Catching up

It has been FOREVER since I've written anything here. It's been a long time since I've had a peaceful block of time, too. But now it is 5:00am, and it is peaceful here, and I am writing.

I have been so busy. I can't believe how much I can get done in a day. I used to get the same amount done in two weeks. Life is a whirlwind, and every day is different. There is no time for ruts or comfort zones.

The Center is full most of the time. During the day, we have 15-25 people, and during the night we have three respite guests. I love the respite guests. It is fascinating to have three new roommates every single week. It's always a new house dynamic. Sometimes we have respite guests who become lifelong friends after the week is over, and other times we have guests who really don't like the other guests and keep to themselves. Other times we have lively debates and other times we have sheer silence. I swear, some of the best chefs come through here, and I am the lucky recipient of their cooking.

During the day we have so many people and activities going on, I can't keep up. The dynamics during the day are different every day too. We always have new people coming, and soon we will be turning people away. We were warned about this in the beginning when we only had a small handful come every day. We wanted more people! So we did presentations and handed out packets and invited everyone over for tours. We got what we wanted.

The best part about this Center are the miracles and transformations I get to witness every day. The stories are endless, and we are writing a book titled "Crisis as Opportunity: Stories of Personal Transformation at the Peer Support and Wellness Center." As I wrote in an earlier post, I am making a DVD about the Center. We'll be using it as a general introduction to the Center. I wanted to catch the spirit of this place, and after watching the first draft the other day, the people who were watching were in tears. They said I captured the spirit.

I have been experiencing much transformation in my own life. I never knew I could supervise, schedule, and delegate to 8 staff 24 hours a day. I never knew I could handle so much responsibility. I have always been the epitome of irresponsibility. I've always basked in my comfort zone and required enormous amounts of time alone. Now I am rarely alone, except at 5:00 in the morning.

I don't even recognize myself.

I can't really make any promises, but I think it would be wonderful to start writing here more often. I will try. Really. I want to keep a journal of my life now. There's too much going on to just let pass by without writing about it. Too much has already happened. I think it will be worth the effort. It's really just a matter of finding the time, and even then, the energy. My heart and soul is in my work now. Everything I do is all about this Center. It is my baby.

I never knew I could work like this, so consistently and enthusiastically. I never knew something so challenging could be so worthwhile.

I hope I still have readers! I hope everyone is thriving!

Christian the Lion

Low Dose Naltrexone

Every week, people search for "Naltrexone without a prescription" and follow the link to my site. I mean daily! And every time I see it, I wish I had the exact website posted where I got it. I found the site weeks ago by searching for two days. Most of the sites had discontinued Naltrexone, and the one site I had previously used was based out of India. It was very expensive and took months to get to me.

But I found a great site that I want to share with all the seekers of Naltrexone. It's called River Pharmacy, and it's based out of Canada. The shipping is very quick -- maybe two weeks, and the price is so low I still can't believe it. I have about two years worth of pills. Of course, I take one 50MG pill, disolve it in 50ML distilled water, and take 4ML every night, so one pill lasts nearly two weeks.

Naltrexone goes under the names Revia, Nodict, Depade, Vivitrol, and Naltrexone. The direct page to order it is at https://www.riverpharmacy.com/drugInformation.php?ActiveIngredient=638

So there it is. I hope I just saved someone two days worth of searching!

El Camino del Rey

Originally built in 1901, this walkway now serves as an aproach to makinodromo, the famous climbing sector of El Chorro.

David Oaks on the IAACM- Creative Maladjustment

David Oaks is my hero :-)

Walking in Recovery

This fundraiser cost quite a bit of money just to attend, but the Peer Support and Wellness Center participants were able to attend as guests. The food was unbelievable and the atmosphere was relaxed. We were the loudest ones there! Here's a short video of us hanging out with each other at the fundraiser.

Psychiatrist Daniel Fisher Talks About Hope and Recovery

ADHDD: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Doggy Disorder

Cooking at the Peer Support and Wellness Center

I'll be presenting at my first workshop at the Georgia Mental Health Consumer conference this August. It will be about the Peer Support and Wellness Center and what we're all about. I decided to make a video showing what we do rather than just talking about it and passing out literature. We'll do that, too, of course, but I think a video will give people a much better idea. I will be showing segments on this blog as I finish them. I'll also be making a DVD and passing it out with our literature as we promote the Wellness Center in the community.

