Healing the Mind, Body & Spirit Through the Creative Arts, Education & Advocacy

 

Hope, Healing & Help for Trauma, Abuse & Mental Health

 

“Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars”. Kahlil Gibran

 

 

The Surviving Spirit Newsletter April 2024

 

“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” - Harriet Tubman

 

Hi Folks,

 

The month of April helps to create awareness and change for addressing these two important topics that impact the whole world:

 

National Child Abuse Prevention Month - Child Welfare Information Gateway

 

Doing Things Differently: Moving from the Challenge to the Change -National Child Abuse Prevention Month recognizes the importance of families and communities working together to prevent child abuse and neglect. Prevention services and supports developed by this collaboration can help parents, other caregivers, and communities protect children and strengthen families.

 

Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month & National Sexual Violence Resource Center – Building Connected Communities

 

In the summer of 2005 I was asked to present at an upcoming conference taking place on November 14,. 2005 - “Children in Slavery – the 21st Century” Summit. It was being held at Georgetown University. The United Nations, The State Department and Georgetown University were part of this endeavor, along with many others. The conference was to address human slavery and trafficking.

 

After agreeing to present as a survivor for this event, I wrote this song later in the evening. I feel the lyrics are self-explanatory with my thoughts and feelings. I had been part of many high profile events prior to the Georgetown University Summit that addressed child abuse and sexual assault and met lots of powerful and very wealth people and I had high hopes that they would take the ball and do something. Sadly, for some of these folks it always felt like it was “The flavor of the month” to me by their inaction - thus my disappointment. That said, I have met many other incredible people and organizations doing wonderful things to change the paradigm of child abuse and sexual assault.

 

“Brush Away Your Tears”- live performance @ You Tube

 

You can hear the studio version of this song at Amazon, Spotify, and other streaming services. The album cut has other musicians performing and the chorus is sung by a group of survivor friends.

 

Track #13 off the “Waitin’ For A Train” CD

 

“BRUSH AWAY YOUR TEARS”© Michael Skinner Music

 

Brush away the tears from your eyes my child

The world don’t want to see you cry - CHORUS -

Brush away the tears from your eyes my child

The world don’t want to hear you cry

 

And though it’s not right you’ve got to carry on with your life – please try

The world don’t understand, sticks its head in the sand - and hides - VERSE -

I wish I could take your hand, try to help you understand my child

You’ve got to carry on, your story must be told - sometime

 

- CHORUS -

 

When you’re standing all alone, reach inside to carry on - dear child

Find the ways to be strong, though they may break you down inside

Your spirit is still alive so look around and you’ll find - VERSE -

A friend who’ll hold your hand, will try their best to understand your life

So till then please carry on, find the ways to be strong my child

 

- CHORUS -

 

 

Brush away your tears

Hide all of your fears - CHORUS REFRAIN -

Hide all of your pain

Hide all of your shame

The world don’t want to know

The world don’t want to know

 

Someday the world will understand

And then they’ll hold out their hand

Till then you must be strong

And find the way to carry on

Brush away your tears

Brush away your tears

 

“Hope is a pillar of faith. It is pillar which holds our desired dreams.” - Lailah Gifty Akita

 

Newsletter Contents:

 

1] The Learning Bridge with Richard Gerver and guest Dwain Chambers - Olympic Sprinter, Youngest-Ever World Championship Medalist, and Former European Record-Holder – Blog Podcast

 

2] Lived experience perspectives essential to reducing global mental health stigma: Study by King's College London

 

3] Jasmine Marie Wants to Use Breathwork to Help 1 Million Black Women Deal With Trauma by Ashley Simpson @ Harper's Bazaar

 

4] At four, I was kidnapped and sex-trafficked for years. Now I fight for the powerless – and win every case by Annie Kelly @ The Guardian

 

5] Why Suppressing Psychosis Often Backfires - And What Works Better! - Recovery from "Schizophrenia" and other "Psychotic Disorders" by Ron Unger

 

6] A three-step skill set for self-care by Gwendolyn Downing @ YouTube

 

7] ‘Anxious Avoidance’ Could Be Making Your Anxiety Worse – Here’s How to Break Free by Lauren Geall @ Stylist

 

8] This Is My Brave - Storytelling Saves Lives -empowering individuals to put their names and faces on their true stories of recovery from mental illness and addiction.

