Crochet Queen: Royal Ramblings

  Healing Through Art  by Cheryl Chojnacki; Daily Herald; September 28, 2008 "The Awakenings Project won a Celebration Recovery award in 2006 for Outstanding Contribution to Recovery by a Non-Profit Organization. The project plays a vital role in the well-being of many who struggle with mental health issues. Through Awakenings, some are discovering, for the first time, that mental illness has an upside. Virginia Goldrick, at the Eckert Center for Mental Health in Elgin, Illinois explains, "Some people see mental illness as a burden, as limitation. But it can also open your eyes to many things-not just to human suffering, but also to the depth of human spirit. In her 1993 book  Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament , Dr. Kay Jamison builds the case that mental illness often goes hand-in-hand with artistic ability-citing Lord Byron, Robert Schumann, Vincent van Gogh as examples. The initial idea was to investigate Kay Jamison's claims of t

Chicago Tribune,  4/9/2003 Making Peace with Yourself (while the country is at war) by Barbara Brotman; Chicago Tribune, April 9, 2003 "Between the war and the economy, there is enough anguishing news to turn a concerned person into a despairing one. How do we navigate a worrisome world without being engulfed by it?"  Although those words were written in 2003, they are eerily familiar to me today; and, I suppose, to many of you! I have pretty much stopped watching the national news; the enormity of our daily problems leads me to despair as I am unable to solve the world's problems! I'm also done talking about the "mask/no mask" controversy. Just because I am pretty much isolating again and have very little to report when I check in with friends near or far, it doesn't mean I have to fill the void with negativity. Today, we have a seemingly never-ending pandemic thrown into the mix of everyday life.  There is plenty we can do to bring happiness to each d