PTSD: Photography and filming became "like a lifeline."

If you have PTSD, no matter what caused it, it helps to know the differnt things that have helped others. What may work for someone you know, may not work for you. The only thing to take from that is, if it helped them, there is always something out there that can help you too!

Mental health therapy is for everyone. Some people need medication. Others don't. Some need different medications, so there are so many different ones.

Everyone also needs to take care of their "other parts" and yet again, there are many different things for you. Yoga, martial arts, walking, running, hiking, swimming, art, music, and yes, even photography. For me, it is writing.

I found this article from the BBC inspiring. I hope you do too.

PTSD: Photography helps police officer manage condition

BBC
By Helen Burchell
November 28, 2022

Photography and filming became "like a lifeline."

On Christmas Day 2017, a traffic police officer's life began slowly to unravel after he was injured during a pursuit. Two years later he underwent surgery and was told he could no longer do the job he loved. His mental health took a nosedive but he found solace in his long-time hobby - photography.

"As a traffic officer I saw things no-one should see," Det Sgt Colin Shead says.

"Now I see things I want everyone to see."

Here, he speaks candidly about his mental health, and shares some of the images that have helped him cope.

The 51-year-old officer has clocked up more than 30 years on the force, joining Essex Police's roads policing unit (RPU) in 2010.

"I'd always wanted to do traffic work, because I wanted to protect people from harm on the roads," he says. "When you start, there's the great thrill and excitement of flying around all over the place - then you get the serious side - and the fatalities.

"You're the first at the scene when someone's been killed - you see that first-hand and it takes its toll."
read more here

OK, confession, I found filming and photography healing too!

PTSD - Causes, Symptoms, Treatment featuring Kathie Costos.

UPDATE THIS VIDEO IS NO LONGER UP. THEY TOOK DOWN ALL OF THEM. 

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
June 27, 2022

Thank you to Anxiety Commander and crew for all you do! It was a pleasure doing this video with you!

Today, our Special Guest is Kathy Costos. She is a YouTuber, the author of multiple books, the founder of an amazing organization PTSD Patrol and much more. In this video, we are going to discuss what actually PTSD is along with different dimensions of Generalized Anxiety Disorders.

In 1982, Kathis Costos survived many life-threatening events. She heard the term Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) back then but she didn’t have computers or cell phones to research and find out more. The only way she could learn about this was at the local library. The only books she found were clinical ones that she couldn’t understand. She had to use a dictionary to understand what she was reading in those clinical books. What dedication!

The research was all centered on war veterans. The more she learned, the more she understood that veterans and family members needed to be made aware of what the experts had found.

In 1999 She wrote her first book, For The Love Of Jack and it was published in 2002. It helped a lot of people and helped therapists gain more understanding of what PTSD does to families as well as veterans.

In 2006 She started doing videos on PTSD and started Wounded Times soon afterward because reports on PTSD were all over the country but still, there was no one source putting them all together.

She started PTSD Patrol in 2017 to change the conversation from doom and gloom to hope of healing. She believes that therapy works!

And to all the readers of Wonded Times
Remember, it's your life! Get in and drive it!
#BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife from #PTSD

Pink Floyd - Hey Hey Rise Up

You don't need to understand the words to feel the message.

Pink Floyd - Hey Hey Rise Up (feat. Andriy Khlyvnyuk of Boombox)
This is something that most humans can understand. For the others, they are either slaughtering the Ukrainian people, or approving of it. This is one of the rare times when there is no in-between.

C-PTSD Mental Disorder That “Doesn’t Officially Exist”

I spent 40 years helping people with PTSD, mostly veterans. Considered an "expert" and knew enough to save lives. The problem is, because of everything I read, the therapists I saw, PTSD in me was missed. I survived 10 events but the only one that followed me wherever I went was after my first husband tried to kill me. I filed for divorce and he stalked me after that for a long time. The thing is, it stayed with me every time I heard the kind of car he drove. It hung on even though I got married again 38 years ago and moved thousands of miles away from him. The nightmares, flashbacks, mood swings and paranoia didn't stop coming with the roar of an engine until I found out he passed away. So yes, this is a very real thing we suffer from, but the other real thing is, we can heal and surviving the cause, is nothing to be ashamed of. I'm proud I survived, fought back and recovered enough to live a full life, even with the residual of what happened to me. You can too! Learn as much as you can about what PTSD is and find support. It is out there. 