 

9] Works from artists with disabilities featured in historic exhibition in San Francisco – PBS Newshour @ YouTube

 

10] Volunteers uncover fate of Lost Alaskans sent to Oregon mental hospital a century ago By Mark Thiessen @ AP News

 

11] Recovery community helping Kentucky town rebound from economic decline and addiction – PBS Newshour @ YouTube

 

12] Why Isn't Dental Health Considered Primary Medical Care? By Lola Butcher @ Smithsonian Magazine

 

13] Harness Your Dark Side: Mastering Jealousy, Rage, Frustration and Other Negative Emotions by Al Galves

 

14] TAR Network – Join the fight against Toxic Abusive Relationships! - A 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to supporting survivors of Toxic Abusive Relationships

 

“The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.” - Coco Chanel

 

1] The Learning Bridge with Richard Gerver and guest Dwain Chambers - Olympic Sprinter, Youngest-Ever World Championship Medalist, and Former European Record-Holder – Blog Podcast

 

Dwain grew up in an abusive home in London, but used his love of athletics to create a better life. He eventually became the “world’s fastest teenager” and was the youngest-ever World Championship medalist in sprinting, earning medals in the 100 meters and 100-meter relay in 1999. He is an 8-time British champion, has competed in multiple Olympics, holds the European record in the 60-meter dash, and is the only man to ever run a sub-10 second time in the 100 meters in three different decades.

 

However, his career also included a suspension for performance-enhancing drug use as part of the BALCO scandal that ensnared many well-known American athletes.

 

Dwain is the latest remarkable guest to share his story on The Learning Bridge. He talks about his upbringing, his career, and his thoughts on education, the importance of role models, and what it takes to earn trust.

 

“Words that enlighten the soul are more precious than jewels.” - Inayat Khan

 

“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” - Helen Keller

 

2] Lived experience perspectives essential to reducing global mental health stigma: Study by King's College London

 

Article excerpt - Media and anti-stigma activities could help combat mental health stigma and discrimination, but only with lived experience involvement, according to research led by the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's College London in collaboration with the Global Mental Health Peer Network.

 

The study, published in eClinicalMedicine, is the first to co-produce research with people with lived experience of mental health conditions to investigate global perspectives of mental health related stigma and discrimination.

 

A total of 198 participants from more than 30 countries across Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Australia/Oceania shared their perspectives on the role that language, media, and societal reactions play in perpetuating stigmatizing views.

 

Researchers found that insensitive language and misinformation continue to reinforce harmful stereotypes about mental health conditions around the world. Tokenistic involvement of people with lived experience resulted in weak anti-stigma campaigns with little positive impact.

 

The findings emphasized that people with lived experience play a key role in efforts to reduce stigma and discrimination.

 

"Superficially including people with lived experience in research is not enough—there must be genuine collaboration. By co-producing our research with people with lived experience, we developed a deeper understanding of global perspectives of stigma, centered around the priorities of those that are impacted by discrimination.

 

“Your toxically shamed inner child doesn’t believe he has the right to want anything. You can champion him by listening carefully to what he needs and wants. You may not always be able to give him what he wants, but you can listen and give him permission to want it. Without desire and wanting, our life energy gets crushed.” - Homecoming by John Bradshaw

 

“The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.” - Unknown

 

3] Jasmine Marie Wants to Use Breathwork to Help 1 Million Black Women Deal With Trauma by Ashley Simpson @ Harper's Bazaar

 

Article excerpt - The founder of Black Girls Breathing set a goal to hit by 2025, here's how she's going to do it.

