Are you depressed or sad? What can you do about it?

I provided my notes so far and to some of you it may make sense and to others it may sound Greek. Excuse the expression. Sometimes there are chemical inbalances in the brain for a variety of conditions and then medication is required. Not only is it required but it should be taken as prescribed by the physician. If there are any problems than go back and report it. People all too often, feel better and stop and then the symptoms re-appear. I normally recommend a psychiatrist when I suspect that medication is required for a psychiatric condition. A psychiatrist can prescribe the right medication and monitor to determine if the medication is suitable and working. Think of the Psychiatrist as a specialist as any other physician who specializes. Then there are cases where someone has suffered a tragedy of sorts. Then a physician can more than likely prescribe a sedative of sorts for perhaps two weeks or so, to enable the person to grieve or cope with what has happened. This is my ideal. In many cases what is required is psychotherapy to determine and help the person to examine their suffering by allowing them to take a stand back and examine what is happening in their lives, to examine their support system and to help them find it when they are alone. If a person is not happy, knows why she or he is not happy, than a therapist can assist that client to help explore the underlying factors. Sometimes a client will think he has a problem and is surprised that what is causing him to be sad is something else entirely. There are so many factors and possibilites that sometimes, someone has to reach out to a professional to get the help they need. There is no shame in that. It is shameful when someone takes drastic measures. So, in my previous notes of learned helplessness, I would like to speak to you who are in an abusive relationship of any kind. You may feel that there is no out. You have learned to accept that resistance is hopeless. I want to encourage you to tell someone. Even though the police have been targeted with a lot of negative press, the majority really want to help others and they spend years trying to do so. Report your abuse. The system is always changing to make this easier for those who need help. If you are a man being abused, or feel helpless with the situation you are in, ignore society thinking that because you are a man than you should be able to defend yourself. That is not true. Anyone can be a victim and feel helpless which can lead to depression. I have just barely scratched the surface, but I would like you to think about this. You have as much right as anyone else to voice your opinions and take a stand in what you believe in. No one has the right to harm you. If you are feeling bullied, or restrained or controlled there is a way to get out of it. You are not obliged to tolerate any sort of abuse. You can be who ever or what ever you want. The sky is the limit. You only need to find the right door to open. What do you think?

Learned Helplessness Model - Depression (Psychology notes)

—————————————- Learned Helplessness Model 1. Learned Helplessness l. Uncontrollable > sense of helplessness > depression aversive events 2. Attributional Reformulation > attibuted to global and aversive events stable factors > sense of helplessness. > depression No response to alter the situation 3. Hopelessness > attribution to global > sense of hoplessness and stable factors - no response aversive events or other cognitive factors available to alter the situation and an expectation that desirable will not occur. > depression. SSRI only block repute of serotonin - others are not blocked. SSRI are effective for depression. Ten different types of receptor for serotonin therefore fewer side effects. PET scants where blood inflowing. Pre post study - blood flow was significantly different than control group. 1/2 drug therapy/ 1/2 cognitively. Equal response in subjective feelings pattern of unusual blood flow had resolved. Therefore both seemed to make a change to correct the depression. Can change brain function in more than one way. Which one is better? No one better or worse. Cognitive is better in my book of study. However, studies not done. No one looked at the level of intelligence. For someone to be successful in Psychodynamic - must have verbal high I.Q. People of high verbal intelligence do not do well. Why? If depressed and told “why I feel worthless I would get very angry because I am more analytical than that.” You can change currency with drugs but drugs will not provide specific information. Treatment used depends on the individual.

