This is a continuation of my blog My New Place that I wrote in January. The link to the original article is below.

In all honesty it has been much harder than I expected. The habit of doing laundry, shopping for food, dishes and cooking and the million other things that have to be done is not habitual yet. I still have to refer to my lists and force myself to do them. Procrastination is an issue for me. The good side of all this is that I have more life experience than I had before I moved out and the privacy is great. I still have some decisions to make though. Whether or not to support my parents as they get older is one of them. Which would mean moving back home.

My New Place

Thank you Denise for the great presentation on mindfulness. I will bring in the book "Stillness Speaks" tomorrow. I have read the main book "The Power of Now" three times now but have not practiced it as much as I would have liked. Learning to live in the present moment would help with feelings of guilt of the past and anxiety of the future. Sometimes in my meditations I have reached a point of calm and stillness that is difficult to describe. Energy seems to course through my body also. But it is rare. If only we could reach this still point within more often.

Hello blog readers,
Many people are miserable on Monday morning but today i find myself feeling good about going in to the office and being around some people.I attended half of the WRAP conference but got a little restless and went home to relax.There was positive feedback from those that attended.I did manage to have a couple of good conversations as i roamed around the Bronson Center.I am gearing up for a trip to London ON over the long weekend.I have a bit of my usual trepidation over going to a city that i don't know at all.I am going to a convention related to recovery.Hope everyone has a good week and enjoys the glorious sunny weather.Dave.

It's finally Friday of Mental Health Awareness Week. When you work in mental health it becomes "Awareness of Trying Not To Lose Your Mental Health" Week as you run around working event after event.
The WRAP Conference was fabulous! Stephen Pocklington did such a warm and charismatic job using his story to illustrate the key concepts of WRAP. For those of us there from the morning to the end of the evening session it was a loooong day. Longer for Stephen who had to drive to Pembroke that night and do the whole thing again the next day. Big thanks to him.
This week we held the usual meetings with community partners, I presented to a class at Glebe Collegiate with the Open Minds program and emceed 3 Stand Up for Mental Health comedy shows in a row at the Ottawa Hospital sites. Plus, we had to keep the drop-in going. It's all fun and inspiring stuff but- wow- am I ever ready to enjoy a mellow weekend with my critters.

The WRAP conference we had along with CMHA was a success with about 350 in attendance. I didn't get to hear the whole presentation because I was busy with some setup and other such things. Thank you Stephen P. for an excellent presentation. I hope that everyone in attendance enjoyed the talk. There are many alternatives out there that compliment traditional mental health treatment. Do what works for you.