Reducing Side Effects

There are more opportunities today than ever before to learn about your health and to take better care of yourself. It is also more important than ever to know about the medicines you take. 

If you take several different medicines, see more than one doctor, or have certain health conditions, you and your doctors need to be aware of all the medicines you take. Doing so will help you to avoid potential problems such as drug interactions.

Drug interactions may make your drug less effective, cause unexpected side effects, or increase the action of a particular drug. Some drug interactions can even be harmful to you. Reading the label every time you use a nonprescription or prescription drug and taking the time to learn about drug interactions may be critical to your health. You can reduce the risk of potentially harmful drug interactions and side effects with a little bit of knowledge and common sense. 

Drug interactions fall into three broad categories:

• Drug-drug interactions occur when two or more drugs react with each other. This drug-drug interaction may cause you to experience an unexpected side effect. For example, mixing a drug you take to help you sleep (a sedative) and a drug you take for allergies (an antihistamine) can slow your reactions and make driving a car or operating machinery dangerous.
• Drug-food/beverage interactions result from drugs reacting with foods or beverages. For example, mixing alcohol with some drugs may cause you to feel tired or slow your reactions. Grapefruit juice is also not a good mix with drugs.

• Drug-condition interactions may occur when an existing medical condition makes certain drugs potentially harmful. For example, if you have high blood pressure you could experience an unwanted reaction if you take a nasal decongestant.

Source: FDA

What are the health effects of relationship violence?

Some health effects are clear, like physical injuries. But the stress of relationship violence can lead to other serious problems like:

• Eating disorders
• Depression
• Mental health problems – like panic attacks, trouble sleeping, and flashbacks (re-living the violence in your mind)
• Trouble trusting people and building other relationships
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) – a type of anxiety disorder

How do I know if my relationship might become violent?
Relationship violence can start slowly and be hard to recognize at first. For example, when people first start dating, it’s common to want to spend a lot of time together. It may be hard to tell if you are spending less time with other people just for now or if your partner is trying to control your time.

It might help to ask yourself these questions:

• Does my partner respect me?
• Does my partner blame me for everything that goes wrong?
• Does my partner make most of the decisions in our relationship?
• Am I ever afraid to tell my partner something?
• Do I ever feel forced to do something I don’t want to do?
• Have I ever done anything sexual with my partner when I didn’t want to?
• Does my partner promise to change and then keep doing the same things?

6 Signs of a healthy relationship.

How do I know if my relationship is healthy?

In a healthy relationship, both people:

1. Make decisions
2. Are honest about their feelings and needs
3. Can disagree with the other person without fear
4. Feel supported and respected
5. Have friends and activities that don’t always involve the other partner
6. Believe that there are more good times than bad in the relationship

Healthy relationships have problems, too. But in a healthy relationship, both partners take responsibility for their actions and work together to make decisions and sort out the problems.

In husband and wife relationship, when one spouse runs the house, you have a domestic tyranny. 

When your relationship is headed down the wrong path.

Do you know that having good relationships is an important part of a healthy lifestyle? For some people though, while they fight depression or other mental health conditions, they also have to live with difficult or even abusive and violent relationships.
While it’s not always possible to prevent relationship violence, there are steps you can take to try to protect yourself.

If you think your partner might be controlling or abusive, you can:

• Trust your feelings – If something doesn’t seem right, take it seriously.
• Find out about the warning signs of someone who might become controlling or violent.
• Get help – Talk to people who are experts in relationship violence.

Remember, controlling or violent relationships usually get worse over time. If your partner might be controlling or abusive, it’s better to get help now than to wait.

Relationship violence happens when one person in a relationship tries to control the other person. When people think about relationship violence, they think about physical violence, like hitting or pushing. But people can use other methods to control their partners, like threats.

Relationship violence can include:

• Physical violence, like pushing or throwing things
• Sexual violence, like forcing or trying to force someone to do something sexual
• Threats of physical or sexual violence, which may include threatening to hurt another person or pet
• Emotional abuse, like embarrassing the other partner or keeping that person away from family and friends

If you feel controlled by or afraid of your partner – even if you haven’t been hurt physically – trust your gut. There are people who can help you figure out what to do next.

Stepping out from real depressed to real self expressions.: Feel like there was a curse.

Stepping out from real depressed to real self expressions.: Feel like there was a curse.

Feel like there was a curse.

Thinking a lot lately about how my life has gone on wrong tracks and how I cannot find a way back, I start to think that there must be a curse against me.