Second book and third

I received my shipment of books and have sold one to a neighbour who was watching me reading my book outside. It's a good feeling when you read your final product, when you have it in your hands and you are turning each page. The book is about 400 pages and it is an easy read. My neighbour is an author who is a very serious reader. He is as serious reading as he is a writer. So, I am very curious to see what he will think of my book. I am no way of the same calibre. He plans, he plots, he re-examines each sentence and slowly disects it and re-disects it. Me, well it is like taking him to a banquet and me to a burger joint with some nice beat coming from a juke box. I write and just write and I close my eyes when I am not writing or I am looking at nature and then something pops up into my little brain and I insert it into my book or I think that will be a good theme for another book (this happened a mere hour ago which would make for a good horror story). Writing this second book took me much longer than the two months it took to write my first. I wrote that simply for fun. My second book is about me and my rite of passage. I write about the past and bring it to the present or further into the past. When I was selling "Hey Guy Buy Me" last year at York University at their Show Case, a student asked me if it was any good. What do you say when someone asks you if your apple pie, that you baked all day is any good when you are selling it? However, I did not tell her it was good. I simply said I wrote it. My neighbour made a comment since he has written more books. He said "you get better as you write more don't you?" I agreed. My second is definitely better than my first. I have been more careful this time regarding errors. There were too many in my first and I ordered too many books. I have learned from that as well. I have seen two errors in this one that everyone has managed to miss, a double "i" and a period is missing. I have read about 300 pages. My author neighbour and friend says there is always an error. Perhaps. This will probably be my best book because it is a historical account from my perspective and my piece of history in life. But, you never know; maybe I will get better as I grow. You are waiting for the title are you not? Patience! I am waiting for my ebook and CD and picture of the book and then I will set up a new web site just for my books. I know that it doesn't matter what I write, people will love it or hate it. That is life. That is why it is so important that what I write pleases me, but I do hope to entertain you. If there are any out there who want to write or sing or paint or just do something, do it. Don't ever listen to "you cannot." Perhaps it is they who believe they cannot and project it on you. There are many starving artists out there but they are doing what they love. Though I do not recommend starving, I think that our lives are so short and therefore one must find what one wants to do in life and do it because ultimately you will never please everyone. Again I want to thank you for reading my blogs. As I have mentioned before I began all this because at one conference, I was informed that if we were therapists and not on the internet, we wouldn't be therapists in ten years. Immediately I began my process. What I did not expect was enjoying it, but why not? I like to write. So, I am here advertising my books and trying to stir some interest. Is it working? Stay tuned. What do you think? P.S. I am about 100 pages into my third book and am having such fun writing it. This will be different from my other two. You get a teaser at the end of Book two.

HOW THE CULTURAL ELEMENTS OF POST-MODERNITY ARE ACTIVE IN MY IMAGE OF GOD, SPIRITUALITY, PRAYER, THEOLOGY, MINISTRY AND WAYS OF LIVING, FEELING AND INTERPRETING; HOW THESE POST-MODERN DYNAMICS ARE ACTIVE IN MY CHURCH COMMUNITY

