We are nothing (and that is beautiful): Alok Vaid-Menon at TEDxMiddlebury

Blüh' im Glanze (Flourish in this Fortune's Blessing) - Trailer

A powerful little piece. Very thought provoking, yet not heavy handed.

~Faycin~

Remains of Veterans Found in Basement Are Buried

Shockingly vicious comments on this video. Sad that some people choose to be so filled with hate.

~Rose~

Crazy Creatives Cheerleading Camp: First Meeting

Template purchased from 123rf.com

The Rules, and My First Post

I wanted to set up a Linky, but for reasons unknown, it isn't appearing. Rather than waste any more time fighting with the stubborn Linky, just put your link in the comments. Visit your fellow participants, should there be any, and support each other!

I came up with this idea after feeling frustrated that there was no place for creative people with mental illness to discuss our particular challenges. I was, for a while, a member of the Insecure Writers Support Group, because who knows more about insecurity than a person living with mental illness? 

This isn't a bad group. They're nice enough people. However, like most normal people, they don't get it, and that's frustrating. By "insecure," they mean "is my work good enough to publish?" A person living with mental illness may mean "is there any reason for me to keep creating when I wish I was dead?" 

Normal people freak out when you talk about that kind of stuff.

Normal people like Good Crazies. A Good Crazy is the kind of person who ever so bravely keeps going uncomplainingly in spite of the fact that they want to throw themselves off a bridge into a pit of spikes while drinking arsenic. Normal people like to pat Good Crazies on the back and praise them for being so well behaved. Doing this makes normal people feel good about themselves.

I am not a Good Crazy.

I was feeling awful and I talked about how awful I was feeling.

This makes normal people run away and/or tell you to stop being such a Debbie or Donnie Downer. This doesn't help, and it may make things worse.

I wanted to give people a space where they could talk about those feelings and not worry about that happening.

It's okay to say "I really want to put my work out there, but I fear ridicule because it will put me in the black pit for a month."

It's okay to say "I'm experiencing high levels of suicide ideation."

It's okay to talk about being really, really depressed, even if there's no "good reason" for the depression.

I encourage people to use trigger warnings at the top of their post.

Also, if you're talking about suicidal feelings, I might suggest using a scale of one to ten to rate suicide ideation level vs. suicide planning level. For instance, my suicide ideation is sometimes quite high, but actual planning is very low. 

The trouble with discussing suicidal feelings is that some people don't understand suicide ideation and will literally try to find out where you are and send the police to your house. I don't want that shit, and I know you don't either. The criminalization of suicide is a discussion for another time, but it's something that really pisses me off.

If you are literally, actually planning to commit suicide, please call the crisis line at 1-800-273-8255. 

Otherwise, yes, you can talk about that. If anyone chides you for talking about that, I will leave a polite but firm comment on their blog informing them that such behavior is not cool.

Other things not to do:

Don't be hateful regarding someone's sexual orientation. 

Don't "tsk tsk" people for using salty language in their posts. Don't lecture them about how profanity is "low class" or "a sign of an inferior intellect." I've seen both of these bullshit arguments, and I call bullshit. Furthermore, it's just plain rude. This isn't elementary school. Most of us are adults. Some may be teenagers, but I'm pretty sure most teenagers know all the words. I know I did. 

Don't belittle another person's spiritual beliefs or proselytize. If a person is an Atheist and you are a devout Christian, don't tell that person that they're going to hell for their beliefs. Conversely, if someone is a Christian and you are a devout Atheist, don't refer to that person's God as a "sky fairy" or other such belittling epithet. If a person is a Muslim, don't make Islamophobic comments. If a person is a Pagan, don't call them a devil worshiper. 

What you should do:

Be supportive. Many persons with mental illness feel adrift. I know I often do. 

My vision is for this to become a group where people can find the support that they haven't been able to elsewhere. I hope you'll join me.

~Cie~

Understanding the Doorway Between You and the Divine

Who's At The Door?

I wanted to share an experience which happened a couple of months ago. I was over at my son's place resting on the couch. Suddenly a voice said in my mind "the doorbell's about to ring."

About 30 seconds later, the doorbell rang. A woman was at the door with a young boy. She said she was homeless and looking for any food or spare change I could spare to get a hotel room.

I had $8, which I gave to her and wished her luck. It later occurred to me that I should have sent her to the fire station about 1/4 mile away, because they probably could have helped her get to a homeless shelter.

This is a fairly common psychic phenomenon. A person knows the telephone is going to ring shortly before it rings, for instance. Sometimes someone they suddenly started thinking of is on the other end.

"Being psychic" is actually not an ability reserved only for the special few. We all have it. We just have to become more aware of it in ourselves in order to hone it.

~Cie~

Gem is an Effing Goofball

Gem's chosen interpretive portrait of himself

Just to show you the kind of very stodgy spectral being I'm dealing with...

I wanted to make an interpretive portrait of Gem. I'm not a very good artist, so to make the portrait a little prettier, I ran it through some photoshop filters.

What you see above?

Yeah, I was totally ready to hit "cancel" on that. But Gem got all excited. He said "that's it! That's the one!"

I said I'd save it if he wanted, but I was most certainly not going to share it.

He was disappointed. Then he fluttered his eyelashes at me. He has very beautiful eyes and a very fetching smile.

He says this portrait shows off his prominent chin.

He has an angular face. His chin is not that prominent!

He's stubborn and I can't argue with him. Also, I enjoy seeing him happy.

This is Gem's chosen interpretive portrait of himself. He does not actually look like this!

One thing it certainly showcases is his sense of humor. He's a goofball.

I do love you, Gem. 

~Cie~