If you have a mental health condition, you're not alone. One in 5 American adults experiences some form of mental illness in any given year. And across the population, 1 in every 20 adults is living with a serious mental health condition such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or long-term recurring major depression. - See more at: http://www.nami.org/Find-Support/Living-with-a-Mental-Health-Condition#sthash.Xtx9prJI.dpuf

Living With A Mental Health Condition

Danger in the Home: Mother kills children

The type of domestic violence abusers who are willing to end life, do not value life.
Obsessive and controlling people who are usually laden with past issues, are self-centered, or egocentric, only value their own needs and emotions over the needs and emotions of others. Those who kill never held the strong values of the dominant culture: do not kill and do not wrong others, being paramount. Abusers of this nature exhibit red flag warning signs.

Abusers come in all forms, genders, and socioeconomic statuses. The most common denominator for seriously abusive people, is they desire to control their world to the point of obsession; if they can't have what they want, then no one can...at least no one in their immediate world.This type of abuser is usually egocentric, self-absorbed and autonomously insecure. Although most murders of female partners and of children in a family unit by domestic abusers are male perpetrated, female abusers commit similar atrocities. Domestic violence killers are not always men,such as in this case of a female who killed her own child in order to punish the child's father. If cases like this were rare there would not be a major societal problem concerning domestic violence and domestic homicide; unfortunately, these cases are common across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Domestic violence takes the lives of thousands of men, women, and children each year, and will continue to do so until the tide of this disastrous trend is staunched. Domestic violence begins before the first abusive word of emotional assault is hurled, and before the first slap or fist punch. In most cases, abuse begins with abuse.

The reciprocal effect of adults with a history of abuse as children is that it becomes a risk factor that exacerbates the likelihood they will also abuse their children. Abuse often predicates abuse, as learned behavior compounds traumatic childhoods in adults with poor stress management skills. Other factors that lead to serious child maltreatment and even murder, include environmental stress, poverty and lack of support systems. The breeding ground for domestic violence begins in a history of domestic violence. The cultural climate of domestic violence can be changed by raising public awareness through education, and by slowing the spread of dysfunction and abuse within families through prevention and intervention. In order to weed out domestic violence and slow its effects upon families and society, we need to change the climate in which domestic abuse grows.

O Holy Night - Josh Groban

Celine Dion

Roots, the Movie

The book Roots: The Saga of an American Family
By Alex Haley
Was written as a result of the author's quest to trace his personal ancestry, a quest that led him deep into American history, and resulted in a larger truth, one that embodied America as a whole.

The book became a televised sensation, leaving in its aftermath, 37 Emmy nominations, resulting in nine wins, as well a a Golden Globe award.

I remember when Roots first aired in 1977, and I was so greatly affected by its cultural and emotional power that I wrote about it in my own memoir, Torn From the Inside Out, by Sara Niles

An excerpt follows:

"We, as a country, were like an old faithful hunting dog who had just fought off a bear for his family and came home to lick his wounds. The timing was right for what happened next.

The social unrest that existed while the Vietnam war was ongoing, had become less intense since the war’s end, allowing the country to reach a state of calmness that enabled it to come together to watch the premier of the television version of Alex Haley’s Pulitzer winning novel: Roots. Eighty million people watched Roots, making it the most watched movie in the history of Television; in fact, the massive audience surpassed even that of the fabled movie: Gone With The Wind.

I will never forget the impact the televised series of movies had on me, for it was more than entertainment, it was a slap in the face at the appropriate time, and provided a timely awakening for a country slumbering in racial apathy. This was not the first time an author had provided that much needed slap in the face. Harriet Beecher Stowe shook a country with her simple novel: Uncle Tom’s Cabin, because it was the right thing at the right time, and I believe Root’s was the right thing at the right time too. "

Torn From the Inside Out, Sara Niles

The new remake of Roots, the movie, is proving to be a masterwork of similar magnitude as the first. The first showing is airing on the History channel and Lifetime, along with a few others, this week.

It is not to be missed, for it is more than a movie, it is the story of our American past.

Torn From the Inside Out by Sara Niles

My name is Sara Niles, the author of Torn From the Inside Out, my personal memoir, and testament to the power of the unconquerable human spirit we are all imbued with. Torn From the Inside Out is the story of my life, first as a neglected child, given away to an elderly couple at the age of 3 1/2, and as a victim of domestic violence by the age of 16:

Torn From the Inside Out (Amazon)

 “In the process of my evolution, I became a victim of domestic war, an emotional casualty for a major portion of my life, entwined, entrapped and emotionally involved, until I learned how to become free. Freedom has never been easily gained and has often come at high cost throughout history, but one thing I will always know is freedom is worth every fight, and all pain.” 

From the Prologue

This book is for me and my children, as well as the millions of veterans of domestic war: those who live in homes predominated by domestic violence. Some survive the violence, stronger in some ways, and broken in others, and some do not survive at all.

In memory of the dead victims of domestic violence, I have retold stories of those who became casualties. The stories below are all true; I retold them from the perspective of my own visualizations in an effort to give some validation to lives wasted, and mostly forgotten. Some things are too precious to forget, such as the lessons of history, and the deeds of unsung heroes, for if we stumble into the habit of forgetting, we lose both the value of life and the opportunity to become a wiser and stronger generation. If we forget, we lessen our children’s heritage and cheat them of the legacy of their pasts, therefore we can never forget.