(This paper has been condensed and much as been removed for the sake of Confidentiality of others. Hopefully it still makes sense. THis is from a theological perspective) (Pastoral) HOW THE CULTURAL ELEMENTS OF POST-MODERNITY ARE ACTIVE IN MY IMAGE OF GOD, SPIRITUALITY, PRAYER, THEOLOGY, MINISTRY AND WAYS OF LIVING, FEELING AND INTERPRETING; HOW THESE POST-MODERN DYNAMICS MAY BE ACTIVE IN MY CHURCH COMMUNITY My understanding of the post-modern world is based on the authors Gallaghar and Borgman. The next ten pages will reveal what that understanding is in development with the authors. Borgmann describes postmodernism has a movement marking an “emerging divide between two epocs.”(Borgmann, p 48) Gallaghar describes postmodernism as remaining “largely in a mode of refutation.” (Gallaghar, p 87) The author continues that cultural post- modernity is beyond critiquing negatively. For some, it provides a new humility that is an opening to faith and, “For others, it is a lethal form of relativism that undermines all truth claims.” (ibid. p 87) Borgmann agrees that there is a division of how postmodernism is viewed. Some welcome a post-modernist label for their work, while others are “offended” by it (Borgmann, p 48). I view postmodernism as a process of recognition and protest and of moving ahead. I view post-modernism as a new view from one that has exhausted itself. I view postmodernism as a recognition that things are not always as they seem. I view postmodernism as a foundational shift of saying no. I view postmodernism as a movement towards a new spirituality; a new inclusiveness because for God there are no outsiders. We are in an era of exploration. We are no longer white and Western. We are a combination of all people around us and we are moving towards a new era of being one. There is a collectiveness; a unity. People are more educated. People are asking more questions. Curiosity is encouraged. There is an expectation. People need to have things make sense to them. All this and more is post-modernity. I agree with Gallagher and Borgmann that there are different views regarding postmodernism. Some feel that it is all negative, others positive, while still others seem to find its’ meaning within the spectrum of the two. Borgmann depicts a cultural change in economics. Large companies, “have shrunk or disintegrated” (Borgmann, p 62). Borgmann adds that though the American economy appears to be declining, others such as “Japan” and “Germany” are thriving (ibid, p 62). Gallagher’s post-modernism distrusts institutions as manipulative forms of oppression by the powerful (Gallagher p 89). As corporations dismantle, jobs are lost and people are faced with a new reality. How will they feed their families? How will they pay their mortgages? Can they continue to live in their homes? Where do they turn to? How do they deal with such a shift? Corporations redefine themselves into other companies, others merge in unity such as the banks in attempting to hold on to their massive power, still others take advantage of the low cost of labour in third world countries, paying pitiful wages for long treacherous work, in poor conditions. The paradigmatically post modern firm is a small group of well educated people, eager and alert to find market openings and to fill them quickly with high-quality goods and services. Informed cooperation is second nature here, a necessity of prosperity. (Borgmann, p 77) In Educational Psychology I learned that in post-modernity the entire concept of competition needs to be re-examined because it does not work. Only by cooperation and brainstorming together rather than against each other can we be stronger. And in a work shop for the career woman I learned that five years is the length of time one should be prepared to work in this post-modern world. Work pensions, stability and loyalty to an employer for a lifetime will shortly be behind us. I agree with Borgmann that post-modern cooperation, would be sustained not by a rigid structure but by shared information and flexible adaption.”(ibid, p 77). In the process the poor grow poorer and the richer become richer while the middle class struggle to maintain their status. What does this do to our spirituality? We seek help. There are those who feel betrayed by governments, who turn to others for help and others are helping. There are those who turn to God, even those who deny God, are seeking God. They call this spirituality and prefer it to the concept of religion because, “postmodernism does not so much reject atheism as assume it.”(ibid, p 90) Some find themselves growing closer to God and others scramble also with others for a new definition of God. Both return to a classical world of mythology and/or Jesus in a movement to find meaning in their lives that supersedes the situation they find themselves in. They look or deny God but it is God who they search for, for meaning of their existence in a world that seems fragile. “Postmodernity, at least in some of its tendencies, is much less sure about atheism.”(ibid, p 92) Postmodernism becomes about relationships with God and with each other. It is also about our relationship with ourselves. We look into the past “because in order to go forward we also need to go back.”(ibid, p100) By looking at our past we try to regain the importance of relationships with God and with each other. As people I know have lost their corporate careers here at home and I see them either suffer or content to slow down, I feel an ongoing transition that is not quite finished and therefore I agree with Anthony Giddens who “argues that it is premature to label our age postmodern” (Gallagher, p 91) . Another European I know informed me that his position after seventeen years has been terminated because his company is dismantling. Germany too is affected. Fortunately, he is financially secure. How is this cultural element of post-modernity active in my image of God? I have always felt that there is so much we do not know and understand. We have the Bible. We have Jesus. We have our Pope. We have prayer and a sense of another; at least I am aware of God. But it also does not make sense to me. Perhaps I am a dreamer. Perhaps I like to focus on good. But my eyes are not closed. Postmodernism is a turning point of looking at how we can help each other and our community. God is very much around and I can see God in all this mess. I was sitting in a bakery shop, shortly after taking a second retirement and starting grad studies. I was wondering if I would be able to make it on my savings. I was eating a pastry and drinking a coffee and feeling the stress of change. I felt a presence in the seat beside me or at least from the area and I then felt comforted. I did not understand it but I know it was related to God. In this second term of life, of postmodernism, I want to continue to help people in a different way than I did before. I want to validate who they are as people. We have globally made a mess of things and now we have to fix it and it can only be done in my opinion returning to values. Who is God in this post-modernity? I don’t really know. My image of God is consistent. My image of God is transcendent. My image of God is the person who walks down the street, young or old, beautiful or painful to the eyes. I see God in all beauty. I see God in nature. I will look at my pet and marvel at her beautiful face and I will look at my other pet and tell him that God smudged him when he designed his face. My prayer is usually a discussion with God and I try to hear God. I keep company with those who I feel are kind. I realize there is poverty in the church community, but somehow it is being missed, denied or rejected. A professor once said that Christmas begins during this date and ends at this date and my mind ventured to what Christmas is to me. To me Christmas is all year. I wish that the festivities and warmth and exchanges can last all year. “Churches are perceived as being part of the naïve and authoritarian past.” (Gallagher, pp 89-90) This extends to my theology. As a theological student I ponder how during Holy week, I must prioritize my study and papers before celebrating Lent. This is the second year that Holy Week took a secondary role. I wonder that the Classical view of Adam and Eve is still recited literally and ponder why? This too I am sure will change because things need to make sense now for people. In amongst all this imbalance, “Work is replaced by shopping and the fetish of style” (Gallagher, p 90) and “banks offer you dozens of ways of protecting and profiting from your money.”