Praise to Stephanie Foo for doing this! Keep in mind, every mental "disorder" did not exist until it had a name after it was proven it had been there all along!

What It’s Like to Be Diagnosed With a Mental Disorder That “Doesn’t Officially Exist”

Slate
BY STEPHANIE FOO
APRIL 07, 2022

What My Bones Know Stephanie Foo
Excerpted from What My Bones Know by Stephanie Foo. Copyright © 2022 by Stephanie Foo. Excerpted by permission of Ballantine Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Learning about C-PTSD is not easy because it doesn’t officially exist. The name “complex PTSD” is somewhat new, coined in the ’90s by psychiatrist Judith Herman. And it doesn’t exist because it isn’t officially in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which is essentially the bible of mental health: If it’s not in there, it ain’t real. There was an effort by a group of mental health experts to include it in the DSM-5, which was published in 2013, but the faceless arbiters of mental health behind the DSM—a group of psychiatrists I envision as a society of hooded figures chanting around a sacrificial child star—decided that it was too similar to PTSD. There was no reason to add a “C,” no need for a distinction between the two. It’s worth mentioning, however, that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the United Kingdom National Health Service both recognize C-PTSD as a legitimate diagnosis.

Because it isn’t in the DSM, there isn’t much literature on C-PTSD. What does exist is often dry, dull, and written with all the kindness and emotional intelligence of a tech bro. But still, I was desperate to learn, so I bought a small stack of books, each with a vague impressionist painting on the cover coupled with uninviting font. And I made my way through them, one painful page at a time.

The books taught me that when we live through traumatic experiences, our brains take in the things around us that are causing the greatest threat, and they encode these things deep into our subconscious as sources of danger.
read more here

Disturbed understands what that pain is like

Heads up on this. If you watch the video from Disturbed, and someone pops into your mind, then send them the link to it. I means they are the one who needed to see this.

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
May 13, 2021

I used the song by Disturbed, A Reason To Fight, not too long ago. I saw this video when I was putting up today's video for PTSD Patrol. It is too powerful and when I watched it, I knew it couldn't wait for another day. Someone needs to see it today and I hope it helps! For everyone else, just consider this a bonus video for the day.

Disturbed understands what that pain is like.

A Reason to Fight

Disturbed

The image in your eyes

Reflecting the pain that has taken you

I hear it in your voice, so ridden with shame

From what's hailing you

I won't give up so don't give in

You've fallen down but you can rise again

So don't give up

When the demon that's inside you is ready to begin

And it feels like it's a battle that you will never win

When you're aching for the fire and begging for your sin

When there's nothing left inside, there's still a reason to fight

Lost in your world of lies

I find it so hard to believe in you

Can it be real this time?

Or just a part of this game that we're playing through

I won't give up so don't give in

You've fallen down but you will rise again

I won't give up

When the demon that's inside you is ready to begin

And it feels like it's a battle that you will never win

When you're aching for the fire and begging for your sin

When there's nothing left inside, there's still a reason to fight

Don't let it take your soul

Look at me take control

When knowing to fight this war

This is nothing worth dying for

Are you ready to begin?

This is a battle that we are gonna win

When you're aching for the fire and begging for your sin

When there's nothing left inside, there's still a reason

When the demon that's inside you is ready to begin

And it feels like it's a battle that you will never win

When you're aching for the fire and begging for your sin

When there's nothing left inside, there's still a reason to fight

I'll be your reason to fight

Give you a reason to fight

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Dan J Donegan / David Michael Draiman / Kevin Gregory Churko / Michael Wengren

A Reason to Fight lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd. 

