http://bit.ly/13Y6UVy
#boise #idaho
#mentalhealth
http://bit.ly/13Y6UVy
from Anxiety Agoraphobia Bipolar Disorder Evaluations and Treatment in Boise, Treasure Valley, Idaho http://ift.tt/1qg9fID
#boise #idaho
Health and Fitness - The Huffington Post
Anderson Cooper's New Documentary Gives 'Powerful' Look Into Life After Boston Marathon Bombing
Adrianne Haslet-Davis said that it was a moment she had while lying in her hospital bed one night that made her realize she wanted to tell the story of her recovery from the Boston Marathon bombings to a television audience.
"I wanted to give an honest representation of what the bad days look like," she told the Huffington Post in a recent phone call. "I'm not always Boston Strong."
Haslet-Davis, a 33-year-old professional dancer and survivor of the bombings last April, lost part of her left leg in the explosion. She also lost her ability to dance. Haslet-Davis met Anderson Cooper in her hospital room shortly after the attack, and eventually agreed to let Cooper and CNN film her journey to recovery over the last year.
The result of those efforts is Cooper's documentary, “The Survivor Diaries,” which airs on Tuesday night at 10 PM.
In the year since the attacks, Haslet-Davis has regained her ability to dance, with the help of a bionic limb specifically designed for her by MIT's Hugh Herr. Haslet-Davis publicly returned to the dance floor for the first time at a TED Conference talk in March.
"It was bittersweet," she said. "It was the closest I'd gotten to feeling like I had my leg back but it wasn't close at all-- and I knew that was the best there was out there."
Prior to the explosion, Haslet-Davis was dancing 5 days a week for 8 to 10 hours a day. When Cooper first met her in the hospital, he told HuffPost, her "incredible optimism and determination" really "struck a chord" with him. As part of the agreement to record Haslet-Davis's private life, Cooper promised to dance with her when she finally achieved her goal-- perhaps not realizing how quickly that would actually happen.
"Once I realized we were going to do this documentary, I thought, 'Oh no, [dancing] is going to be a part of it,'" Cooper said. "And it's going to be on camera, which adds to my shame of being a terrible ballroom dancer."
Cooper said that Haslet-Davis could not have been nicer about his "clumsiness," but the moment they stepped onto the dance floor together still embarrasses him.
"It's a painful moment for me to watch," he laughed. "I'm so awkward!"
Dancing aside, Cooper said that he hopes the documentary will show viewers a part of the aftermath of the bombings that most people don't see.
"We all have memories of the bombing, and many people move on from them," Cooper explained. "It was something that the whole country went through, and then regular lives resumed. But for a lot of people who survived the bombing itself, this has been a completely different year...life has not been the same."
Haslet-Davis added that the documentary will give real insight into what post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) looks like.
For Cooper, connecting with a victim of such a tragedy is something he says he has gotten used to doing.
"I am very comfortable speaking to people who are experiencing very real traumas in their own life," he said. "I don't ask people how they feel. I know what it's like to be on the other side of the camera in grief."
He said the documentary would tell "a powerful story of a very powerful woman and her determination to resume the life that she loves."
"I wanted to give an honest representation of what the bad days look like," she told the Huffington Post in a recent phone call. "I'm not always Boston Strong."
Haslet-Davis, a 33-year-old professional dancer and survivor of the bombings last April, lost part of her left leg in the explosion. She also lost her ability to dance. Haslet-Davis met Anderson Cooper in her hospital room shortly after the attack, and eventually agreed to let Cooper and CNN film her journey to recovery over the last year.
The result of those efforts is Cooper's documentary, “The Survivor Diaries,” which airs on Tuesday night at 10 PM.
In the year since the attacks, Haslet-Davis has regained her ability to dance, with the help of a bionic limb specifically designed for her by MIT's Hugh Herr. Haslet-Davis publicly returned to the dance floor for the first time at a TED Conference talk in March.
"It was bittersweet," she said. "It was the closest I'd gotten to feeling like I had my leg back but it wasn't close at all-- and I knew that was the best there was out there."
Prior to the explosion, Haslet-Davis was dancing 5 days a week for 8 to 10 hours a day. When Cooper first met her in the hospital, he told HuffPost, her "incredible optimism and determination" really "struck a chord" with him. As part of the agreement to record Haslet-Davis's private life, Cooper promised to dance with her when she finally achieved her goal-- perhaps not realizing how quickly that would actually happen.