 

In 2018, Jasmine Marie had a realization. She was living in New York City at the time, working in a high stress environment when she discovered breathwork. The holistic mental health practice changed her life: she subsequently trained to become a practitioner, left her corporate job, and founded black girls breathing—an organization dedicated to bringing the self-care exercise, along with other mental health resources, to Black women and girls in the US and beyond.

 

Marie is also now working to transform and decolonize the mental health industry at large. She has pledged to impact 1 million Black women and girls by 2025 through breathwork, which is defined as the regulation of the breath through certain techniques and exercises to relieve stress and enhance the mental state. What's more, Black girls breathing is working to fill the research gaps in mental health, a space that—like so many others—has not centered the Black experience in research, practice, or care. We caught up with Marie over Zoom from Atlanta where she is currently based to learn about why breathwork is so transformative in trauma healing, how black girls breathing came about, and how she and her team are working to transform the mental health industry.

 

Why do you love breathwork and how did you first come into contact with it?

 

I [studied business] at NYU and the culture was very much ‘high stress is expected in your work-life.' I was working in global haircare after school and my stress was just out of this world. At the time I was really involved in my church in Harlem. The pastor built our church to be so inclusive. There were so many things about his teachings that were revolutionary. He launched a community center and they offered free breathwork classes to Harlem residents. I was coming from a very traditional Christian background, needing it to align to my own beliefs about people and faith.

 

My first breathwork practitioner was a Black woman which I think was very influential to me looking back. The practice in so many ways saved my life. There was so much stress in my career and [in my] personal [life]. Sometimes our nervous systems are just so taxed and stressed that we disconnect. I remember reclaiming myself and being able to know what was going on in my body and making choices from that. I eventually left the corporate world and started my first business.

 

“Never allow another to take the hopes from your heart, the dreams from your mind, or the goodness from your soul.” - A.D. Williams

 

“F-E-A-R has two meanings:

Forget everything and run or Face everything and rise.” - Zig Ziglar

 

4] At four, I was kidnapped and sex-trafficked for years. Now I fight for the powerless – and win every case by Annie Kelly @ The Guardian

 

Article excerpt - After he was snatched, Antonio Salazar-Hobson didn’t see his family for 24 years. His desire to return to his mother, and his discovery of a higher purpose, helped him navigate a path through hell.

 

Although it happened more than 60 years ago, Antonio Salazar-Hobson remembers every detail of his kidnapping. He says that if he closes his eyes, he is instantly taken back to that hot Sunday afternoon in 1960 when he was a four-year-old boy standing with his brothers and sisters in the red dust of his back yard on the outskirts of Phoenix, Arizona.

 

Nearby, at the bottom of a short passageway connecting the back yard to the road out of town, a car is idling.

 

A white man is leaning out of the window, calling Salazar-Hobson’s name. He is very afraid of this man and the woman sitting next to him in the passenger seat. His older brother and sister are also afraid. They have been told by their parents, who are out working in the fields, that they must not let Salazar-Hobson go anywhere with the couple in the car. He can hear the fear in their voices as they call out: “Thank you very much, but Antonio can’t come for ice-cream.”

 

Then, suddenly, the man is out of the car and moving at astonishing speed towards them. As the children stand frozen with terror, he swoops down on Salazar-Hobson, lifting him up and carrying him away. He throws him into the backseat and the car accelerates away, leaving his brothers and sisters screaming in the dust. In just a few hours, the car will have crossed over the border into California. It will be another 24 years before Salazar-Hobson sees his family again.

 

What happens to Salazar-Hobson in the time between his kidnapping and his return to his family is so horrifying that it is almost impossible to comprehend. After being snatched from his back yard, he is taken into a nightmarish landscape of sex trafficking, violence and exploitation, where the rest of his early life is spent in an endless loop of fear, pain and loneliness.