Was it the love opponent that took away my boyfriend in the most disgusting ways? Or was it his bitter words that had implanted this curse on me?

Well, I again turn to the internet for answers. I found an article on ehow about that. The author for that article believes in Jesus and advises that four things must be done:

1. First, make a confession of any sin;
2. Repent;
3. Pray for forgiveness, forgive yourself and others; and
4. Forget. 

Well, I'm not that religious but I will take this to heart. I'd say this may work. It works with most situations where hate, jealousy, or any other sins are in involved.

For more, a yahoo user says that a curse only works if you believe in them. While I'd like to think so, but I am only partially agree with this. A curse will certainly work if you keep focus on it. For sure. But sometimes, curses work without you knowing. Because a curse usually works at a very subtle level. It works through your emotions and psychology.

Bula210, a blogger on Wordpress suggests ways to know if you are under a curse. If you experience all these, you're probably under a curse: procrastination, failure, stagnation, lack, sickness and disease, desire to sin even when you don’t want to, poverty etc.

People say that there are different kinds of curse, it can be verbal or emotional. According to  Abd-ru-shin's work, “In The Light of Truth”, The Grail Message, curses as well as blessings can only have effect a person based on his own spirituality standing. 

According to this, a person's spirituality can serve as a shield or barrier against external influences such as curses or blessings. In the case of a curse, if you are spiritually strong, it has very little affect on you. However, if you suffer from spiritual darkness, sins, or fears, then curses will align with these weaknesses and thrive. That sounds really true.

But either way, building on your spirituality will help you exit from a curse. Strong spirit, light in your heart, and courage will help repel evil. 

And one more thing, whether you are superstitious or not, do not seek the aid of wizards or sorcerers to deal with a curse. Their spells produced impure, negative and corrosive radiations which will further attract similar impure and negative forces.

I'd say, be true to yourself and others. Let's go back to being strong and face our life issues courageously. Without fears and no more running away from them.

:) Let's wish us luck!

How to Initiate a Fun and Friendly Conversation

When you come into contact with someone, especially for the first time, you don't have a clue of what they like and dislike, so....what to do if you want to be responded in a positive way or to have a good chat? 

Regardless of your nationality, gender or age, I find some small ways that work for me every time and all the time.

But know that each conversation is a learning experience.

Steps to Take

1. 1
   Get the person's attention through eye contact. If the person is busy with something or someone else, wait until you get eye contact which acknowledges your presence.
2. 2
   Smile: This can be a wide joyous smile or just a small slight tilts of your lips depending on how you feel at the moment. Most people cannot turn down a smile or just a hint of one.
3. 3
   Say something that would cause interest in the person. If you have a favor to ask for example, try to word it in a way that is most receptive to others.If it is someone you know well, start with a topic with mutual interest.
4. 4
   Pace yourself. Do not talk nonstop. If the person starts repeating "uh huh, uh huh, uh huh," it is strong signals that you better change the subject or stop the conversation.
5. 5
   Unless it is a job interview, don't sweat the small details in casual conversations. Whatever goes! As long as both parties stay engaging and enjoying the conversation, it is all good.
6. 6
   End the conversation in a good note. Even if the conversation does not go well, find a generous way to end it. If the conversation is so good that neither of you can stop talking, say something like,"it is so fun talking to you, but hey, I gotta go, will catch up with you soon," can be an acceptable way to end the conversation.

Tips

• When someone does not like how you appear or how you approach them, their faces show a signs of sternness, hard face, or even hostility. They also tend to dart their eyes pass you quickly and avoid eye contact.
• Hints that the person want to stop the conversation: They starts to repeat short remarks like "ok" or "uh huh" or "alright" or their eyes wander away while talking to you.

Article is read almost 1,000 times at wikihow

How to Break the Abusive Cycle

What is it like to have an abusive husband? Many people compare it to an obsession or addiction of some kind. The wife knows the bad side of this relationship yet there is something drawing and keeping her in. 

Why? Because a husband, that is although abusive, is otherwise a wonderful man, in fact in some ways he is more wonderful and exceptional than many men out there. Except, he is abusive to the wife. 

His woman usually would come back when he shows those wonderful sides of himself. 

Is it bad to be tempted by one's husband?
No, of course not. But like any problem people get themselves into, they have to learn the necessary skills to overcome adversaries. Since women usually are reluctant to leave their abusive husbands, experts in the area of spousal abuse are thinking of new ways to help these women. Instead of continuing to convince them that they shouldn't return to the men they love so deeply, there are things that can be done.