"Once I realized we were going to do this documentary, I thought, 'Oh no, [dancing] is going to be a part of it,'" Cooper said. "And it's going to be on camera, which adds to my shame of being a terrible ballroom dancer."
Cooper said that Haslet-Davis could not have been nicer about his "clumsiness," but the moment they stepped onto the dance floor together still embarrasses him.
"It's a painful moment for me to watch," he laughed. "I'm so awkward!"
Dancing aside, Cooper said that he hopes the documentary will show viewers a part of the aftermath of the bombings that most people don't see.
"We all have memories of the bombing, and many people move on from them," Cooper explained. "It was something that the whole country went through, and then regular lives resumed. But for a lot of people who survived the bombing itself, this has been a completely different year...life has not been the same."
Haslet-Davis added that the documentary will give real insight into what post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) looks like.
For Cooper, connecting with a victim of such a tragedy is something he says he has gotten used to doing.
"I am very comfortable speaking to people who are experiencing very real traumas in their own life," he said. "I don't ask people how they feel. I know what it's like to be on the other side of the camera in grief."
He said the documentary would tell "a powerful story of a very powerful woman and her determination to resume the life that she loves."
Good News - The Huffington Post
Famous Artists Declare Support For Ukraine In Incredible Way
"Everything is art," Ai Weiwei once declared. "Everything is politics." The sentiment is one upheld by many individuals who view the line between art and activism to be a thin, blurry boundary worth crossing.
The latest group to illuminate the ongoing connection between creative and political expression is Artists Support Ukraine, an initiative that seeks to bring attention to the Euromaidan protests in Kiev, through art. Organized by the Kadygrob & Taylor Platform for Contemporary Art, the collective engages painters, photographers, video artists, graphic designers, street artists and more who are willing to stand up in support of the pro-democracy forces that helped oust former President Viktor Yanukovych in February -- forces that are currently standing in opposition to advances from the Russian government.
Layla Sailor: "Here is my work in support of Ukraine titled 'Motherland.'"
"After a series of pro-democratic protests, the country found itself facing aggression from Russia, including abrupt occupation of Crimean peninsula, inadequate and biased ideological media-coverage, and straightforward violence," reads the group's mission statement. "We are engaging artists and cultural workers from all over the world to make a statement in order to support peace and freedom."
The group has collected together both artworks and statements of support, displayed on the Artists Support Ukraine website. American painter Fred Tomaselli, Egyptian-Lebanese media artist Lara Baladi and Russian street artist Tima Radya have participated in the initiative, amounting to a dazzling display of international solidarity. Some works -- like Tomaselli's -- address the tumultuous relationship between Ukraine and Russia with familiar imagery reminiscent of contemporary art activists like Pussy Riot. Others, such as UK-based photographer Layla Sailor and Polish sculptor Krzysztof Bednarski, reference the Ukrainian "Motherland" with decadent female figures and peaceful homages to the country's national flag.
Eric Michael: "While reading coverage of the crisis, I came across a passage where one commentator quipped that Putin has a propensity for "waving his dick around" politically, which got me thinking about how juvenile his tendency to assert himself so aggressively actually seems from the outside, this set the tone for the work."
"The world would be a better place if Putin wasn't always trying to prove his 'manliness,'" Tomaselli wrote in a statement shown on the website. "I hope Ukraine can eventually achieve the ethical, open and equitable society it deserves. And I hope Putin gets his just desserts."
Volodymyr Kadygrob, one of the ASU founders, told The Art Newspaper that the website began after Russia's movement of troops into Ukraine and the "massive informational campaign" that justified the annexation of Crimea. “We wanted, on the one hand, to draw attention to military aggression awkwardly veiled by Russian propaganda," he added, "and, on the other, to show the attitude of the international art community towards Ukraine."
Last month, a number of famous Russian cultural figures signed a letter supporting the decisions of Putin, stating, “In the days when the fate of Crimea and our compatriots is being decided, Russian cultural figures cannot be indifferent observers with cold hearts... That is why we firmly declare our support of the position of the president of the Russian Federation on Ukraine and Crimea.”
Scroll through a preview of Artists Support Ukraine below. Those interested in supporting the ASU group are encouraged to share the organization's open letter, disseminate the artwork with the hashtag #supportukraine and submit more original work on the site here.