 

Yet Salazar-Hobson’s story is so much more than the evil that was done to him. Rather than being broken by what he experienced, he instead rose from the ashes of his stolen childhood to accomplish extraordinary academic feats and become one of the US’s most successful labour rights attorneys, representing vulnerable and powerless communities, and dedicating his life to justice and compassion. “I chose not to be obliterated by the abuse and trauma I was forced to endure,” he says. “Instead of being swallowed by the darkness, I survived by walking towards the light.”

“If we wait for the moment when everything, absolutely everything is ready, we shall never begin.” - Ivan Turgenev

 

“The problem of distinguishing what we are and what we are not responsible for in this life is one of the greatest problems of human existence...we must possess the willingness and the capacity to suffer continual self-examination.” - M. Scott Peck

 

5] Why Suppressing Psychosis Often Backfires - And What Works Better! - Recovery from "Schizophrenia" and other "Psychotic Disorders" by Ron Unger

 

Article excerpt - Are psychotic experiences something that should simply be suppressed? These experiences cause so many problems, it may seem that the answer should always be yes!

But there’s a paradox when we try hard to get rid of psychotic experiences. Our efforts to do so can quickly make the problem worse!

At its simplest level, we see the basis for this when we try too hard to get rid of a thought. For example if you focus too much on not thinking about elephants, they will be on your mind all day. If you focus on not having the thought that you might have germs on your hand, you might spend all day washing your hands to make sure there is no basis for the thought.

And if you are very sure you shouldn’t be having a thought, it might start to seem that the thought is coming from somewhere else, like a brain implant or a demon or telepathy from someone you don’t like. Now the battle is really on!  But the prognosis for winning this battle is not good. Efforts to get rid of what now seem like voices etc. just make them seem more important and more compelling. Things can rapidly spin out of control, and go to some really dark places, which often just convinces everyone involved that doubling down on attempts at suppression is the way to go!

Fortunately, there is a better way. Paradoxically, it involves accepting even the “crazy” thoughts or voices that seemed to be causing so much trouble, but in away that avoids making too much of them.

Our brains are weird, our minds are weird, and that’s OK. We can learn to help people not make too much of the weirdness, and to identify what helps them move on and make a life they value, and to connect with the people and activities they love.

“Let the beauty we love be what we do.” - Rumi

 

“Worry is a misuse of the imagination.” - Steve Chandler

 

6] A three-step skill set for self-care by Gwendolyn Downing @ YouTube

 

This video provides an overview of a three-step skill set for self-care, of one’s body, behaviors, thoughts, and emotions. And then, there is an additional segment with some possible approaches for thoughts, mindfulness, grounding, and resetting/relaxing.

 

Purpose: Done to support the California Child Care Resource and Referral Network’s annual Trauma Informed Care conference

 

“The solution isn’t to talk ourselves out of our feelings. The solution is to simply allow our feelings to be exactly as they are.” - Bethany Butzer

 

“Where there is great love there are always miracles.” - Willa Cather

 

7] ‘Anxious Avoidance’ Could Be Making Your Anxiety Worse – Here’s How to Break Free by Lauren Geall @ Stylist

 

Article excerpt - Do you tend to shy away from things that make you anxious? You could be stuck in a cycle of anxious avoidance. Here’s how to break free.

 

On paper, avoiding the things we don’t want to do seems logical. Getting out of your comfort zone is, spoiler alert, uncomfortable, and consciously choosing to put yourself in a situation that makes you anxious may seem a bit counterintuitive.

 

But while avoiding a situation or person that triggers your anxiety may be OK every once in a while, repeatedly engaging in this behaviour – also known as ‘anxious avoidance’ – has the potential to make your anxiety even worse in the long run.

 

According to Jacqueline Carson, a psychotherapist, hypnotherapist and meditation teacher, this is because avoidance feeds into a pattern of negative reinforcement.