Steps that can help you out.

1

1) Don't let yourself relive the times you felt hurt. Learn new ways to treat the man you love so that it brings out the best in have. There is no wrong or right. It's all about love. Use your feelings. Anything you do, but do not go through the abuse again.

2) Know that he has abusive tendencies and habits that even himself does not realize or can control. He has not changed because all this time, he doesn't see it as abuse. His actions are generally triggered beyond his will.

3) Know that the control is better left in your hands than his. Do not try to reason at length with him.

4) Know that most abusive men won't admit their faults until long after their women left them. 


______________________________________________________________________

It may be better if you don't return. But if you do, make the best choices for your relationship. Create a new beginning that brings you a constructive and loving relationship with your spouse.

Obituary to my Fellow Man

Trailing Behind
I See You, Someone
Being Carried
In That Long Bed Car.

My Mind Sings Lowly,
"God Bless You."
So, You are Done Here On Earth
With the Things You've Come To Do.

Done With Growing Up
Done With Standing Tall
Done With Looking Large
Done With Feeling Small.

Done With Standing Out
Done With Fitting-In
Done Fulfilling Your Needs
Done Seeking What You Want.

Done With Finding Out
Done With Searching On
Done With Testing Out
Done Being Disappointed.

No More Pleasing Others
No More Pleasing Yourself
It Is Time To Go
Go!

You Came Like a Star
Now Burnt Out In Those Same Light
There has Been No Success
Nor There Been Any Failure.

One Sure Thing and
It's Apparent, That
Your Journey Is Complete
Finished or Interrupted, You Made It.

Be Pleased! And Farewell To You!!
Others Sure Will Miss You, and
Grieve In Your Departure, And
Until Then

When You Exercise but Your Mind Does Not.

It is astonishing to find out that exercising affects people with diagnosed depression differently than it affects others. 

Whereas exercising often reduce an inflammation marker protein in people, it does not happen the same way in those who are depressed. 

So, if you are depressed and would like to tackle higher risks of heart disease and other conditions like type 2 diabetes relate to this protein marker, then exercising won't help you achieve that goal. I'm perplex. 

When some lights are out..

But still, on second thought, any and all changes in the body requires chain biochemical reactions. And when our brain works less efficient and some mental processes maybe blocked or hindered by depression, some physiological reactions just don't go the way they normally would go. So, it should come as a very little surprise.

If you are depressed, mild, moderately or severely, work on your mental health difficulties. Like I always say, make it a full time job if you have to. Without mental health, everything starts to work against ya.
Related Source: the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity and the National Institutes of Health.

Time Lost

My heart go to the young women who've held hostage for over a decade by Castro. Just can't believe it. The news of Georgina DeJesus, 23, Amanda Berry, 27, and Michele Knight, 32 found alive and Amenda with child just give me this mixed feelings of both pain and triumph. 

It must be a miracle for their families to find out they survive. Yet, it is mind boggling to know how people's time are stolen from them. Dejesus, Berry and Knight were kidnapped consecutively between the years 2002 and 2004. Besides other details, the supposedly "charismatic" 52-year-old Ariel Castro, a former "school bus driver,"and  etc., these women have lost a total of 30 years of their lives. And their freedom. 

I just want to shake my head and let you all decide this event. How should one feel? For those of us who live a depressed and traumatic life, you may be able to make a good comparison with these women. They were held against their will. But if you've been living an unhappy life, you've held yourself against your will to.

If I can draw some conclusion out of this event, I'd say, treasure the time you have and the freedom you enjoy everyday.

Well, one strange thing is, I asked a pal on Experience Project about this and her response is "Why did they not escape sooner? Ten years is a long time and plenty chances of escape." Their long stay make some people wonder if in fact they were reluctant to leave. But that is only wild guess. The details have yet to be released. Let's wait and see.

Yeah, and the kidnapper's 31 years old son, Anthony Castro was once the local reporter that broadcast the news to one of those kidnaps. Oh, so this son or non of the older Castro's relative ever visited his house? It is totally odd.

Related links 
Son of captor suspect wrote article >Yahoo news
Cop almost miss suspect >CBSnews
Suspect's Chilling Admission Letters
Disappointed Daughter Speaks Out




Anyhow, enjoy the 
springtime while you can.

BILL HAS GONE AND DONE IT AGAIN...