Open Library has the copy of the illegal For The Love Of Jack

Open Library has the copy of the illegal For The Love Of Jack book that was stolen from me back in 2005~

Top that off with what they have written under the top section that has nothing to do with this book! I own the copyright on this!

This is the book that the publisher stole, would not pay me for and would not remove. They would not take any responsibility for any of this and all these years later, I am still seeing it show up all over the net!

Do not buy this book or read it if it has this blue cover.  This is the legal one I had to republish on Amazon!

UPDATE from PTSD Patrol
PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
May 6, 2021

Cross posted on Wounded Times

No matter how many times people walked away from you, one day someone will help you. One day someone will show you the way and stand by your side until you get to where you need to be. Then you will become that "someone" for someone else. Don't give up. Don't give in. Fight like hell because you are worth it!

If you were not, then I wouldn't have been doing this work for almost 40 years with all the crap I have to go through to do the right thing. No matter what I faced, you were worth it!

Today there almost wasn't a video. I didn't have it in me to do one. I was actually online looking for something for myself. I discovered my work stolen again. It happens to me all the time and I am powerless to stop them from doing it. Sometimes they will put my name on it, other times they won't but for some reason they think they can just take it without my knowledge or permission.

I found the video that put into words exactly what I was feeling and it helped. It is from Five Finger Death Punch, Darkness Settles In. When I heard these lines, I cried. The thing is, it just got uploaded 15 hours ago!

It's like I'm holding all the aces

But I know I'll never win

Waiting for someone to save me

But everyone just runs away

The people I know who would help me, cannot help me on this. The ones who can help, I reach out to but they are not interested in helping me at all. The thing is, I am on the right side of this, doing the work for the right reasons and nothing is going to stop me. Screw the bastards. I know one day will come and they will be seen for who and what they truly are. I may not be alive to see it but I know I have the power over what I do and no one can take that way.

If you have PTSD then you know what it is like to tell death "screw you" and you lived because your life was worth it to you. You had no control over what happened but have the power to change what comes now. I'll be damned if I let the darkness settle in on my life. Don't let it settle in on your life either.

Remember, it is your life...get in and drive it!
#BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife from #PTSD

Darkness Settles In

Five Finger Death Punch 

Another sun sets down behind me

Another day comes crashing in

There's a whispering wind that's blowing

There's a storm that's closing in

I can hear the trains, they're rolling

To a place I've never been

And I can feel her breath beside me

With an empty glass of gin

As the darkness settles in

I can hear her voice again

I can hear your voice again

Waiting for someone to save me

But everyone just runs away

Waiting for someone to change me

But no one ever comes

I'm breaking down the walls that cage me

But nothing ever falls in place

Waiting for the end to take me

Blinded by the sun

All the ghosts that live inside me

Always waiting in the wind

I can see through my reflection

What I've become and what I've been

You see, your Heaven doesn't want me

And your Hell won't let me in

It's like I'm holding all the aces

But I know I'll never win

Waiting for someone to save me

But everyone just runs away

Waiting for someone to change me

But no one ever comes

I'm breaking down the walls that cage me

But nothing ever falls in place

Waiting for the end to take me

Blinded by the sun

You can take it away, tear it all down

Spit in my face, pushed to the ground

Look what I've become

I've fallen from grace, bloodied and bound

Taking up space, lost and I'm found

Look what I've become

I can hear the snakes, they're winding

Singing songs of pain and sin

There's an anger overflowing

From this empty glass of gin

As the darkness settles in

And the darkness settles in

Waiting for someone to save me

But everyone just runs away

Waiting for someone to change me

But no one ever comes

I'm breaking down the walls that cage me

But nothing ever falls in place

Waiting for the end to take me

Blinded by the sun

And the darkness settles in

(You can take it away)

And the darkness settles in

(You can take it away)

As the darkness settles in

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Ivan Moody / Zoltan Bathory / Kevin Churko / Jason Hook

Darkness Settles In lyrics © Gumpofwump 

People who do not fit in are the ones who change the world

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
March 28, 2021

I don't fit in anywhere. I never did. When I was young, it didn't matter to me at all. I just wanted to be myself. When I got older, I wanted to fit in but I still wanted to be me. When I got a lot older, I didn't care if I fit in again. That is not always a bad thing. 