 

“Subconsciously, you brain is working hard to keep you safe, so whenever danger approaches, your brain alerts your autonomic nervous system, which in turn triggers your fight, flight or freeze response, filling your body with cortisol and making you feel fearful,” she explains.

 

“The feelings in your body reinforce the automatic negative thoughts in your head, and so the cycle continues – unless you break it.”

 

The ‘danger’ we face now may not be as deadly as the tigers and bears our prehistoric ancestors faced, but we respond to anxiety-inducing situations in the same way. And when we choose not to face the source of our anxiety, we’re effectively telling our brain that our fear was justified, reinforcing that response.

 

“It is critical to break this cycle because it will continue to get stronger otherwise,” Carson explains. “Continuing to avoid places, people, situations and events reinforces to your subconscious mind that the world is a dangerous place and it is safer to stay away. Neurological pathways will then strengthen, further supporting your theory and making it harder to take control.”

 

“What we teach ourselves with our thoughts and attitudes is up to us.” - In All Our Affairs-Al-Anon

 

“Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.” - William Shakespeare

 

8] This Is My Brave - Storytelling Saves Lives - The mission of This Is My Brave is to empower individuals to put their names and faces on their true stories of recovery from mental illness and addiction.

 

This Is My Brave is looking for passionate storytellers, advocates, and outside-of-the-box thinkers who want to make a difference by building the Brave Community where they live, work, or hang out!

 

Brave Ambassadors will be volunteer affiliates of This Is My Brave who can spread the love of who we are and what we do in their respective communities. Every demographic, community, profession, and person has a story they can share. Want to reach out to local first responders? Teachers? Teens, senior citizens, or single parents? The opportunities are endless, and we want people who are excited about advancing the mission and vision of This Is My Brave to be the face and voice of Brave in their areas. If that’s something that excites you, let us know below!

 

This Is My Brave’s goal is to equip, empower, and engage community members across the country who are committed to raising awareness and beginning conversations surrounding mental health.

 

Share you Story - We believe in the power of storytelling to break down the stigma surrounding mental illness, substance use conditions, and overall mental health. Every time a story is told – every time we shine a light on one of these topics – we let someone know that they are not alone. We can give someone the gift of hope and provide them with a sense of community based on shared experiences.

 

This Is My Brave productions are made up of real people with lived experience sharing their own stories through the performing arts. Whether it’s a touching essay, original music, poetry, comedy, or dance, our storytellers inspire their communities to see a little deeper and feel a little more about those living with – or loving someone with – a mental health condition. Because of the hundreds of storytellers that have used This Is My Brave as their storytelling platform, we are working to normalize conversations about mental health, break down stigma, and offer hope.

 

“Good thoughts bear good fruit, bad thoughts bear bad fruit – and man is his own gardener.” - John Leonard

 

“The highest form of wisdom is kindness.” - The Talmud

 

9] Works from artists with disabilities featured in historic exhibition in San Francisco – PBS Newshour @ YouTube

 

Creative Growth is an art center in Oakland that supports artists with disabilities. The center has artworks in museums across the country and plays a big part in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art's new exhibition. Jeffrey Brown reports for our ongoing look at health and the arts for our CANVAS series.

 

“Give yourself to love if love is what you're after. Open up your heart to the tears and laughter. And give yourself to love, give yourself to love.” - Kate Wolf

 

“Not everything that steps out of line, and is ‘abnormal’, must necessarily be ‘inferior’.” - Hans Asperger

 

10] Volunteers uncover fate of Lost Alaskans sent to Oregon mental hospital a century ago By Mark Thiessen @ AP News

 

Article excerpt - Lucy Pitka McCormick’s relatives cooked salmon, moose, beaver and muskrat over an earthen firepit on the banks of the Chena River, just outside Fairbanks, as they honored her life. They whipped whitefish, blueberries and lard into a traditional Alaska Native dessert, and dolloped servings onto a paper plate, setting it in the flames to feed her spirit.