This video is the segment on our cooking class. We cook every Friday evening, and it has become a warm, inviting event more than a class. Becca, a peer staff at the Center, is the main facilitator, and it was her project from the beginning. We also have a chef, Donna, also a peer, come in to instruct the class.

Needless to say, it is one of our most popular activities!

Movie Exposes Drug Industry, Promotes Natural Healing

American Asylums of the 19th Century

"American Asylums - Moral Archeture of the 19th Century"

Breathtaking photography by Jeremy Harris. Very provocative.

David Cook - Billie Jean

Serenity

Serenity is 2 months old, the same age as the bird in the video, the puppy who visits the Peer Support and Wellness Center every day, and the Wellness Center itself. New life. fresh hope. Enjoy!

Voiceless phone call

A neckband that intercepts nerve signals allows you to talk on the phone without emitting a sound

Footage courtesy Texas Instruments, recorded at the TI Developer Conference 2008, Dallas

More info - http://www.theaudeo.com

Reclaim Your Power NOW!

Whenever you are feeling victimized, helpless, and hopeless, it can be the first clue that you have given your power away to someone or something. I'm not talking about being a victim of a crime, although you can certainly apply this tool to any situation, especially when the victimization continues long after the actual assault.

I used to be in the victim role. It was how I got the attention I craved and the help I needed. I would attract people with an empathetic personality and a compassionate heart. I needed empathy and compassion like I needed food, and I would feed on people who were like this toward me. It was how I emotionally survived in life. It was the only survival tool I had.

The Universe gives you the desires of your heart, and the intensity of the desire, the depth of it, is the loudest voice you have. It is your Universal power.

My deepest desires were to receive empathy and compassion from others. I could taste them and feel them and savor them before I ever received them. They were first and foremost on my mind nearly every waking moment. They were the hope and the reason to keep living, just to know that the reward would be so incredibly sweet, even if short-lived. A moment of compassion would sustain me for a week. A morsel of empathy would encourage me to keep striving for the next scrap.

It's a dramatic way of life, rarely boring, full of tears and loneliness and intensity, and it gave me a sense of identity that I would not have had otherwise.

Eventually, the pain of this role began to outweigh the pleasure, and I needed to find a different way. I needed to learn how to give myself the things I needed. My dilemma was that I was not good enough to be in that role for myself. I was inferior to the type of person who had the capacity to show compassion. It seemed ludicrous to even consider it.

Then, through my spiritual awakening, I began to feel all the things I was terrified of feeling. I began to feel the desperate loneliness, the incredible rage, the unbearable sadness. And through these same feelings, I began to feel Compassion revealing itself to me from within the depths of my soul.

The intensity of all these feelings was the truest indicator of my Power within.

When I feel victimized today, helpless and hopeless, desperate and lacking, I know that I have given away my power to a situation or person at some point. I may not be consciously aware of who or what or how, but it is not necessary to know. It will come in time. What is necessary, however, is that I reclaim my power as soon as I realize that I have given it away. This can be as simple as saying out loud, "I reclaim my power NOW!"

It's the proverbial "shaking the fist" at God scene. Loud, dramatic, intense. Or quiet and meditative. The method doesn't matter, only the intent.

When I do this, the magic begins. Incredible insights flow in from seemingly nowhere and solutions appear where there weren't any before. It's usually at that point when it becomes clear to me where and how I gave my power away. It is a true "duh" moment, too, and I have to laugh at myself for being so blind.

Most people reclaim their power and have no idea that's what they just did. The Universe responds to your deepest intent, even if you aren't fully aware of it. That is the Law of Attraction. But when you are fully aware, the whole process becomes a conscious creation, a miracle. There's nothing like it.

Espavo...

That means "thank you for taking back your power."

Truth vs. Resonance

I have a request for a topic: Spirituality.

I realize it is a rather broad topic, so I'll narrow it down to something manageable. I'll also write more on spirituality in upcoming posts if there is an interest.

.......................................................................................

I believe that Truth does not exist, only Resonance.

I know a woman who was raised in a very strict Pentecostal religion where fundamentalist Christianity is taught. She passed her beliefs onto her children, who grew up and kept those beliefs for themselves. This woman surrounds herself with people who believe exactly the same way she does. Everywhere she turns, people are talking about Jesus Christ and salvation and sin and redemption. Hell is real, as is heaven. She is one of the happiest people I know. This is what living in your Resonance feels like.