The latest group to illuminate the ongoing connection between creative and political expression is Artists Support Ukraine, an initiative that seeks to bring attention to the Euromaidan protests in Kiev, through art. Organized by the Kadygrob & Taylor Platform for Contemporary Art, the collective engages painters, photographers, video artists, graphic designers, street artists and more who are willing to stand up in support of the pro-democracy forces that helped oust former President Viktor Yanukovych in February -- forces that are currently standing in opposition to advances from the Russian government.
Layla Sailor: "Here is my work in support of Ukraine titled 'Motherland.'"
"After a series of pro-democratic protests, the country found itself facing aggression from Russia, including abrupt occupation of Crimean peninsula, inadequate and biased ideological media-coverage, and straightforward violence," reads the group's mission statement. "We are engaging artists and cultural workers from all over the world to make a statement in order to support peace and freedom."
The group has collected together both artworks and statements of support, displayed on the Artists Support Ukraine website. American painter Fred Tomaselli, Egyptian-Lebanese media artist Lara Baladi and Russian street artist Tima Radya have participated in the initiative, amounting to a dazzling display of international solidarity. Some works -- like Tomaselli's -- address the tumultuous relationship between Ukraine and Russia with familiar imagery reminiscent of contemporary art activists like Pussy Riot. Others, such as UK-based photographer Layla Sailor and Polish sculptor Krzysztof Bednarski, reference the Ukrainian "Motherland" with decadent female figures and peaceful homages to the country's national flag.
Eric Michael: "While reading coverage of the crisis, I came across a passage where one commentator quipped that Putin has a propensity for "waving his dick around" politically, which got me thinking about how juvenile his tendency to assert himself so aggressively actually seems from the outside, this set the tone for the work."
"The world would be a better place if Putin wasn't always trying to prove his 'manliness,'" Tomaselli wrote in a statement shown on the website. "I hope Ukraine can eventually achieve the ethical, open and equitable society it deserves. And I hope Putin gets his just desserts."
Volodymyr Kadygrob, one of the ASU founders, told The Art Newspaper that the website began after Russia's movement of troops into Ukraine and the "massive informational campaign" that justified the annexation of Crimea. “We wanted, on the one hand, to draw attention to military aggression awkwardly veiled by Russian propaganda," he added, "and, on the other, to show the attitude of the international art community towards Ukraine."
Last month, a number of famous Russian cultural figures signed a letter supporting the decisions of Putin, stating, “In the days when the fate of Crimea and our compatriots is being decided, Russian cultural figures cannot be indifferent observers with cold hearts... That is why we firmly declare our support of the position of the president of the Russian Federation on Ukraine and Crimea.”
Scroll through a preview of Artists Support Ukraine below. Those interested in supporting the ASU group are encouraged to share the organization's open letter, disseminate the artwork with the hashtag #supportukraine and submit more original work on the site here.
I Want to Die Smiling
"You're going alone? Why?" That's usually the response I get when I tell people I'm taking another solo trip. This time it's Puerto Rico, and it is my birthday. Today I'm 28. To me, my birthday is the perfect milestone to reflect on my life. It's an opportunity to think about my priorities and what my goals are for the future. I usually find a restaurant, where I enjoy sitting alone with a notebook and I just write. So, I wrote down a list of several key insights I've had about my life and picked, what I think, is the most important one.
I want to die smiling. Literally. There is something weird about our society in how we are scared to talk about death. We are afraid to make other people uncomfortable or we think it's just too horrible to bring up. The closest we ever get to even touching on the subject is when we use phrases like "I could get hit by a bus tomorrow" and yet we don't really live like life is really that precious.
I had cancer as a kid. It was stage 3 Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, and I was 5 years old. At the time, I had no idea it was life-threatening because no one was going to tell a 5-year-old that "there's a chance you could die." But my parents knew, and it was often their tears and the way they would wait so anxiously for my blood work to come in that made me realize something was wrong with me. I remember losing all of my long, brown hair. I remember how much I hated getting a spinal tap. I remember the faces of the sick kids in the emergency room and in the hospital.