People who do not fit in are the ones who change the world. If everyone thought the same, settled for the way things were, then nothing would ever change. They are the creators of change. The dreamers, poets and writers, artist, musicians, scientists and misfits create things that were never done before.

If you have PTSD, then you may not really fit in with people who never survived anything like you did. It is OK. You do fit in with others who are trying to heal, but you can also do something different because you know things have to change to make lives better.

Today is Palm Sunday for most Christians, but not Greeks like me. It is the day Jesus road in on the donkey and the people shouted "hosanna" as he went by them. In other words, they wanted this One who did not "fit in" to save them. Jesus did not fit in with the other Hebrews and came to change the world. It is why today the featured video is Sanctus Real, Forgiven.

Part of the lyrics is about not fitting in. 

And I don't have to carry the weight of who I've been

'Cause I'm forgiven

When I don't fit in

And I don't feel like I belong anywhere

When I don't measure up to much in this life

Oh, I'm a treasure in the arms of Christ

'Cause I'm forgiven

The rest of the world may tell you that you should hold onto anger and blaming others. It tells you to hate those who hurt you or didn't care what happened to you. The world tells you a lot of things but deep inside, it is destroying you. It is taking room in your soul where goodness belongs. Where hope should be and where dreams begin. Don't let all that negative stuff take up that much room in you.

Isn't it time to be "you" with all your flaws and gifts? Isn't it time for you to do more than settle for what "is" because people are telling you that you should, or far worse, tell you to just get over it? Be a misfit and then show others how to be happier being them!

Remember, it is your life...get in and drive it! 

#BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife from #PTSD 

As I said, not fitting in, is not always a bad thing.

read more here

Does the person in your life know you love them?

PTSD Patrol and Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
March 25, 2021

Does the person in your life know you love them? If you have PTSD and you are not talking to them about what is going on with you, then they will think you just don't love them anymore. Today the featured video is Bonnie Raitt, I Can't Make You Love Me because there have been too many conversations from women giving up on their marriages and relationships with veterans.

This can apply to husbands, because we also have to face the fact that there are female veterans too. It can apply to anyone with PTSD in a relationship because you are leaving them to believe you don't love them anymore. What other choice can they make if you won't tell them why you changed?

They can only base what they feel on how you treat them, how you act toward them and how you talk to them. It sucks!

You may be destroying a relationship that is strong enough to last the rest of your life because you won't talk to them or even try to get them to know what is in your heart.

"You can't make your heart feel something it won't," is what they think. I know because I almost gave up on my marriage. I remember driving and this song came on the radio. I'd cry hard enough I had to pull over until I could see better and wiped the tears from my face. I had no way of knowing if there was any love left or not, even though I knew what PTSD was.

What made it harder for me was dealing with what my ex-husband did when he tried to kill me, proving my life didn't matter to him, even though he said the words out of his mouth. My second husband and I have been married for over 36 years now and because he started to make the effort to trust me enough to talk about Vietnam, I was sure that while his actions had nothing to do with me even though it effected me deeply.

It is time to think about the person you share your life with or you won't be doing it much longer.

Morning will come and I'll do what's right

Just give me till then to give up this fight

And I will give up this fight

'Cause I can't make you love me if you don't

You can't make your heart feel something it won't

Remember, it is your life...get in and drive it! 

#BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife from #PTSD

I Can’t Make You Love Me

Bonnie Raitt

Turn down the lights

Turn down the bed

Turn down these voices inside my head

Lay down with me

Tell me no lies

Just hold me close, don't patronize

Don't patronize me

'Cause I can't make you love me if you don't

You can't make your heart feel something it won't

Here in the dark, in these final hours

I will lay down my heart and I'll feel the power

But you won't, no you won't

'Cause I can't make you love me, if you don't

I'll close my eyes, then I won't see

The love you don't feel when you're holding me

Morning will come and I'll do what's right

Just give me till then to give up this fight

And I will give up this fight

'Cause I can't make you love me if you don't

You can't make your heart feel something it won't

Here in the dark, in these final hours

I will lay down my heart and I'll feel the power

But you won't, no you won't

'Cause I can't make you love me, if you don't

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Michael Reid / Allen Shamblin

I Can’t Make You Love Me lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Amplified Administration 

Post Traumatic Survivors

Post Traumatic Survivors Define Themselves

Wounded Times 

Kathie Costos 

June 7, 2020

You are no longer a victim of yesterday.

Today you are a survivor.

Tomorrow you start healing!

Join in on what will change your life!

Stop being defined by what you survived and start to #TakeBackYourLife as a SURVIVOR!

Tomorrow begins a new day!

Help raise PTSD HEALING Awareness

Learn how to make a difference

Wounded Times
Cross Posted on PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
June 1, 2020


No matter what you think you know about PTSD, the truth is,  you have a lot more power than you think you do. The problem is, until you learn how to use it, things will still suck!

PTSD Patrol Family Road Trip Guide
We have actually taken a back seat for far too long!

This video was the first one I did on PTSD and Wounded Minds to help you learn more about the difference you can make. Originally it went up in 2006 and was reposted afterwards.

Help Raise PTSD Awareness

National Center for PTSD

There are currently about 8 million people in the United States with PTSD.

Even though PTSD treatments work, most people who have PTSD don't get the help they need. June is PTSD Awareness Month. Help us spread the word that effective PTSD treatments are available. Everyone with PTSD—whether they are Veterans or civilian survivors of sexual assault, serious accidents, natural disasters, or other traumatic events—needs to know that treatments really do work and can lead to a better quality of life.

Join Us
During PTSD Awareness Month, and throughout the entire year, help raise awareness about the many different PTSD treatment options. You can make a difference in the lives of Veterans and others who have experienced trauma. Everyone can help.
read it here

"Meatball" wanted to become a Marine...lost 186 pounds to do it!

Marine infantry recruit drops 186 pounds to make it to boot camp

STARS AND STRIPES
By IMMANUEL JOHNSON
Published: May 28, 2020

Gabriel Ramirez spent his childhood dreaming of being a Marine, but that dream seemed unattainable as a 365-pound teen nicknamed “Meatball.”

Gabriel Mendez Ramirez lost 186 pounds on his way to becoming a Marine recruit. Ramirez, from Oceanside, Calif., graduated from Rancho Buena Vista High School last year and recently headed to boot camp.
BERNADETTE PLOUFFE/U.S. MARINE CORPS

This week, Ramirez, 18, was on his way to boot camp, 186 pounds lighter.

At the end of Ramirez’s sophomore year at Rancho Buena Vista High School in California, Marine recruiter Staff Sgt. Anna Rodrigues spoke to his class and later asked him about his interests.

“The kids I talk to, one thing I look for is heart,” Rodrigues said in a phone interview Wednesday. “I am looking for someone that won’t quit and will accept the challenge.”
read it here

What will you do when life is good again?

Life will be good again

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
May 28, 2020

There is no way of sugar coating it. Life sucks right now! Over 100,000 Americans died because of a pandemic and over a million have been infected. Over 40 million are unemployed now, businesses are closing for good and states struggle to figure out how to reopen things the best way possible. Too many people have dismissed the guidelines of how to stop the spread and only seem to care about enjoying themselves without regarding the other people in their lives they deliver the infection to.

Yes, things suck right now if you only look at what is wrong. Yet if you look at the flip side of all of this, there are many good things going on because people wondered what they could do to make life better for others.

