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By Francisco Talavera, Pharm.D., Ph.d.
ISBN: 978-1-84991-907-4
Published: 2013
Pages: 90
Key Themes: Mental Health, Clinical Depression
Description
In the fall of 1986 I survived a suicide attempt after feeling desponded and tired of dealing with my clinical depression. I had done everything within my power to overcome my feelings of worthlessness, hopelessness, and helplessness. Nothing worked.
In this book I describe my journey out of that labyrinth. I wrote the book hoping to help others achieve the sense of peace that eludes those who feel desponded and hopelessly depressed. This does not mean that I have all the answers. I only hope that if you ever think that your life is not worth living that my words help you understand why it is worth it to live another day.
About the Author
Born in 1957 Dr. Talavera struggled with clinical depression at an early age. Just when he thought he had reached the end of the road and survived a suicide attempt, Dr. Talavera was able to put his life back together. Although he continued to struggle with depression he managed to finish a master’s degree in science at North Dakota State University and a doctoral degree in science at Washington State University. He then went on to pursue a postdoctoral in reproductive endocrinology at the University of Michigan. Throughout his graduate work he also published several scientific articles in well respected peer reviewed journals. Following his postdoctoral training he pursued a doctorate degree in pharmacy at Creighton University.
He is currently Editor-in-Chief for the WebMD Medscape Drug Reference and an adjunct assistant professor at the University Of Nebraska Medical Center College Of Pharmacy. He is also the Author of Pharmacy Review, Pearls of Wisdom (Boston Medical Publishing Corporation 2001) and Rapid Fire Pharmacy Review (Jones and Bartlett Publishers 2006).
While in pursuit of his graduate work Dr. Talavera found a sense of purpose in volunteer work. He volunteered as a crisis line counselor for suicide prevention in Pullman, Washington. He then moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, to pursue his postdoctoral work and volunteered as a counselor at Ozone House, a program that helps runaway homeless kids and taught life skills to kids living at Miller House, a group home. He also volunteered as a mentor at Project Transition, a center for the mentally challenged and worked part-time as a counselor at Dawn Farm, a detox and drug rehab program in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
The skills that he developed while doing volunteer work gave him the foundation to use techniques aimed at tackling his clinical depression and achieve a sense of peace. For the past fifteen years that sense of peace has strengthened.
Today he is happily married with two kids looking forward to help others achieve the sense of peace that eludes those who feel desponded and hopelessly depressed.
Visit Francisco’s Website for more information
Book Extract
Letting Go
To let go is to be able to renounce whatever is going on in our thoughts and emotions that interfere with who we are and what we want even though our belief system may refuse to accept it. It’s a way of being detached from the activities of the mind. Whenever we have an idea of how things are supposed to be or how we or others are supposed to be we’re attached.
Such attachments can hamper our spiritual life. When they dominate us, they tend to create disharmony in our lives. In essence, if a real life stalker were to go away but your thoughts and emotions were still attached to his existence it will not make a difference whether or not the stalker went away because your emotions will continue to hurt you as if he was there. However, if you keep those thoughts from dominating your mind, such emotions are harmless.
The first step in letting go is to acknowledge that we’re attached to an event, person, or thought and that they are part of a belief system that we may no longer need to accept. We tend to become attached to things that touch our lives. We cling to them, cherish them, and believe we’re nothing without them.
“If I lose her, I’ll die.” “If the situation doesn’t go my way, I’ll kill myself.”
When we require life to be as we expect, we suffer. Life can only be itself and doesn’t follow a script. We must understand that.
For this reason it’s important to learn to accept life as it is and to identify the attachments that dominate our feelings. Then we can study their true nature and discover they are impermanent and empty. With that awareness, we’ll be able to understand that as thoughts, they can be absent if we choose. If we see our attachments as thoughts, we can let go of them without effort.
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