I lived a life that was far from ordinary, and even far from normal. I was given away when I was barely over three years old to two aged, octogenarian relatives who had been childless until their early eighties, when they received me, much like a human gift. I was cherished and protected by them, that is, as long as they could offer such protection I lived in 'The Garden of Eden'.

Time passed and I found myself far removed from such valued protection when I was on the brink of losing my life to a violent abuser, one I had married and pledged to spend a lifetime with. My life would take me far from my life's oasis, my childhood Garden of Eden.

Chapter One

The Garden of Eden

Thunder rattled the window- panes two stories high and lightning split the sky; it was as if the whole world was in turmoil that night. My nerves were keyed up as tight as piano strings, and in a sudden moment of stillness and silence it felt as though my heartbeat was amplified ten times over. He was over a hundred pounds greater than I, nearly a foot taller, and I knew he could move his muscled body into unbelievable sprints. Rain started falling in torrents, while the storm raged outside. I was not afraid of the storms of nature; it was the storm inside this night that I knew I might not survive.

Anticipation was so great that I wanted to scream at him to get it over with, and true to my expectation he lunged for me, and my body did not disappoint me, I flew down the stairs two at a time in my bare-feet. He stalled for mere seconds to enjoy his pronouncement of a death sentence upon me:
“I AM GOING TO KILL YOU—YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING BITCH—STONE DEAD!”He screamed like a crazed animal.

The date was February 13, of the year 1987, the night that I disappeared into a February rainstorm with five children and no place to go. I was twenty-nine years old.
Torn From the Inside Out as a Kindle E-book is available at promotional prices for six days on Amazon, beginning 03/23/2016-03/28/2016.

Don't Cry For Me Argentina - Madonna

Susan Boyle - Hallelujah

Paulo Coelho, author of The Alchemist: Never Give Up Your Dream

Paulo Coelho is an internationally famed author, mainly because of his 1987 book, The Alchemist, which has sold over 150 million copies and had a 315 week run on the New York Times best seller list. That is over six continuous years as a best seller.

The Alchemist tells a tale that became almost autobiographical for Coelho: that of a young shepherd boy on a quest for what would become the most valued thing in his life. In Coelho’s case, his personal  quest was to become a writer. From the time Coelho was a young boy in his native land of Brazil; his dream was to become a writer, even though it was scoffed at by others. Writing was his dream. In The Alchemist, Coelho wrote “When you want something, the whole universe conspires to help you”, and those words inspired him to not give up when the first publication of The Alchemist flopped.

If Coelho had listened to the first publisher who decided the book was not worthwhile after the first printing sold less than a dozen copies, or if he had listened to his mother who questioned the logic of becoming a writer, there would have been no Internationally renowned Paulo Coelho, and no The Alchemist, which has won over one hundred awards. There would have been no time spent on the New York Times best seller list, I would not be writing about Paulo Coelho.

The lesson learned is to never give up on your dream.

Sara Niles

Republican Party Holds American Government Hostage

The power struggle between the Democratic and Republican parties of American government are preventing our government from operating the way it was designed to, as a Government for the People and By the People. 

The growing power of the Republican Party is converting the GOP into a ruling despot that sits in government attempting to rule behind the scenes, by the use of delaying strategies, blocking of presidential actions, and obstructing the business of government. The GOP uses propaganda as a blind in an attempt to prevent the American People from seeing the true motivation behind Republican Power Plays, the need for more and more control, with the ultimate agenda of protecting the money of The Rich, not the interests of The People. The GOP threatens to undermine the basic premise of the American Constitution, the need to protect the government from being overtaken by power mongers, by keeping a healthy Checks and Balances system in place. The balance of the system is being placed at risk with each new power –play by the GOP.

The death of Supreme Court Justice, Antonin Scalia, has left the nation’s highest court, The Supreme Court,  crippled until a replacement is made. The usual process involves a presidential appointment as a replacement; however, just hours after his death the Republican spoke as one promising to   block any Obama Supreme Court Justice nomination

In order to make such a ridiculous and childish statement, the basis of that reasoning would have to be rooted in two things:

• Deliberate obstruction preventing a duly elected president from performing his duty
• Deliberate attempt to gain ‘Conservative’ (Republican) Power in the Supreme Court of the United States for the furtherance of a  GOP political agenda

The seriously dangerous actions of the GOP, once simplified amounts to ‘Holding the American Government Hostage’ in an attempt to gain more power; even more serious is the basis of the GOP’s need for more power.  The focus of the Grand Old Party has become singularly focused on one goal, that is, to protect the Money and Power of the Rich and Super-rich to the detriment of the common people. 

The smooth operation of a Democratic Government protects everyone, rich and poor equally, for the United States government is a government For the People and By the People…and it is at risk each time the Republicans operate as a team against a team, instead of united front devoted to keeping the checks and balances operational in a Healthy American Democracy.

Regardless of political agendas, the American Government is still based on "We the People".

Sara Niles

Domestic Violence: Living in Fear | NPT Reports