People are stepping up and showing up, in whatever way they can. One of them is Dolly Parton.

Dolly Parton Donates a Million Dollars to Coronavirus Research at Vanderbilt but that is not all she has done. She is reading books to kids online. And last night, she put up a song she wrote to offer everyone hope that not only will life be good again...but they can be better people too!

When Life Is Good Again

Dolly Parton

When life is good again

I'll be a better friend

A bigger person when

Life is good again

More thoughtful than I've been

I'll be so different then

More in the moment when

Life is good again

I'll open up my heart

And let the whole world in

I'll try to make amends

When life is good again

We've been brought to our knees

We've been so ill at ease

There are no guarantees

But you know life goes on

This too shall pass away

Bring new and different days

We need to change our ways

And right our wrongs

Let's open up our hearts

And let the whole world in

Let's try to make amends

When life is good again

I'll open up my doors again

And hear the message in the wind

Repent of all my sins (Hallelujah)

When life is good again

I'll try to be someone

On which you can depend

A helping hand to lend

Let's open up our eyes

And see what's goin' on

If we're to move along

From where we've been

Let's open up our hearts

And let the love shine in (Shine in)

We've all got knees to bend

And we'll just pray 'til then

Ask God's forgiveness when

Life is good again

And it's gonna be good again

(It's gonna be, it's gonna be)

It's gonna be good again

It'll be alright (It'll be alright)

God's the reason for all things

You want rainbows, you get rain

We'll all be forever changed (Forever changed)

I'll sell my boat and fly my kite

Walk in the park, go out at night

And hold my loved ones extra tight

When everything is on the mend

I'll even drink with my old friends

Sing and play my mandolin

We'll make it through this long dark night

Darkness fades when faced with light

And everything's gonna be alright

When life is good again

Black Rifle Coffee Company CEO refused to give up

Veteran founder of multimillion-dollar company: 'This is the hardest thing I've ever done in my life'

FOX
By Matt London
May 26, 2020

The founder and CEO of Black Rifle Coffee Company, Evan Hafer, said he would rather return to combat than face rebuilding his business again from scratch.

"This is the hardest thing I've ever done in my life and I'm a former Green Beret [who] spent seven years in combat zones," Hafer told veteran correspondent Lara Logan on her Fox Nation show "No Agenda with Lara Logan."

In Season 3 of "No Agenda," Logan investigates the current state of affairs of America's veterans through the eyes of those who served — from veteran entrepreneurs to those carrying out humanitarian missions, to wounded warriors on the front lines of the veteran suicide crisis.

Hafer started Black Rifle Coffee in his Salt Lake City garage five years ago. Prior to that, he spent about 300 days a year, for a decade, deployed to some of the most remote and hostile regions of the world, with both the U.S. special forces and the CIA.

Today, Black Rifle Coffee is one of the most successful veteran-owned businesses in America, though Hafer said the company nearly never made it.

"I remember I was in my garage sitting on a box and, you know, I'm like looking around and I have nothing else. And I was like starting to cry," said Hafer, recalling how he sold nearly everything he owned to keep his business afloat.

"For years, I told myself all these things, you know, like you're a special forces guy, you're CIA, you know, 1 percent of 1 percent. Why can't I make this work?" he told Logan, explaining that he reached a turning point.
read it here

Suicides end when others break their own silence

Miracles after attempted suicides prevented

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
May 17, 2020

Stories collected from Wounded Times

In 2007, Owen Wilson attempted suicide and it was big news, and spread around the world. At the same time, we were facing 948 attempted active duty suicides, along with 99 who lost their lives. It was also the year when many survivors faced charges. A female reservists was facing charges after she survived. She tired again, and again, she survived. The charges against her were dropped and her story showed that her mental health crisis had been pushed aside by her superiors.

"I Sat around numerous times with a .44 in my mouth. But for some reason, I just couldn't pull the trigger. I don't know why." said a 57 year old veteran who had attempted it three more times.

