EXTENDED! SALE OF PUBLISHED BOOKS

This is a continued post from yesterday, as I have just received this extension…

extended lulu

To claim this offer, visit:  BOOKSTORE

 

books by HR

Appropriate Present For The Holidays

Dear Readers,

Are you thinking about a suitable present for someone you care about? Today I might just have the present for you. I have just received an offer of 30% off the retail price!!! from my publisher. The discount applies to both of the books, Driven By Kundalini and Driven By Depression. However, is ONLY VALID TODAY, that is Friday 24 Nov 2017.

To apply the offer, click on any of the links in this text and follow the button for purchase….at the checkout page type in the CODE: LULU30

Both Paperback Books Are Available for Purchase: HERE

To learn more about each book, you can either follow the links above, or click the tab ‘BOOKS’ on the top of this website.

In joy and health

 

 

Shock therapy

ECT aka Shock treatment – Barbaric or Helpful?

Scrolling through Facebook last night I came across a blog post by Dr. Caroline Leaf, specializing in Neuropsychology, who in her blog wrote about ECT treatments for mental illnesses. Now, Dr. Leaf’s blog post was not too long to get the full story, but in essence I felt there is rather strong disagreement with the general use of Electro-Convulsive Therapy.

Please know, that I do love and appreciate the work on the neuroplasticity of the human brain of Dr. Caroline Leaf and all of her wisdom.

As an advocate for a broader mental health awareness, and also someone, who experienced ECT several times on my own brain (the latest one in Jan 2017), here is my viewpoint on this controversial subject:

My experience with Electro Shocks

Despite the fact, that the ‘ECT treatment’ I received was always administered without my, or my family’s consent while I was unwell, now I would say it had its place. Upon reflection on it, if it was not for the ECT’s (given to me during several different hospital admissions and only after all other efforts using medication failed) there was a high chance that I may have not recovered so quickly from what was very debilitating and hard to manage condition.

The shock treatment has had for a very long time, a very bad reputation. To me that is mainly due to its portraying in the media for its past administration without the use of anesthetics and relaxants. That could be the very scary bit, that nobody would like to experience. However, nowadays it is given with full body anesthetic and relaxants injected into the bloodstream of the ‘poor’ patient. One goes to sleep long before the electrodes touch the head and wakes up afterwards without any pain. Just like after other successful operation.

So the barbaric associations that this ‘treatment’ has in the society is a little bit unfair. This is also due to the “One fly over the Cuckoo’s nest” movie, that had its place in showing the bad aspects of mental institutions back in the day. Nowadays, there are still surely not a place one likes to be held in, however, it all comes down to having good doctors and nurses, who make the big difference in any hospital environment.

Side Effects of ECT

While ‘my’ first ECT had a significant effect on memory loss and some other cognitive functioning, which affected my work abilities and my confidence, I am now able to express gratitude and accept this as one of the more effective methods of the mental health industry. Overall I had several instances when it was the last resort used by the treatment team and it was actually the one thing that really worked.

So unless you had ECT on yourself, please do not spread more fear and misunderstanding about it. There is greater need for more clarity and awareness though. Thank you for reading my thoughts on this. And if you or someone you know experienced ECT personally, I would love to read your thoughts in the comment box below.

Joy and clarity

← Back

Thank you for your response. ✨

books by HR

Writers Block An Obstacle Or Opportunity?

Since the time I was a child I loved to write things down. Whether it was a list of things to do, or thoughts that seem of value to me; poems or a song, I jotted it down on paper.

Oftentimes I had been even writing down things after I went to bed at night. Into my notebook positioned conveniently on the bed-rest. Peculiar as it may sound, it was in total darkness, as I knew the light from my room could potentially alert my parents.

I found some of my writing organized and practical, and some scattered and creative. I realized back then already, that if I wanted to recall some of my thoughts and ideas, which came to me especially at the evening hours, I needed to collect them on paper.

The one skill that proved to become one of my immensely valuable and cherished skills was touch typing, which I learned back in college. And once I learned to transfer thoughts onto a computer screen with a speed of light (almost), my writing took on a different dimension.

While writing can be seen as a rather lonely and personal experience, it’s also way more than that. When we transfer thought process onto some medium, we enable it to become widely available and to spread to other people.

There is often a mysterious touch in many of writings. The mystery is that until I, as the writer, start touching the keys on a keyboard, it’s not very obvious what will come out of it.

You could call writing an art, if you like. As before the piece is written, it sits somewhere in the collective space, awaiting creative discovery.

What about the writer’s block?

There could be variety of reasons why a writer experiences a writer’s block. Just a simple change in life circumstances can lead to a block in the flow of writing. My block came after some unforeseen events considering my mental health, and continued for quite a while, not getting addressed.

The fact that I was feeling truly uninspired to write anything down was really a change for me. The thought process behind this block was something on the lines of ‘not knowing enough to share’; ‘not being as great as I seemed’ and just feeling down generally.

What helped me personally to get out of this self-absorbed situation was one video that I watched not too long ago. The message that stuck with me from this video was about the consistency skill of real writers. Writing no matter what. Even if one doesn’t feel like there is actually something to write about, write anyway.

I took on this little challenge with myself and decided to get back into writing more regularly than in the last few years. And while my current writing may not yet be (at least in my eyes) so content rich, I am feeling good about the simple change in the process.

The soft touch of the keys I type on, the jerked flow of ideas, each sentence that comes into life, the proverbial electronic smell of freshly printed words on paper….all that gives me some form of satisfaction.

So if I was to give any prospective or stuck writer a hand with their flow, it would be this:

Sit down every day at your computer, respectively with a real paper and pen. Open the notepad and close your eyes for a brief moment. Relax your thought process and hands. Take a deep breath. Ask for a title to come to you. Once it does, open your eyes. Write down the title. And as you do that, some words may pop through….continue writing them….persevere…correct as you go along…adjust your writing…continue…

Write a few paragraphs every day and make it a consistent habit. Flow will come with more practice.

Enjoy this creative art form and share your ideas with the world. There is always space for one more article, in the world of internet. 🙂