Shopping Tips and Guidance by Mandy Claire

Welcome to "The Gods Are Bored!" We here at this site stand as one with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Let us judge one another not by the color of our religion, but by the conduct we display!

Hmmm. Maybe I didn't get that quite right.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day has become an official day of community service. So we at "The Gods Are Bored" cheerfully join this effort by alerting you to a community resource that you may never have heard of.

Our second biggest pet peeve here at TGAB (behind how downsized deities are called "myths") is the discrimination against mental illness in our health care system. If you hurt your back pulling the Thanksgiving turkey out of the oven, you can get all kinds of treatment for it, all for a simple copay. But if every day of your life is a battle against anxiety or depression, you'd better have a deep wallet. The "good" doctors don't participate in any of the bogus HMO plans, and if you go to the HMO "doctor" ... assuming you can even get an appointment within the next six months ... well. You get what you pay for. If you pay $15, that's exactly what it's worth. Maybe less.

I don't know about you, but I'm a nervous person. I get all worked up about things. And when I get worked up, I either beat up on myself or lash out at the people I love.

Does this sound like you? Have you spent a fool's ransom on therapy bills?

I never had a fool's ransom at my service, so for many years I've suffered in silence. About six months ago, I found out about a terrific non-profit organization that exists to help nervous people. After going to meetings for half a year, I feel secure in recommending this AFFORDABLE and ACCESSIBLE program to you!

The program is called Recovery Inc. Don't let the dot com fool ya. A meeting will set you back a whopping five bucks. And the book, herein pictured, costs $25.

As the folks at Recovery Inc. will tell you, this is not a quick fix, but it is a workable one. There are group meetings almost everywhere (22 countries), and you can talk to someone on the phone or have an online session. The goal of Recovery Inc. is to teach you how to modify your thinking and behavior in order to control anxiety and depression.

Back in the 1930s, there was a school of psychotherapy that promoted the idea that we can change our mental health by willing our brains and muscles to behave differently than they are behaving. Yes, you can change your mindset for the better -- and this is not some cult, or guru-led outfit. It's practical, sensible, AFFORDABLE behavior modification.

I keep harping on this "affordable" aspect, because after six months I can truly say that I've gotten more help from Recovery Inc. than I ever did from an expensive (or especially an HMO) therapist. This is sort of a 12-step program for nervous people, run by volunteers, and whoever shows up is there. It's not "group therapy." There's a process that allows you to remain anonymous.

I won't go into details about how Recovery Inc. works, but it's a very simple method. If you think of your mind as an orchestra, anxiety can be the big tuba that drowns out all the pretty violins. Recovery Inc. will help you stifle that tuba and bring a balance to your life.

To put a Pagan spin on this, I'll add the following: I've always been leery of the idea that our deities "help" us. If deities alone could solve our problems, we would all be rich and thin, with perfect kids and loving spouses. To this Pagan's way of thinking, our deities want us to effect our own solutions to the dilemmas we face every day. They will come along at the end to take us to the Summerlands.

In the meantime, I, Anne Johnson, nervous person, do hereby recommend Recovery Inc., not only because it is AFFORDABLE mental health care, but because it works.

Did I mention that this is something you can afford? Stop being nervous for less than a McDonald's Happy Meal? No wonder Recovery Inc. is such a secret!