Not long afterwards reports of veterans attempted suicides had grown more than "patient count" in the VA. The eyeopener in this piece of news was the age groups who topped the numbers from 2000-2007. 20-24 year old attempts went from 11 to 47 per year. 55-59 year old attempts also went up from 19 to 117.

By April of 2008, the reports on attempted suicides were increased to 1,000 per month in the VA system.

And then something amazing started to happen. Veterans were talking about their own pain so that others would understand it is not all doom and gloom. 

Two years later, veterans were trying to do whatever they could to change the outcome and encourage veterans to seek healing instead of suffering. That is what Jeremiah Workman did as the recipient of the Navy Cross.

He went on to write "Shadow of the Sword: A Marine's Journey of War, Heroism, and Redemption"
read more here

Miracles followed because 11 year old made a wish

11 year old made dying wish that reached around the world

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
May 15, 2020

Confession: When I decided to put up these miracles, it was because I needed something to change the mood I was in. So many stories on Wounded Times, that it is hard to remember all of them. For now, I am putting up the ones that stand out most in my mind. Then I'll go through the other 38,000 to find more. They will be posted on PTSD until I run out of them.

The one posted today is about an 11 year old boy dying from cancer. This little boy had great compassion for the homeless in his area, that his dying wish was to be able to help them. His Mom supported that and did what she could to honor his wish.

What followed was his wish being heard around the world. Within a month, his wish was granted and the little angel changed the lives of millions!

read his story here

Devon Levesque prepares to bear crawl NY Marathon to save veterans...and thanks the Lord he can

Trainer prepares to 'bear crawl' entire New York City Marathon

Fox News
By Frank Miles
May 8, 2020

“When I found out about FitOps and how they were working with these heroic veterans who have made it through war but were struggling back at home, I made it my mission to get involved. My goal in bear crawling a marathon is to raise enough money to sponsor veterans and put them through FitOps camp and help them reach their goals,” the 27-year-old said.

Devon Lévesque Thank the Lord Every Day ✞

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, it’s still up in the air if New York City Marathon will happen in November.

One of Manhattan’s top fitness trainers, however, is gearing up for all of its 26.2 miles in a very unique way.

Devon Levesque, a partner in the high-end training facility Performix House in New York City, is training to do the marathon in a bear crawl where he will run on his hands and feet.

He told Fox News: “Bear crawl is a full body exercise where you walk on your hands and feet. It takes a lot of core, quad, and shoulder strength since all of your weight is on your hands, and your toes and back are parallel to the ground.”

He’s like "Fight Club," in 2020, without the anarchy.
read it here

From the New York Post

Song of comfort in Times Like These

Times Like These

Lyrics

I, I'm a one way motorway

I'm the one that drives away

Then follows you back home

I, I'm a street light shining

I'm a wild light blinding bright

Burning off alone

It's times like these you learn to live again

It's times like these you give and give again

It's times like these you learn to love again

It's times like these time and time again

I, I'm a new day rising

I'm a brand new sky

To hang the stars upon tonight

I am a little divided

Do I stay or run away

And leave it all behind?

It's times like these you learn to live again

It's times like these you give and give again

It's times like these you learn to love again

It's times like these time and time again

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Nate Mendel / Dave Grohl / Taylor Hawkins / Chris Shiflett
Times Like These lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Universal Music Publishing Group, BMG Rights Management

PTSD: If the leaders have not managed to take care of their departments...do it yourself!

Stop waiting for someone else to do it!

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
April 10, 2020

Over and over again we read about responders not getting the mental health help they desperately need. After over 4 decades of research into what PTSD does, if the leaders have not managed to take care of their departments...do it yourself!

Stop waiting for someone else to begin taking care of you and the people you risk your life with. If they are still so ignorant they have not managed to provide you with the proper support, do it for each other. After all, peer support is what works best. It can only work if you learn all you can to be able to respond with facts, as well as encouragement.

The longer you wait, the more will die by their own hands because of what their jobs did to them!