 

The family prayed as McCormick’s great-grandson built a small plywood coffin that was filled with gifts and necessities for the next world, such as her granddaughter’s artwork and a hairbrush.

 

The weeklong Koyukon Athabascan burial ceremony in September was traditional in all ways but one: McCormick died in 1931. Her remains were only recently identified and returned to family.

 

McCormick was one of about 5,500 Alaskans between 1904 and the 1960s who were committed to a hospital in Portland, Oregon, after being deemed by a jury “really and truly insane,” a criminal offense.

 

There were no facilities to treat those with mental illness or developmental disabilities in what was then the Alaska territory, so they were sent — often by dog sled, sleigh or stagecoach — to a waiting ship in Valdez. The 2,500-mile (4,000 km) journey ended at Morningside Hospital.

 

Many never left, and their families never learned their fate.

 

They are known as the Lost Alaskans.

 

For more than 15 years, volunteers in Fairbanks and in Portland have been working to identify the people who were committed to the hospital. Many were buried in Portland cemeteries, some in unmarked pauper graves. A few, like McCormick, have been returned to Alaska for proper burials.

 

“It was pretty powerful that we had Lucy back,” said her grandson, Wally Carlo. “You could feel the energy when she came back to Alaska, like she had to wait 90-some years for this.”

 

A new database went online in February to help families see if their long-lost auntie or great-grandfather were among those sent to Morningside. The website, which builds on an earlier blog, is a clearinghouse for research performed by the volunteers.

 

Companion YouTube: Morningside Hospital: The Lost Alaskans - Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) will sponsor a lecture today on the so-called “lost Alaskans” who were sent to an out-of-state asylum for the mentally ill, often never to return.

 

In their talk, Morningside Hospital: The Lost Alaskans, retired Alaska judge Niesje Steinkruger and amateur Oregon historian Eric Cordingley will discuss how, for 50 years, the state of Alaska sent “mentally ill” people to a private asylum called Morningside Hospital in Portland, Oregon.

 

Many of the detainees were Alaska Natives.

 

“One doesn't have to operate with great malice to do great harm. The absence of empathy and understanding are sufficient.” - Charles M. Blow

 

“The past is our definition. We may strive with good reason to escape it, or to escape what is bad in it. But we will escape it only by adding something better to it.” - Wendell Berry

 

11] Recovery community helping Kentucky town rebound from economic decline and addiction – PBS Newshour @ YouTube

For years, the stories coming out of Appalachian coal country have been grim: addiction, black lung disease and economic decline. But a new story is now emerging, one where people in recovery are helping their communities rebound. Jeffrey Brown reports from Hazard, Kentucky.

 

“The past is but the beginning of a beginning.” - H.G. Wells

 

“Treat everyone with politeness, even those who are rude to you - not because they are nice, but because you are.” - Unknown

 

12] Why Isn't Dental Health Considered Primary Medical Care? By Lola Butcher @ Smithsonian Magazine

 

Article excerpt - Ailments of the mouth can put the body at risk for a slew of other ills, yet dentistry is often siloed.

 

The patient’s teeth appeared to be well cared for, but dentist James Mancini did not like the look of his gums. By chance, Mancini knew the man’s physician, so he raised an alert about a potential problem—and a diagnosis soon emerged.

 

“Actually, Bob had leukemia,” says Mancini, clinical director of the Meadville Dental Center in Pennsylvania. Though he wasn’t tired or having other symptoms, “his mouth was a disaster,” Mancini says. “Once his physician saw that, they were able to get him treated right away.”

 

Oral health is tightly connected to whole-body health, so Mancini’s hunch is not surprising. What is unusual is that the dentist and doctor communicated.

 

Historically, dentistry and medicine have operated as parallel fields: Dentists take care of the mouth, physicians the rest of the body. That is starting to change as many initiatives across the United States and other countries work to integrate oral and whole-body care to more effectively tackle diabetes, cardiovascular disease, joint replacements and many other conditions. The exact relationship between health of mouth and teeth and physical ailments elsewhere in the body is not well understood and in some cases, is contentious—but experts agree there are links that should no longer be overlooked.

