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#33310 - 05/10/05 04:59 AM
Mental Health Month/Eagle Review
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Member
Registered: 11/11/04
Posts: 3503
Loc: Colorado
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Hello Boomer Friends, May is National Mental Health Awareness Month as well as Women's Health Awareness Month. So...I had the good fortune to read our Eagle's book about depression and overcoming depression. I've written the following review, and decided to post it here so you too can have a look see! Love and Light, Lynn
Review of Eagle Born to Fly: Finding Life Beyond Depression by Sharon C. Matthies. Published by Book Coach Press, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, 2003. 150 pages. ISBN: 0-9680347-9-9 paperback.
Everyone can relate to having “the blues” on a bad day, when the weather is gloomy, the traffic is tied up, and business and/or children make impossible demands. Anyone can associate a night without sleep to a day without energy. However, when feeling down persists month after month, it’s time to consider the possibility of clinical depression. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (http://www.nimh.nih.gov) depression can occur at any age and affects almost 10 percent of American adults. Research indicates that the risk of depression exists with an interaction of difficult life events and a genetic predisposition. The symptoms of depression include:
q Restlessness, irritability q Appetite and/or weight changes q Feelings of hopelessness, pessimism q Persistent sad, anxious, or empty mood q Feelings of guilt, worthlessness, helplessness q Decreased energy, fatigue, being slowed down q Thoughts of death or suicide, or suicide attempts q Insomnia, early-morning awakening, or oversleeping q Difficulty concentrating, remembering, making decisions q Loss of interest or pleasure in hobbies & activities that were once enjoyed
If five or more symptoms are present daily for two weeks or more, then it may be time to have an evaluation for depression.
Imagine suffering through each day for years with all of these symptoms! This is what Sharon C. Matthies candidly and courageously shares in her book.
Until the age of five, Sharon enjoyed a happy and relaxed childhood in Canada. But the death of her newborn sister brought the family to grief so deep it was unspeakable. This was in direct conflict with the fairy tales of happy endings that children are so fond of reading. What Prince Charming would rescue the family from the trauma of an infant’s death? Which Fairy Godmother would reassure Sharon of her secure place in her family? Where was the Good Witch that would fill the family with love and laughter potions again? The lack of communication and affection from her family caused Sharon to believe that the void existed within her. Furthermore, her self-worth deteriorated when her grieving mother would snap: “Go away, leave me alone, don’t be such a nuisance.” Sharon became convinced that she “was indeed a nuisance.” Sharon developed the core belief that she was a misfit in her own family. By the time she was thirteen, Sharon’s “fear and insecurity grew unchecked and unchallenged, somehow accumulating into a full-blown death wish.” Surviving her own death wish became the focus of Sharon’s existence, so much so that she was unable to see “the possibility of other possibilities.” Despite her chronic and acute feelings of failure, or perhaps because of them, Sharon sought solace as a camp counselor, in school and church activities and with music. Just as she was spreading her seeds of success in adolescence, her parents decided to move, uprooting what was familiar. However, Sharon was graced with an experience of profound connectedness to the Holy Sprit on “Sacred Ground” at a prayer meeting in her new neighborhood. This seemingly coincidental and chance meeting would form a foundation of spirituality that would sustain Sharon even as she sank deeper into the depths of depression. Sharon says that she drifted through detours on her journey through life, without an accomplishment to mark a measure of success, except for the spirituality that ultimately saved her.
Indeed, Sharon needed divine intervention to save her from a suicide attempt. She writes that the void was so wide and vast that “there was nothing left inside of me.” Yet, even as she swallowed pills, she prayed for salvation. Finally, a True Friend rescued Sharon by following her own intuition to guide herself to Sharon’s door. Meanwhile, Sharon has a dream that affirms her security in the spiritual realm, and propels her back to consciousness.
Sharon shares the long road to recovery, which began with “authentic self-knowledge.” What Sharon needed to know was that she is “loved and has a rightful niche in the world.” The road was difficult, with set backs and pit falls of doubt and distrust. These worsened when her father and mother died. Meanwhile, Sharon plodded along in tedious yet demanding careers, and inhabited dingy and infested apartments.