You already their trust, because they trust you with their lives, as you trust them with yours.

Open your mouth if you think someone you know is struggling instead of fearing how they will judge you. If you still fear talking about PTSD, then that is your problem and you need to overcome it. Learn what it is and why you have it and then you will see that it is a price you are paying for surviving what you lived through.

Start helping each other heal! Contact me if you have questions 407-754-7526

"And with this prayer I'm hoping that we, can be unbroken" by PTSD

Bon Jovi thanks Prince Harry for 'bringing a light' to PTSD sufferers as they release video for charity single recorded with the Invictus Games Choir

Daily Mail
By CHLOE MORGAN FOR MAILONLINE
30 March 2020

Prince Harry released video for charity single 'Unbroken' recorded in February
Recorded with Bon Jovi and Invictus Games Choir to raise awareness of PTSD
Jon and 12 choir members seen rehearsing and singing as one glorious group

Prince Harry has released the video for charity single 'Unbroken' he recorded with US rocker Bon Jovi and the Invictus Games Choir to raise awareness of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

The special version of the Bon Jovi track, re-recorded last month at Abbey Road Studios, is available to buy and stream now.

All proceeds will go to the Invictus Games Foundation, of which The Duke of Sussex is Patron, in support of the recovery and rehabilitation of international wounded, injured or sick military personnel.

The Choir and Jon recorded the single together in just two days, and in the video, Jon and the 12 choir members are seen rehearsing and singing together as a glorious group.
read it here

Unbroken

Bon Jovi

I was born to be of service

Camp Lejeune just felt like home

I had honor, I found purpose

Sir, yes, sir

That's what I know

They sent us to a place I never heard of weeks before

When you're nineteen, it ain't hard to sleep

In the desert on God's floor

Close your eyes, stop counting sheep

You hear them bootcamp anymore

We were taught to shoot our rifles

Then in one, then side by side

Thought we'd be made as liberators

In a thousand year old fight

I got this painful ringing in my ear

From an IED last night

But no lead light humvee war machine, could save my sergeants life

Three more soldiers, six civilians

Need these words to come out right

God of mercy, God of light

Seek your children from this life

Here these words, this humble plea

For I have seen the suffering

And with this prayer I'm hoping

That we, can be unbroken

It's 18 months now, I've been stateside

With this medal on my chest

But there are things I can't remember

And there are things I won't forget

I lie awake at night with dreams of devils shouldn't see

I wanna scream, but I can't breathe

And Christ, I am sweating through these sheets

Where's my brothers? Where's my country?

Where's my how things used to be?

God of mercy, God of light

Seek your children from this life

Here these words, this humble plea

For I have seen the suffering

And with this prayer I'm hoping

That we, can be unbroken

My service dogs done more for me

Then the medication would

There ain't no angel that is coming to save me

But even if they could

Today, 22, would die from suicide

Just like yesterday, they're gone

I live my life for each tomorrow

So their memories will live on

Once we were boys, and we were strangers

Now we're brothers and we're men

Someday you'll ask me, was it worth it to be of service in the end?

Well, the blessing, and the curses, yeah, I'd do it all again

Whoa-oh

Whoa-oh

Whoa-oh

Whoa-oh

Whoa-oh

Whoa-oh (Whoa)

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Jon Bon Jovi

Unbroken lyrics © Bon Jovi Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Int. Ltd.

Sharing pain is often healing for us and gives comfort to others

When you know your work is not worthless

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
March 25, 2020

During this time of isolation, it has been really hard to fight depression, especially when my life has been about helping veterans and their families. My husband and I are both over 60 and have health problems. Being out with people is dangerous for me, but more so for him. It is also dangerous for all others. Knowing that isolation is very hard on veterans, especially when they have PTSD, rips at my soul!

I just put up a video for the leaders in Point Man International Ministries, knowing that if I am going through all of this, they must be too. Sharing pain is often healing for us and gives comfort to others going through the same thing. Knowing you are not alone is empowering!
read it here