( Borgmann, p 74) This extends to money that one does not have. This is borrowing off mortgages with astronomical interest rates, bank loan sharks, and credit cards which seem to be the only source of payment in a post-modern culture. People with too much money and little time for anything else can enjoy the abundance of services provided for their benefits. “…it [the service industry] provides intangible goods, it needs no space for its offerings.” (ibid, p 74) This can range from those who will worry for you, “about your dog’s diet, the safety of your child…the mess of your files…”(ibid, p 74). You can find a service for absolutely anything including how to declutter your home. At the other side of the spectrum you have people who cannot manage to live on the minimum wage and hospitality continues to expect you to pay for his employee’s wages with tips. It is no longer to insure prompt service. Tipping is to ensure these employees can afford to eat. This is what I ponder when I have horrendous service and still tip. Jesus had a soft spot for the poor and this image is extended to me. I too have a soft spot for the poor. I have put myself first and right or wrong, I continue to do so financially. I do like fine things but I do not need to buy the latest or best. What I buy I use until it is dead. My oven is green. My television died after 28 years of service. But, I did replace it with the best after its demise. I buy what I like for clothing and keep it until it is worn. I put on my front lawn anything that can be recycled and that includes placing any items I do not need anymore but that can be used by someone. I do not need to take it anywhere because all is picked up and used from my front lawn in my neighborhood. I rarely shop at Wal-Mart and if others did the same there would be no Wal-Mart. I realize my power as an individual. When the city came out with saving money by using water at specific hours for washing clothes, I called them and informed them that I would wash my clothes when I wanted and that all this was doing was exploiting the poor. It is the poor who will try to accommodate the city and it is the poor, with God knows how many menial jobs, who need to wash when they can. I buy my prescription drugs locally and it was my father who impressed upon me that this is what I should do. And so, I no longer get my prescriptions at Costco at cheaper prices. I support the little man as much as possible and within my ability. I will buy a pie from a stranger whose husband no longer has a job and this is the only way, a wife can try to support her family. One priest remarked that we live in a wealthy area [from his perspective] and chastised people for going inside and locking their doors. He found that people were doing this when a stranger, not well kept, was walking through. I call this fear. The priest remarked that the man could be God. I thought of an older man, some years earlier who was caught in the rain and he huddled to the neighbor’s tree next door. It was pouring and the wind was brutal. I was concerned that he might be struck by lightning. I offered him my enclosed alcove. I asked him if he wanted a coffee and he said yes. So I made him a coffee with the sugar and milk he wanted and along with a cookie which he also accepted. I brought it out to him. I ensured he was dry but did not invite him into my home because I did not know who he is. I never saw him again. There is so much crime that never existed before with such magnitude in our city that apprehension has become the norm. This I suggest is also part of postmodernism. Another infliction of post-modernity is loneliness. Computers have replaced the, “the social connective tissue that is made up of voices and shouts, of gestures and expressions…” (Borgmann, p 69). Computers also allow people to do most of their work away from the workplace, thus removing the person from the social exposure related to work. Borgmann offers an example of computers in restaurants to demonstrate limited communication for the promotion of efficiency, “ …no other communication between waiters and waitresses and kitchen staff is normally permitted…it obviates disputes endemic in most restaurants... ” (ibid p 69). Gallagher writes of how he and his students, “discussed how in postmodernity the fate of the self deepens into a new isolation and loss of connections.” (Gallagher, p 92) I have been to five funerals this semester and as a result, I realized I lost connections with too many relatives and old friends. First it was work and then it was school that kept me focused for the moment. I realize that I am missed and that I to missed those connections. I am intent in renewing old relationships this summer between semesters. In my image of God, I see Jesus reaching out to the poor, the sick and the lonely. Jesus always cured, encouraged, and motivated. He was a teacher for us to do the same. I love my church and my priests. They do the best they can. We all have different perspectives. I pray that God leads me to where I am expected to be and do the most within my ability. I love the comfort of my home. I love my pets and family and friends and I love to socialize. I have always been drawn to people and love parties. Yet, I know that there are people who are alone, who are not socialized and who do not have friends. There is so much work to be done in the post-modern world. On Good Friday, I received a flyer at my home from a fellow parishioner. It was an advertisement that two neighboring Catholic churches were holding a procession which would pass along my street. The group would gather at one church and walk passes my church and then stop at the second Church. It was requested that a candle be lit and placed on the verandah while the procession passed. I decided to light several candles and brought out an angel (it was pointed out to me by a friend that I have angels in every room. I had not noticed). As night fell, I waited for the procession to arrive. A police vehicle led the sea of lights walking down the hill. It was blocks of people. The policeman remarked how amazing it was as he drove by me. I responded that it was wonderful, never taking my eyes away from the people. I noticed two neighbors who are not Catholic bring out a candle and light it. At this moment watching Catholics and non Catholics coming together to marvel as crosses and a statue of Mary made its way past our homes, I felt that this was the best that post-modernity had to offer. There was only a mysterious aura of awe. No words were necessary. At this moment I felt proud of my country and church. I felt proud that there was a unity of the faithful and that it touched all. There was a silence as people walked by. I noticed the porch lights coming alive as people who had no candles lit their verandahs. People from other streets came to ours to watch. Though I have seen many processions walk by my house and elsewhere, none impacted me as much. We are living in a world of post-modernity. The authors have clearly depicted a time of computers and economic change that requires and is getting a renewal of attention. With this change there is a movement towards relationships. Our economic culture which has failed to sustain us is crumbling and we are redefining ourselves as people in relationship with each other and with God. It is a new generation that is more educated, more spiritual, and is asking more questions. We are aware of change as we are forced to see our needs revamping. Systems in place are changing. Corporations that have grown strong and powerful are collapsing. Through all this unsettlement, relationship is becoming important not only with ourselves and each other but also with the other – God, if realized or not. Bibliography Borgmann, Albert. Crossing the Postmodern Divide. “The Postmodern Critique of Realism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992. Gallagher, Michael Paul. Clashing Symbols: An Introduction To Faith And Culture. “The Postmodern Situation – Friend or Foe? London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1997.