I surround myself with people who believe that the mental health system is a broken system that needs to be fixed. We see the flaws in the system and are quick to point them out for the rest of the world to see. If they don't see them, they are blind. They will see the light one day when psychiatry bites them in the ass. I surround myself with people who believe that there is much more to mental illness than diagnosis, medication, day programs, and hospitalization . People with mental illness are actually hopping dimensions. I resonate with this, but does that make it true?

People assume that Resonance and Truth are the same thing.

I believe the Afterlife is filled with Resonance. The woman I described will see angels playing harps on clouds. She will surround herself with other souls who see those same angels and clouds. They will all walk the glorious streets of gold.

I will be hopping dimensions. Freely.

David Archuleta - Imagine

I just couldn't let a season of American Idol go by without sharing my top pick. This kid is amazing. He will win the whole thing and become a mega star like Kelly Clarkson and Chris Daughtry. I remember watching David Archuleta around 2004 (?) during the Star Search finale. Of course he won 100 grand. Then his vocal chord went paralyzed, and now he's back. Watch out for this guy. He sings from the depths of his soul, unlike the other contestants this season. Unfortnunately. Maybe in time a few of them will grow on me, but for now, David is the only reason to watch.

Food Combining

I got a request from a friend to blog about what I did to lose weight. I feel inadequate writing a post about losing weight, though, because my diet has not been the best lately. People who come to the Wellness Center bring in junk food all the time. Like on Valentine's day everyone brought in cupcakes, candy, you know, and who can resist that?

But maybe if I write this post, I'll get back on track.

I lost a lot of weight last year. I don't know how many pounds but I went from a size 12 to a size 6 jeans (which are awfully tight right about now, lol).

I didn't mean to lose weight last year. I just needed to change my diet due to being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. The weight loss was a side effect. I'm not complaining.

Anyway, I used Food Combining. This can get pretty complicated, so I won't go into it that deeply. I just used very basic food combinations. It is very simple, but not easy. It goes against the American diet of meat and potatoes.

So.....

Never eat meat and potatoes together in the same meal. In fact never eat any kind of carbohydrate and protein in the same meal. Eat fruits by themselves, always. Make sure they are not cooked fruits or processed fruits. Just fresh fruits and juice before noon. Nothing else before noon, and notbing at all after 8:00pm. The rest of the day you can have carbs and veggies in a meal or protein and veggies in a meal. Just not carbs and protein in the same meal. Avoid dairy as much as possible. Or if you use dairy, consider it protein. It's best to avoid it though.

For example, for brerakfast, have a fruit salad or a banana. Whatever fruit or fruit juice you like. For lunch eat a salad with a beef patty or peice of chicken or fish or even beans. Or if you want carbs and veggies for lunch, I personally LOVE veggie wraps. Soups and salads of course are a good combination, just make sure there's no meat in the soup if you include crackers or noodles. Dinner is with the same rules. Either carbs and veggies or protein and veggies but not both.

If you must have dessert, have it with your carb meal, not your protein meal.

One more rule -- it's okay to combine carbs, like rice and bread, in the same meal, but it's not okay to combine proteins, like beans and franks or cheese and sausage.

This diet goes against the typical American diet, but as we all know, the typical American diet has all of us fat with chronic digestive problems. So going against it is a good thing.

That's the diet in a nutshell. I used the concepts in the book titled "Fit for Life." Sorry, I can't remember the author's name, but you can get it at Amazon.com for (usually) a penny plus shipping. There are tons of recipes in it. I highly recommend the book for the recipes and meal planning alone!

My sister Jody uses this diet when she has an appointment with the beach in Jamaica and needs to drop a few pounds before she packs her bikini.

Then she goes back to her old diet when she comes home.

I like getting requests for blog posts, so if you have a request, send me an email at jayme333@gmail.com. I'd love to hear from you!

Prescription for Pain

Just to say hi

Just a note to say hello. Jodie and I had a chance to talk on the phone the other day, and we decided that quality vs quantity is the name of the phone call game. Instead of talking for hours about everything under the sun, we'll be talking for a shorter amount of time about the important things. And really, that's what's been happening with all my firiends, so it's all good. I'm not losing any friendships, just enjoying them in a different way.

I can honestly say that we are now in a routine at the Peer Support and Wellness Center. We've had two overnight guests so far, and our daytime activities are becoming more and more full of newcomers and even some regulars. I never thought this time would arrive, but we are HERE! I have a schedule. I have days off. I can leave the house. I got a scooter this weekend, and my friend Huntley is assembling it for me. He'll come back next Sunday to finish the job and take it for a test ride. It should be fun. I'll shoot videos.

I hope everyone is doing well. Life is good. It really is.