They're standing on the corner and they can't speak English.
I can't even talk the way these people talk: Why you ain't, Where you is, What he drive, Where he stay, Where he work, Who you be...
And I blamed the kid until I heard the mother talk. And then I heard the father talk.

Everybody knows it's important to speak English except these knuckleheads. You can't be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth. In fact you will never get any kind of job making a decent living.

People marched and were hit in the face with rocks to get an Education, and now we've got these knuckleheads walking around.

The lower economic people are not holding up their end in this deal. These people are not parenting. They are buying things for kids.
$500 sneakers for what?

And they won't spend $200 for Hooked on Phonics.

I am talking about these people who cry when their son is standing there in an orange suit. Where were you when he was 2? Where were you when he was 12? Where were you when he was 18 and how come you didn't know that he had a pistol?

And where is the father? Or who is his father?

People putting their clothes on backward: Isn't that a sign of something gone wrong?
People with their hats on backward, pants down around the crack, isn't that a sign of something?

Isn't it a sign of something when she has her dress all the way up and got all type of needles [piercing] going through her body? What part of Africa did this come from??
We are not Africans. Those people are not Africans; they don't know a thing about Africa.

I say this all of the time. It would be like white people saying they are European-American. That is totally stupid.

I was born here, and so were my parents and grand parents and, very likely my great grandparents. I don't have any connection to Africa, no more than white Americans have to Germany , Scotland , England , Ireland , or the Netherlands . The same applies to 99 percent of all the black Americans as regards to Africa . So stop, already! ! !
With names like Shaniqua, Taliqua and Mohammed and all of that crap ......... And all of them are in jail.

Brown or black versus the Board of Education is no longer the white person's problem.
We have got to take the neighborhood back.
People used to be ashamed. Today a woman has eight children with eight different 'husbands' -- or men or whatever you call them now.

We have millionaire football players who cannot read. We have million-dollar basketball players who can't write two paragraphs. We, as black folks have to do a better job.

Someone working at Wal-Mart with seven kids, you are hurting us.
We have to start holding each other to a higher standard.

We cannot blame the white people any longer.' 

Dr. William Henry 'Bill' Cosby, Jr., Ed. D.

WELL SAID, BILL It's NOT about color...It's about behavior!!!

How to stay in control at the buffet?

Isn't that such a foolish question? A few of my friends at Experience Project think so. After all, who would go to a buffet with an object not to eat freely? Quite the opposite indeed. In the past, going to the buffet meant eating as much as I want. Well, things gotta change.

The American Journal of Preventive Medicine recently published an article to help with this. It suggests two strategies that may help dieters survive a smorgasbord. This is a complicated issue. And some researchers manage to narrow the subject down to 2 tactics:

1. Picking up a smaller plate and
2. Circling the buffet before choosing what to eat.

I'm not sure how this can work but to start off they go against a 2 facts:  unlimited menu options and customer prepaid for the food. 

If you are into this, you will have to win over your craving and desires. Also, to go in trying to eat less than portions you already paid for is counter intuitive. The obvious problem is when faced with a variety of food at one sitting, people tend to eat more.  "It is the temptation of wanting to try a variety of foods that makes it particularly hard not to overeat at a buffet," says Rachel Begun, a registered dietitian and spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. She was not involved with the new study.

"People often say that the only way not to overeat at a buffet is not to go to a buffet," said Wansink, a psychologist who studies the environmental cues linked to overeating. "But there are a ton of people at buffets who are really skinny. We wondered: What is it that skinny people do at buffets that heavy people don't?"

Still, some people don't overeat at buffets, and that made study author Brian Wansink, director of the food and brand lab at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., wonder how they restrain themselves.

Clues in this study revealed key differences in how thinner and heavier people approached a buffet. "Skinny people are more likely to scout out the food. They're more likely to look at the different alternatives before they pounce on something," Wansink said. "Heavy people just tend to pick up a plate and look at each item and say, 'Do I want it? Yes or no.'"

I approached this article with a heavy dose of skepticism folks. But now I am reconsidering the results. In the past, I did better at the buffet by taking my time and scanning the buffet table before selecting what I wanted. Conscious selection and clear portion helped me from getting excess about of food onto my plate. 

However, whenever possible, I would not go to a buffet unless I have to. Sometimes you're out with a family or a group of friends who want to go to a buffet. In those instances you won't have much choice. So then the tactics above may help you survive the occasion.

~Susan Le

About 99 Shades of Blue

Only those who suffer clinical emotion ailments or care for someone who does, would understand what it's like to live with constant negative emotions. Negative emotions come in many shapes and forms. To be depressed is not simply feeling blue. There are 99 shades of blue.