Bi-polar 1 & 2 revised since. However valued for comparison Psych notes (abnormal psychology)

Bi Polar 1 currently or most recently in a hypomanic episode. previously had at least one manic or mixed episode. mood symptoms cause clinic bipolar ally significant distress or impairment in social, occasional or other areas. mood episodes in criteria a & b are not better accounted for by schizoaffective disorder and not superimposed on skitzo , delusional or psychotic disorders. Longitudinal course, specific (with or without Inter episode recovery. - with seasonal pattern - winter/summer disruptive of monetonin system (applies only to major depressive) with rapid cycling. Bi polar 2. Presence (or history) of one or more major depressive episodes. Presence of or history of at least hypomanic episode. there has never been a manic episode or mixed episode (MAJOR DIFFERENCE). Sometimes people become psychotic when suffering from mood disorder. eg. manic - mind races- than becomes delusional. It is hard to diff. someone in manic phase from skies. But of course there are ways. One way is the IQ test Shifley developed in the 40’s. Skitzo’s typically have no deterioration in vocabulary. Know what words mean. Skitzo’s have problem with distract thinking, deduction. Average Skitzo T= 50 Manic can score anywhere here. Abstract reasoning for Skitzo 11/2 SD worse, T score =35. Manic T= 35, for abstract thinking. Difference is skits will do two or three and then stop (“I can’t figure it out.” Manic might get first or second and third and will fill everything but will free associate. eg> Scotlands Landscape Scapegoat. goat = goatee/herd (is the true answer) Depression can work in many ways. There are levels of severity. It can become so severe that it can generate into a psychotic illness. Example: - Female client works in a bank and has raised two teenagers. Client becomes depressed because she can no longer work and take care of her family. Her delusion is that her eldest son has developed cancer because she did not wash his ear out. She does not believe the physicians and feels it is her fault that her son will die. She decides to kill her entire family. When everyone is sleeping, she clubs her husband. Her eldest and youngest son stopped it. Her husband is brain damaged and requires a wheel chair, as a result of the attack. This all started with depression. What causes mood disorders? Beck’s ideas: Negative Triad pessimistic views of self, world and future <>negative schemata or beliefs, triggered by negative life events (eg. the assumption that I have to be perfect).<>Cognitive Biases eg. arbitrary inference<>depression. There is a lot of issues in clinical psychology. A lot of validation comes from outcome when there is a treatment on the hypothesis. Cognitive Therapy - try to get depressed person to cite evidence for negative beliefs. Challenge negative triad. e.g.. Everyone hates me. Therapist - I met your spouse and he seems to feel much for you. If he hated you, why would he do that? Because Cognitive Therapy is most effective, there is a belief - that this is what is underlying some form of depression. It does not work for depression that comes very suddenly for no reason. It may be biological. In Journey Into Darkness ECT helped, when nothing else did. Most people do not have this type of depression biologically induced. What causes change in the brain? Biological level or response to something in the environment. to be continued……depression Learned Helplessness.

