Crisis Line Information on Farnam Pier and the Pedestrian Bridge

 Found the crisis line number on the pier and the bridge coming from Discovery Playground to the pier.  Seems they want this information out there where there is a place someone could jump.  There is now a national suicide and crisis number to call.  

**Like a Broken Vessel

This is a presentation based on the talk given by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland a few years back dealing with hope and depression.  It presents about ten individuals telling their stories of depression.  However it is also a message of hope.  There is hope in jesus Christ for a better life, things will get better.  One warning, in watching the video several people present their stories.  The first part can be depressive.  Watch to the end where the message of hope dominates.

**HOPE

I was attending a mental health conference five years ago when this quote was presented:

There is no medicine like hope,
No incentive so great
And no tonic so powerful
As expectation of something tomorrow.
Orison Swett Marden

**The Starfish

The Starfish

I first heard this story from W Mitchell at an Amway conference.  It made an impression with me then and I still like it.  I hope to make a difference to the one.
The Starfish

There was a young man walking down a deserted beach just before dawn.  In the distance he saw a frail old man.  As he approached the old man, he saw him picking up stranded starfish and throwing them back into the sea.  The starfish had been washed ashore by a storm.  The young man gazed in wonder as the old man again and again threw the small starfish from the sand to the water.  He asked him, “Why do you spend so much energy doing what seems to be a waste of time?”  The old man explained that the stranded starfish would die if left in the morning sun.  “But there must be thousands of beaches and millions of starfish,” exclaimed the young man, “How can your effort make any difference?”  The old man looked down at the small starfish in his hand and as he threw it to safety in the sea said…… “It makes a difference to this one.”
 Adapted from Loren Eiseley

**Love Yourself: Bernie Siegel: Dynamic Health: Powerful Strategies for Healthy Living

I post my baby picture here for a reason.  Dr. Bernie Siegel tells a story of a phenomena that happens over and over.  He often talks to people, and holds up a baby, and everybody will ooh and aah and say how precious, how adorable.  He will then hold up an audience member, often a high school student, and every one will laugh and make fun, even the person being held up or asked to stand up.  And so the question, what changed in fifteen, sixteen years.  "Why were you a gorgeous baby, and now you're laughing at yourself?"... "So I really do tell people to get out their baby pictures and take a look at them.  I try to communicate to them that they're a child of God--to feel that they are divine rather than to tell them to do this, don't do that, it's not good for you, but to get them to love themselves so they then do what is good for them."
So I have posted my baby picture.  I am a child of God.  I am of divine worth.  I remember a saying our seminary teacher had in his office. "You are a child of God, and God doesn't make no junk."  When I feel down, I hope to see my baby picture, and remember my royal heritage.
Dr Siegel is a surgeon, and practices in the cancer field.  He began to realize hope and a lot to do with survival.  He and his wife established a program called ECaP (Exceptional Cancer Patients).  He talks of the importance of having love.  By this he means to love and be loved.  But he also is talking about having something you love, a passion.  He says it is funny, but now matter how ill you are, when you lose yourself in something you love, it seems to go away, you don't worry about the pain for awhile.  In my case, I don't hear my tinnitus.
Hope is important.  It improves your immune system.  It extends life.