In the meantime, Sharon tried prescribed medications, but a recommended yet unsupervised switch from one anti-depressant to another left her unaccompanied in a detoxification experience. Chronic fatigue also held her hostage in her own home.
Sharon ultimately found a psychologist with whom she “muddled through the mangled chaos” of her anxiety ridden mind. Carrying the spiritual epiphany that “I am, therefore I’m worthy” Sharon began an uphill climb out of the depths of depression. The void she had experienced became filled with her love for God and His love for her. Sharon experiences the love of a spouse, the connection to friends, and the grounding of a happy and healthy home. Therein lies the happy ending.
The reader learns life lessons because Sharon generously shares her Truth and Knowledge. The reader is also grateful that Sharon survived to offer her poetry, dreams, and narrative, which give reason to hope. In this reviewer’s opinion, what Sharon shares with others is a great achievement. Those reaching through depression for themselves or others, and those seeking to understand the dynamics of depression, will benefit from reading Eagle Born to Fly.
For ordering information, email eagleborntofly@magma.ca
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#33314 - 05/10/05 09:49 PM
Re: Mental Health Month/Eagle Review
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Queen of Shoes
Registered: 05/24/04
Posts: 6123
Loc: Arizona
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Yeah, God is pretty awesome, right? She doesn't come to the site as often as she used to because she's no longer with an abuser but she does drop in to support other women from time to time. She'll never be 100% okay. She has cigarette burn scars on her arms and legs where he used to wake her up in the mornings by burning her. Bad stuff like that. And don't think he was some white trash garbage of a man. He has a high profile job with Continental Airlines. You just never know.
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#33315 - 05/11/05 03:59 AM
Re: Mental Health Month/Eagle Review
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Member
Registered: 11/11/04
Posts: 3503
Loc: Colorado
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Wow, Dianne, that is an incredible story about God using your site for good! Amazing! Eagle has such a story of how a friend helped her, which is nothing less than a divine intervention. Dotsie, I would put the review on Amazon and bn but Eagle has yet to figure out how to get her book on there. It seems that her publisher has dropped the ball! By the way, thank you for saying you like the review itself. I am new to reviewing. I never thought my opinion mattered enough to review books. Who cares what I think? Now I realize that I actually enjoy doing reviews, and that my opinion is acceptable. Love and Light, Lynn
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#33316 - 05/11/05 05:00 AM
Re: Mental Health Month/Eagle Review
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Member
Registered: 03/22/05
Posts: 4876
Loc: Canada
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quote: Originally posted by lynn329: Who cares what I think?
I do! I do!
Now I realize that I actually enjoy doing reviews, and that my opinion is acceptable.
IMHO and blessed experience, your opinion goes far beyond acceptable...try "healing", "comforting", "enlightening" and "inspiring" for starters...
It's a long and winding road how I got here to BWS, but the short version is that it too was nothing less than divine intervention. I was in SERIOUS trouble when I posted my very first (and possibly a desperately-lonely-last-resort) Internet posting on a psychiatric help forum. Someone there responded, kept caring and responding, eventually invited me to her private forum, which gave me the confidence to step out a little more, which led me to Sigrid MacDonald, who led me here, which is where I found "home away from home". I've met some beautiful kindred spirits here who continue to not only help make my corner of the world infinitely brighter than it was a few short months ago, but also inspire me to take out my own rusty little candle and do a bit of light-rippling out there too. Being here at BWS has given me a whole new positive outlook on life and is making an enormous difference everywhere I look, both inside my spirit and being, and outside my window and front door. There are not enough words to tell you how much of a miracle this place has been for me. If that's not yet another story of divine intervention, what is!
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#33318 - 05/12/05 12:36 AM
Re: Mental Health Month/Eagle Review
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Member
Registered: 11/11/04
Posts: 3503
Loc: Colorado
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Tee Hee, did you notice how I made a stair-step based on the length of the lines of the symptoms in the review? Now, some would say, "Lynn, get a life!" Eagle, thanks for the words about being more than acceptable! I appreciate that very much. Love and Light, Lynn
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