Ironically, I don't try to forget these memories. In fact, I do everything I can to hold onto them. I've asked my parents what it was like for them. I ask them about some of the darkest moments. I want to know everything that happened. I figure that the more I know, the easier it is to be grateful that I have survived. It gives me even more incentive to live a life with purpose and to take in as much as I can while I am here. And I know that others haven't been so fortunate. But for some reason, I was given my life back, and I must not take it for granted.
When I tell people I had cancer, they usually feel bad for me. Yet, I feel that I'm lucky because the fragility of life has been woven into the fabric of my being. Most of the time, it takes a wake-up call, a near death experience or illness for us to start living life with a real sense of urgency. So what about the majority of people who haven't had an experience like that? It makes me wonder, how can we re-create that same sense of urgency without a traumatic event? How do we make our life feel finite?
Here's an exercise that we can all try. I use it often. And just a warning, it might scare you and make you uncomfortable.
Start with the end in mind. Get present to your death, and be OK with it. Think about your deathbed. How did you get there and how old are you? Did you die naturally? Was it preventative? Actually picture the whole thing in your head. Think about who will be there, and what they will say about how you lived. What were your final thoughts and how satisfied were you with all of your experiences? Do you have regrets? Are there things you wish you had said to someone you loved? Could you have taken better care of your body and your health? Do you wish you had taken more risks? Did you settle?
Then ask yourself, what do you have to do NOW so that when you do get to your deathbed, whenever that is, you are fully content? And if you were lying there tomorrow, how would you live today? Like really, how would you live today? Use these questions to guide you to make the changes you've been waiting to make, to take the chances you've wanted to take or to say the things you've always wanted to say.
I don't know how many more years I have. But if there's one thing I DO know, it's that I will die smiling. I hope you will too ☺
I want to die smiling. Literally. There is something weird about our society in how we are scared to talk about death. We are afraid to make other people uncomfortable or we think it's just too horrible to bring up. The closest we ever get to even touching on the subject is when we use phrases like "I could get hit by a bus tomorrow" and yet we don't really live like life is really that precious.
I had cancer as a kid. It was stage 3 Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, and I was 5 years old. At the time, I had no idea it was life-threatening because no one was going to tell a 5-year-old that "there's a chance you could die." But my parents knew, and it was often their tears and the way they would wait so anxiously for my blood work to come in that made me realize something was wrong with me. I remember losing all of my long, brown hair. I remember how much I hated getting a spinal tap. I remember the faces of the sick kids in the emergency room and in the hospital.
Ironically, I don't try to forget these memories. In fact, I do everything I can to hold onto them. I've asked my parents what it was like for them. I ask them about some of the darkest moments. I want to know everything that happened. I figure that the more I know, the easier it is to be grateful that I have survived. It gives me even more incentive to live a life with purpose and to take in as much as I can while I am here. And I know that others haven't been so fortunate. But for some reason, I was given my life back, and I must not take it for granted.
When I tell people I had cancer, they usually feel bad for me. Yet, I feel that I'm lucky because the fragility of life has been woven into the fabric of my being. Most of the time, it takes a wake-up call, a near death experience or illness for us to start living life with a real sense of urgency. So what about the majority of people who haven't had an experience like that? It makes me wonder, how can we re-create that same sense of urgency without a traumatic event? How do we make our life feel finite?
Here's an exercise that we can all try. I use it often. And just a warning, it might scare you and make you uncomfortable.
Start with the end in mind. Get present to your death, and be OK with it. Think about your deathbed. How did you get there and how old are you? Did you die naturally? Was it preventative? Actually picture the whole thing in your head. Think about who will be there, and what they will say about how you lived. What were your final thoughts and how satisfied were you with all of your experiences? Do you have regrets? Are there things you wish you had said to someone you loved? Could you have taken better care of your body and your health? Do you wish you had taken more risks? Did you settle?
Then ask yourself, what do you have to do NOW so that when you do get to your deathbed, whenever that is, you are fully content? And if you were lying there tomorrow, how would you live today? Like really, how would you live today? Use these questions to guide you to make the changes you've been waiting to make, to take the chances you've wanted to take or to say the things you've always wanted to say.
I don't know how many more years I have. But if there's one thing I DO know, it's that I will die smiling. I hope you will too ☺
#mentalhealth
http://bit.ly/13Y6UVy
from Anxiety Agoraphobia Bipolar Disorder Evaluations and Treatment in Boise, Treasure Valley, Idaho http://ift.tt/1qg9fID