Category: Mental Health
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Mister Rogers is the neighbor we still need
I cried seeing the trailer for Won’t You Be My Neighbor? in the theater a couple of months ago, so I knew I’d be emotional when I saw the documentary. I had no idea what I was in for though. I loved Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood when I was a kid. To say he was my one…
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8 tips for handling adult temper tantrums
Every so often we all lose our tempers. For whatever reason, we’ve had enough of being the bug smashed on the windshield of life and try as we might, we blow up. And every so often, we’re on the receiving end of someone else losing their stuff and exploding uncontrollably. If we’re not careful, when…
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Ask Little Merry Sunshine: Are you always happy or are you too stupid to realize life sucks?
Dear Little Merry Sunshine, I am a regular reader and big fan of your blog. In fact, I’ve been reading since the early days when you were writing on Blogspot. As I’ve read and re-read your posts over the past 7 1/2 years, I’ve noticed one overarching theme: far more often than not, you are…
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Text spam: The cray-cray is strong
Starting tonight at 5:22 p.m. and ending at 7:32 p.m., when I blocked the phone number, I received 86 text spam messages from 312-507-1045. After the first 15 messages, I googled the number and came across this tweet: That number again is 1-312-507-1045 it is the babble of an insane illiterate nut job! — tom…
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5 Best Apps for Your Guided Meditation and Mindfulness Practice
One of the best things I’ve ever done is to begin a meditation and mindfulness practice. I suppose I began it almost 10 years ago when I took a hypnosis class with Rev. Jean Kadkhodaian of The Lighthouse Emotional Wellness Center in Arlington Heights. I took to it like a fish takes to water and…
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Mental Health Awareness Month Celebrated by ChicagoNow
May was Mental Health Awareness Month and the incredible bloggers of ChicagoNow shared their incredibly personal stories and expertise with more than 30 posts on the topic. Most of the bloggers who wrote are not mental health professionals, but there is at least one Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, Nicole Knepper, writer of Moms Who Drink…
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Mental Health Awareness Month: Keep talking to stamp out stigma
May is Mental Health Awareness Month and it ends in just a couple of hours. Although Mental Health Awareness Month is over, mental illness never ends. There are always people who are suffering or who have family or friends who are suffering. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) reports that 1 in 4 people…
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We never met, but my grandfather, Jesse Paulk, shaped my life
If I could meet anyone in the world, I’d choose to go back to before September 12, 1961 and meet my maternal grandfather, Jesse Paulk. September 12, 1961 was my mom’s 13th birthday and also the day my grandfather died. I was given my name, Jessica, in his memory. My mom’s brother also named his…
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End mental illness stigma, save lives
Three things happened on Friday that I can’t get out of my head. On the surface, they’re unrelated. But in my head, they’re intricately woven and the direct result of what happens when we continue to stigmatize mental illness, cut mental health services, and look the other way when people are desperately struggling. First, I…
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17 ways to help yourself when you have mental illness
In response to my recent post, 10 Things I Know About Mental Illness, I received some incredible comments. I love the discussion that was started. Thank you for reading the post, liking, commenting, and sharing it. Education is the only thing that will end the stigma and prejudice. It is beyond time to bring mental…
Jessica L Gardner 