Update, book 2/book 3/ and College of Psychotherapy

It is raining out and damp. It is cold. I have one pet laying by me, with her tongue sticking out. I see her fangs. Her face looks like that of a bat. She is happy. I have made her a character in my third book. Her name is Holy Terror. This is not her real name. I have changed her name to protect the innocent. She will be the only real character in the book. All others are purely my imagination. I am on page 60 and have decided to slow down a bit. I want to write about 200 pages this time with a cap at 250. I was reading an article about an author yesterday and she talked about how she writes and said that she is never asked to teach because she has no rules. I realized that I write the same way. I did take one creative writing course in undergrad and loved it. However, my major was psychology as you well know. With this book that I am writing now I just realized after page 50, who my killer will be. I also decided how I would either kill the killer or capture him or her. I have also decided why my killer kills. I realize by writing this book, that I make notes on a pad for the different characters, their characteristics, a few clues here and there and a few questions for later in the book. I develop my characters as much or as little as I like. I am giving birth to a community that does not exist. I am providing characters with a face and physic and personalities that I enjoy creating. What I would like to have, I realized yesterday is a big black board so I could chart everyone with clues and connections etc......This would be easier than using different pages for different characters etc....I am enjoying this game of murder. So enough about my third book in the making. My second book has not arrived yet and a relative emailed me yesterday saying that I should be very excited. I replied that I would be more excited when my web is up so I can sell my books and when I receive my letter from the college of Psychotherapy all within the two or three weeks. Needless to say I am rushing to the door each time I hear the mail come from my faithful postman. My second book is a surprise. It took me a long time to write and it was spaced out a lot. I had to think hard and I am hoping to have a positive reaction from it. I have learned from writing my first book, that people respond quite differently. It is the same book, but each who read it had a different opinion. Some gave my book to men who they thought needed it to help them with women. I never wrote the book to be taken seriously or as a therapeutic book. I wrote it for fun. Some men I am told hated it and me with it. They thought I was telling men what to do. Other men approached me to tell me they read my book and found it amusing and entertaining. A few told me that the book had really helped them. I wrote one little book, "Hey Guy Buy Me" and I had so many different responses. That is life! There are all kinds of people out there and they come from different places and what they read or see or interchange is a reflection of who they are. I am included. What I write comes from a place within me. If I had a different life, I would have written different books. Keeping that in mind each book I have written and am writing is different from each other. I have not written any books on therapy. I do not know if I will. Never say never. I may change my mind. I am looking at Holy Terror right now and she is covering her eyes with her hairy arm. She is so cute and I feel like just kissing her, but I know that will annoy her. Animals are cute, are they not? It is not too difficult to write about someone who is always in your face. I am looking forward for my books to arrive and as a result have not committed myself to much this month. Next month I will be attending two seminars so far. One will be a day seminar about complicated grief which I have mentioned earlier and another will be about gender transitioning. Both will benefit my practise. I received another email today about stopping or fighting the College of Psychotherapy. I even replied once that I am pro the college. The public requires protection. It is as simple as that. I understand the fears that people who have been practising without qualifications have. I have heard of people with only an undergraduate degree in psychology practising as a psychologist. I have heard of people with no training whatsoever practising simply what they have learned from their own therapy. There are people practising out there with zero qualifications. They should be scared and they will not be able to make the big bucks they make anymore once the College is in effect. Am I concerned that I will not get a letter of acceptance? No. I am anxiously waiting for it, because I think it is long overdue. So, for now, I encourage you to have a nice day. Life is very short and you realize that when you work with people who are dying or very sick. If you had two years left to live, what would you do that is different than what you are doing now? If your partner was sick and dying what would you do for him or her that is different than how you are now with your partner. Why not take a bit of time to think about where you are in life, what your goals are, your interests. Ask yourself what makes you happy or sad and then take a little step towards moving ahead. What do you think?