This blog is a forum for those who'd like to contribute to a new awareness of depression. It's not fair to continue living under the punishment of social stigma and deprivation of care. The realities of depression must be brought to light, bringing it to the world's attention.

Depression turns down many lives. It makes living difficult and many times impossible. And although it is treatable, many people go for years untreated, leading to general health failure, drugs dependency, unemployment, and disabilities. It now affects hundreds of million folks and results to thousands of deaths that occur daily. Depression is no longer a family matter or an isolated story, it's a global public health concern.

If you or someone you care about experience it, then you would know the value of getting help and self help. As the world struggle to find cures, self help is still the forefront of treatment. Help yourself and help others are the basis of depression treatments.

Drug efficacy is often found through trial and error. But with diligent efforts, you can find a drug that works.  When symptoms are severe, medical intervention is lifesaver. If anything medicine can do, it can subdue severe neurological actions. Western medicine is still the most effective form of urgent care. Regardless of widespread controversy, antidepressants are here to stay. 

If given a choice though, most people want to live a life free of dependency on psychotic drugs and long term commitment to professional therapy. Nobody wants to be looked at and analyzed like a lab subject. That's why alternative care is compelling and attractive.

Communicating and exchanging tips on depression are the central purposes of this blog. Your comments are greatly appreciated and necessary to the success of this blog.

We aim to create a virtual vehicle that gives us friendly, open and solution forward ideas. With the right vehicle, we can thrive physically and mentally.  With our collective efforts, we will.

Leave your comments, even if as anonymous. Also, we are accepting guest posts. All guest posts will be credited as instructed.

CONTACT US:

Email all questions or guest posts directly to Susan by at susansummery@gmail.com.

Updated: 5/11/2014

For those who still struggle with severe metal illness episodes, here's some resource that are convenient and confidential.

Our minds run on emotions. Confidence, strength, determination or courage, are mindsets that we all like to achieve. 

"If emotions are the ships 

that take your life where 

it needs to go, then

moods are the winds 

that decide your fate."

~ Susan Summer

 Confidential medical advice 24 hours a day, seven days a week through the Poison Help Line at 1-800-222-1222 

Weight Maintenance Myth Busted!

"Study participants who exercised before eating their first meal gained almost no weight and showed no signs of insulin resistance." Reported by a 2010 study in the Journal of Physiology.


If you've been debating about whether you should eat breakfast or skip it, debate no more. It is okay to go through the morning hours without breakfast. Everyone eat different and have different needs for food throughout the day. And this kind of claim about the mandatory breakfast pursue by many Western dietitians really put me in doubts. I am glad that such a popular myth finally get busted.

"There are a lot of forces in our society pushing against" skipping breakfast, says Mark Mattson, PhD, chief of the Laboratory of Neurosciences at the National Institute on Aging. "Those forces are driven by money. They include the food industry obviously, and in some respects the pharmaceutical industry.”

Breakfast cereals alone are an $11 billion a year industry, and that's before you get into eggs and bacon, bagels and lox, pancakes and syrup.

Now, skip breakfast will let you sleep some more in the morning, stay slim and stay younger for longer too! Ha, these are real incentives. My favorite? It is usually just a hot cup of coffee, with real sugar and hazelnut flavored cream.

You can say that I am hooked on coffee and that's why I tell myself that it is okay to have a cup of coffee for breakfast. But here's a piece of good news:

Is coffee good for our health? Although the research on America's favorite morning beverage has been mixed overall, coffee drinkers received a big boost when the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine published the largest-ever study on the topic in May.



A daily cup (or cups) of coffee, the study found, appears to be harmless and may even lower the risk of dying from chronic diseases such as diabetes. Even a one-cup-a-day habit was associated with a 5% to 6% lower risk.

On the other hand, I think that a lean and nutritious breakfast is all good. Give me some egg and toast. I won't say no, ever. Although, I usually can go without.

 

                          

  Source: Yahoo News.  Diabetic Supplies

"Share, pass on your wisdom." *HELP with emotional crisis Call 1-800-273-8255 *Medical Help Call 911 or visit a hospital emergency room *American Foundation for Suicide Prevention www.afsp.org

Coping with Distress and Traumas

To live well means we have to build on some skills for coping with distress, distressful events and traumas. Let it be personal or public events, distress can touch us by many means. For some time, I felt bogged down by the mournful event in Connecticut. And today, another 8 year old lost her life at the Boston marathon event.