 

In recent years, dental hygienists have started working in medical clinics; physicians and dentists have started a professional association to promote working together; and a new kind of clinic—with dentists and doctors under one roof—is emerging.

 

“We are at a pivotal point—I call it the convergence era—where dentistry is not going to be separated from overall health for much longer,” says Stephen E. Thorne IV, founder and CEO of Pacific Dental Services, based in Irvine, California. “Dentistry will be brought into the primary care health-care team.”

 

The list of connections between oral health and systemic health—conditions that affect the entire body—is remarkable. For starters, three common dental issues—cavities, tooth loss and periodontal disease—are all associated with heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States. “To me, the number one hidden risk factor for the number one killer in our country is oral health,” says Ellie Campbell, a family physician in Cumming, Georgia, and board member of the American Academy for Oral Systemic Health, founded in 2010 to increase awareness of how oral and whole-body health are related.

 

“Feeling lost doesn't mean that you are lost... sometimes when we feel lost, that is when we truly begin to find ourselves. That is when we begin to turn things around and find out who we really are.” - Kim Bayne

 

“Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

 

13] Harness Your Dark Side: Mastering Jealousy, Rage, Frustration and Other Negative Emotions by Al Galves

 

The book is now available at the NEC Store:

 

Do you ever wonder why you made a wrong decision or why you feel badly about being angry, jealous or anxious? Do you have a need for constant affirmation and approval from others? Is there something lurking beneath the surface that influences your actions?

 

Harness Your Dark Side shows the ways in which an individual can confront and harness the negative drives, deep-rooted beliefs and troubled feelings that make up his or her dark side, and simmer beneath the surface. Coming face-to-face with these fearful and scary parts of our character and by utilizing them in positive ways, we will ultimately find a more satisfying and healthy balance of mind and body.

 

Al Galves, Ph.D. skillfully shows by using psychological research, self-help exercises, proven strategies and therapeutic case studies how to channel negative emotions and energy into positives. Harness Your Dark Side provides the keys to living well by teaching you how to be aware of all the emotions that you are experiencing – the good and the bad – and using them to live, love and express yourself.

 

“You will find that it is necessary to let things go; simply for the reason that they are heavy.” - C. JoyBell C.

 

“If it’s out of your hands, it deserves freedom from your mind too.” – Ivan Nuru

 

14] TAR Network – Join the fight against Toxic Abusive Relationships! - A 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to supporting survivors of Toxic Abusive Relationships

 

TAR Network™ is a 501(c)(3) charity dedicated to bringing worldwide awareness and treatment to those whose emotional reality has been distorted by narcissistic abuse.

 

The mission of TAR Network is to support men, women, the LGBTQ+ community, tweens & teens, families, parents who are alienated from their children, workers, and caregivers going through or emerging from TAR. With subject matter experts, affiliates, organizations with supportive resources, and our individual donor community our programs will help you out of the fog and into the light.

 

TAR Network is currently developing several innovative projects:

• TAR Tales – a safe place to share your truth

• TAR Centers – a safe place to get vital CPTSD treatment

• TAR Anon – a safe and nonjudgmental worldwide support network.

 

There is strength in numbers. We’ve all suffered from trauma and abuse at the hands of someone close. Please join us in this worldwide effort toward recovery.

 

“If you want to fly, you have to give up what weighs you down.” - Roy T. Bennett

 

“Change is the law of life. “And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” - John F. Kennedy

 

 

Thank you & Take care, Michael

 

PS. Please share this with your friends & if you have received this in error, please let me know – mikeskinner@PROTECTED

 

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

A diagnosis is not a destiny

 

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Michael Skinner Music - Hope, Healing, & Help for Trauma, Abuse & Mental Health - Music, Resources & Advocacy

 

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"BE the change you want to see in the world." Mohandas Gandhi