How was your Easter?

I notice there were 20 posts read by my half side, Switzerland. I think it is the most beautiful country that I have ever seen myself and am not surprised that my mom never got over missing her beloved country. I spent hours with her looking at utube moutains of Switzerland and yodeling. Norway is second for me. I will be disclosing that in my second book which has not arrived yet but soon. I love my country and it is pretty in some places but living in a city, you have to know where nature lays. That is why I make sure I am always close to nature. I always enjoy celebrating and this Easter was no exception with those closest to me. I did not venture out too far this year and most have come to me or are still coming. That is what happens when your car is elderly. I have loads of chocolate and baked goods and other good stuff to eat. Baked stuff of course was brought to me. After all this indulgence I do have to get back into some semblance of shape. I have never in my life spent so much seating. I have not figured out how to type and run at the same time. Actually, I do not run anymore. I can do more walking but my pets do not like it and they like being glued to me at my desk when I write, especially my female. So, it is not my fault that I am not in the best of shape. I am surrounded by pastry shops. The healthiest snack is a grilled cheese( the Portugese way which is a thick bun with lots of melted cheese within). That is what I was telling some acquaintances last week while I was indulging in the only healthy thing in the pastry shop - no lettuce - no tomatoes etc..... So, it is not my fault.......that I have developed a sweet tooth. It is the fault of everyone that brings me delicious stuff (and I cannot be rude). I am a victim of my neighbourhood. So, I am still celebrating Easter and am expecting more company today and just maybe I can share all those goodies with others and be free of celebrations for some time. Then my male pet and I can start dancing again (he likes to dance with me). I have filled the fridge with fruits and vegetables - now I can go back to healthy living. Right!!!!! Thank you for reading my blogs. Feel free to share your thoughts. I do not bite. Well, maybe..............Now I will write a little for book three. I have 50 pages so far and if you do not like my second, you will my third because this one is not true. I make it up and if anyone recognized themselves it is not them. What do you think?

Update and Happy Easter

Happy Easter! It is still cold out and I am concerned about global warming which is becoming more known as climate change. I did attend a three day seminar regarding the changes in weather about six years ago and it was not very promising. However, I always have hope that society will take a wake up call and not get used to this. But, actually take a more responsible role to not only respect each other but nature. So it has been a cold start and I am anxiously awaiting warmer days where I can at least be outdoors with minimal dress and feel the sun on my face. I intend to spend as much as possible outside for our short months of wonderful weather. I have written about thirty pages of my third book and I like it, if I say so myself. I really enjoy writing stories. It’s fun. I am awaiting delivery of my second book which will take about two or three weeks and then I will begin the process of a new web site just for my books. That too will be fun and if fun actually brings in some money, than I will be able to have even more fun. I have a dream of trading in my 19 year old car. There is still some school debt hidden somewhere first. Yeah! To dream………… The College of Psychotherapy (CRPO) is starting up soon and applicants should be receiving invoices in the next two or three weeks. Why don’t you check out the site. You can see it on-line. There has been a lot of resistance, much more than I thought, but the public does need to be protected. This is so long over due in my opinion. This week is Holy week for many. It is a time for family and friends and lots of chocolate. Chocolate just came to mine while I was typing. It is a time for reflection of what you have in your life; what you are thankful of. It is a time to examine your life. What have you done for others? What have you done for yourself? What do you believe in? Does it provide you with peace? How is your health? Can you sleep at night? Why not? Have you got anyone to talk to? Have you got anyone to laugh with? Are you happy with your partner? If not, why not? What can you do to find peace and happiness within yourself? Are you looking for something and are not quite sure what it is? I wish you and yours a Happy Easter season with lots of blessings! What do you think? I just noticed that it is April Fools day today. Gotta go and fool some people I know. Have some fun today with April Fools!