Like people in our community,I try to move beyond it but the effect of these sorrowful incidents keeps popping up in our our thoughts. They do somehow set the one to my feelings, whether I like it or not. I find that it is a good time to discuss about coping strategies that we can practically apply in times like this.

The effects of a disaster, terrorist attack, or other public health emergency can be long-lasting, and the resulting trauma can reverberate even with those not directly affected by the disaster. This page provides general strategies for promoting mental health and resilience that were developed by various organizations based on experiences in prior disasters.

The shooting rampage in Newton, Connecticut and other incidents of public scare can lead to emotional distress such as overwhelming anxiety, anger and fear. Those who have struggled to recover from past traumatic events may also be at risk of negative emotional triggers. It is hard to be positive. With trying it can be possible. Yet it is challenging.

After a traumatic event, strong emotions may come and go. It’s important to know when to ask for help. If you or someone you know is showing the following experiences, please ask for help:

• Eating or sleeping too much or too little
• Feeling unusually confused or little forgetful; on edge, angry, or upset; or worried and scared 
• Pulling away from people and things 
• Yelling or fighting with family and 
• Having low or no energy friends 
• Having thoughts and memories you 
• Feeling numb or like nothing matters 
• Can’t get out of your head 
• Having unexplained aches and pains 
• Thinking of hurting or killing yourself or someone else 
• Feeling helpless or hopeless 
• Unable to perform daily tasks like 
• Smoking, drinking, or using drugs 
• Feeling overwhelmed while taking care of your kids or performing at work or school 

If these problems are making it hard to get things done or get through your day, or are getting worse, please call for help. For those who suffer severe emotional traumas, there is the National Help Hotline, 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

Although this hotline is  aiming at suicide related issues, it is well advice to call even if you or someone you care just have other strong emotions or emotional distress.

It is nice to get some support just when you need it. It is like a good rain in time of a drought. At the least, be willing to open up to others around you. Talking things out is a part of self expression. Don't let the next drop of bad emotions be a drop too much. Effective self expression is essential to survival. It is a tool for emotional balancing and stress relief. It helps us get the facts straight and transcribe our emotions.

Tips for helping children deal with disasters and major distress

• Putting the disaster in context. For example let kids know how likely it is that a disaster like the one. covered in the media could happen where the students live.
• Connecting the disaster to lesson plans. Access disaster training from Red Cross here.
• Informing kids about the nature of the media and news coverage. 
• Discuss how the news typically shows the scariest parts of any situation.
• Remind children that there are plenty of good things going for them and around the world.
• Assuring kids that they are safe. Offer encouragement and support. Point out the good things.
• Listen to their feelings, thoughts and point of views.

"Share, pass on your wisdom."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*HELP with emotional crisis Call 1-800-273-8255
*Medical Help Call 911 or visit a hospital emergency room
*American Foundation for Suicide Prevention www.afsp.org

Beat Winter Blues

Though the winter time has almost past us, the cold air is still lingering in the air. And, there is still very little warmth during the day, especially early in the morning.

I still keep my house well lit throughout the day and do turn on all the lights in the evening before giving in to the night (smile.) It is a little obsessive you may say. But I'd like to stay on the safe side of things. Always keep a light bulb lit up in my mind and in my eyes.

Drink plenty of water helps 

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics offers this advice to help battle the winter blues:

• Stay hydrated by drinking plenty of fluids, especially water.
• Hone in on a hobby, such as making your crafts or reading.
• Take up a new winter sport, such as skiing or ice skating.
• Cut back on dietary portion sizes, and add more fruits and vegetables to your menu.
• Adjust your sleep schedule -- go to sleep earlier and wake earlier in the morning, so you can enjoy a longer day.

And while you're ready to put your annuals seeds down for some summer time blooming, enjoy it as the neighbor's Eranthis open up their gentle petals.

Also,

GET INVOLVED

In the face of disaster, Americans come together with courage, compassion and unity and ask, “How can I help?”

There are many ways to give encouragements and help to others, especially after a disaster occurs. 

The whole community can participate in programs and activities to make their families, homes and communities safer from risks and threats. Nowsaday, communities go online. Therefore, even if you are homebound, log on and reach out to others, like me.

"Share, pass on your wisdom."
*HELP with emotional crisis Call 1-800-273-8255 *Medical Help Call 911 or visit a hospital emergency room *American Foundation for Suicide Prevention www.afsp.org

Updated 4/16/2013