Category Archives: Newsletters

The Alexandria Papers Newsletter #70

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The Alexandria Papers Newsletter #70 | Dr. Alexandria Szeman 12 March 2023


Mindfulness

Why Your Best Thoughts Happen in the Shower or When Walking | Psychology Today

Seemingly mindless activities are mindful experiences that put us in the moment and can lead to the state called “flow.” Ceasing from deliberate thought can yield unexpected insights from ideas incubating in the subconscious background. Solitary activities let us disconnect from the outside world….


Migraine

Why You Might Want to Give Green Light Therapy a Go for Migraine | Migraine Again

Are you looking for a non-medicinal approach to easing your migraine attacks? There are plenty of natural remedies out there, and one of the newest might be worth a go: green light therapy, a noninvasive therapy that has shown promise for helping those with migraine as well as other conditions,…


Trauma and Sexual Abuse

Trauma distorts our sense of time and self. A new therapy might help | Science News

Trish Tran narrates her life in staccato notes. “I remember carrying my little sister on my back because she’s too tired and walking through the huge sunflower fields … and me feeling so tired I didn’t think I could walk another step.”

RAINN Online Hotline

Do you need help dealing with sexual assault, rape, or incest? Call @RAINN ‘s Hotline 800.656.HOPE (4673) to talk to a trained staff member from a sexual assault service provider in your area. Don’t feel comfortable talking? Use chat/text instead.


Mental Health

3 Hidden Stressors That Are Sabotaging Your Mental Health | Oprah Daily

Outsmart them with these easy habit adjustments.

Decluttering When You Don’t Have Time: 4 Tips to Make Progress Today | The Simplicity Habit
Use these tips for decluttering when you don’t have time to sneak in decluttering tasks to start making progress immediately. Do you feel totally overwhelmed by the sheer amount of clutter in your house – but don’t have the time to truly tackle your mess?

Books

How the Victorians Created the Modern English Novel | Literary Hub

Over 120 years since the Victorian era ended, its literature continues to have huge staying power in the collective imagination of the English-speaking world. We all have a clear idea of what “Dickensian” London looks like. We know what it means to be a Scrooge, or to be a bit Jekyll and Hyde.

9 Books That Rethink Our Narratives About Health and Healing | Electric Literature

In their Grammy-winning comeback song “Not Ready to Make Nice,” the (formerly Dixie) Chicks sing, “They say time heals everything but I’m still waiting.” The lyrics claim power in not healing, in refusing to shut up and let it go when those in power continue to benefit from that very expectation.


Cooking and Baking

Bread Folklore: Medicine, Divination Tool, and Love Magnet! | Icy Sedgwick

You wouldn’t think something as humble as bread would have so much folklore attached to it. Yet many of us encounter bread folklore when we’re young. I’m sure we’ve all heard the old wives’ tale that eating your bread crusts would make your hair curly.

Sourdough Ears 101 | Sourdough Brandon

This post may contain affiliate links for products and ingredients I use and recommend. For more information, see my disclosures here. One of the most popular sourdough baking topics I’ve been asked to write a guide about is how to get sourdough ears.


My Books

Naked, with Glasses (the story)

This is how the plan to kill your husband could begin. You come home early from work. You have a headache. A terrible headache. The worst headache of your life. You have this grant proposal to write. It’s not finished, and it was due yesterday.

Books by Alexandria Constantinova Szeman

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The Alexandria Papers Newsletter #68

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The Alexandria Papers Newsletter #68 | Dr. Alexandria Szeman 26 February 2023


Mindfulness

Stuck in a Rut? Here’s How Mindfulness Can Help | Mindful
When the same old same old isn’t serving us as well as it used to, our mindfulness practice can broaden our perspective and help us see different pathways that may have been there all along. I was driving through Ohio with a colleague when the GPS informed us that we were facing an hour-long delay…

Migraine

What Are Signs and Symptoms of Migraine? | Migraine Again
Migraine is associated with a surprising array of symptoms that can vary from person to person or attack to attack. In fact, while some refer to migraine as a migraine headache, a headache is only one of several symptoms people experience.
Chronic Pain Checklist: 9 Places to Look for Affordable, Effective, Low-Risk Treatments | Everyday Health
Many Americans live with pain. Indeed, according to a February 2022 article in the journal Pain , 50.2 million people in the United States reported experiencing pain on most days or every day. If you’re one of them, you know the many struggles of coping with persistent pain.

Trauma and Sexual Abuse

14 Self-Care Tips for Sexual Assault Survivors Suffering from PTSD | brighthorizonsne.org
For those suffering from acute or long-term post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression, there are often times when these become so overwhelming that it can be difficult to even accomplish the basic functions of daily living.
RAINN Online Hotline
Do you need help dealing with sexual assault, rape, or incest? Call @RAINN ‘s Hotline 800.656.HOPE (4673) to talk to a trained staff member from a sexual assault service provider in your area. Don’t feel comfortable talking? Use chat/text instead.

Mental Health

Mental health: it’s not always good to talk | The Conversation
Few of us would question the need to break the silence around mental illness. Countless campaigns have drilled into us that such silence is harmful and that we should try to break it wherever we find it. Britain Get Talking is one such campaign.

Books

The Best Books of 2023 So Far (Updated February 2023) | People
It’s been decades since 17-year-old Thalia Keith was murdered at Granby, her New Hampshire boarding school. The man convicted of the crime- Granby’s athletic director-remains in prison. But when Thalia’s former classmate Bodie Kane returns to teach there in 2018, she and her students take a…

Cooking and Baking

Small-Batch Cheesy Focaccia | King Arthur Flour
Recipes Bread Flatbread Focaccia has many admirable qualities – the golden crust; the olive oil aroma; the tender, fluffy interior! – but a short shelf life. It’s best enjoyed the same day it’s made. That’s where this small cheesy focaccia comes to the rescue.

My Books

Auggie Vernon and the Eclipse (a poem)
He has everything he needs set up in the back yard: two triangular UPS shipping tubes held together by duct tape in the middle, with a pin-pricked piece of foil on one end and a piece of white paper on the other end of the box, but he’s not interested in the eclipse itself
Books by Alexandria Constantinova Szeman
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The Alexandria Papers Newsletter #66

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The Alexandria Papers Newsletter #66 | Dr. Alexandria Szeman 5 February 2023


Mindfulness

4 simple mindfulness practices to stay calm and reduce stress | Healthshots

Anxiety is a common issue for most people these days. However, staying lost in the worries of the future makes us less equipped to practice being mindful. Understand how to practice mindfulness using these expert-suggested effective tricks and learn to manage your anxiety.


Migraine

Why Skipping Meals Can Trigger Migraines and How to Avoid It | Migraine Again

For many people living with migraine, not eating can trigger migraine attacks. Even for those who don’t suffer from chronic migraine, it’s important to eat regularly to avoid migraine attacks from not eating and hunger headaches. Here’s why you should avoid skipping meals and the best tips and…


Trauma and Sexual Abuse

Why Your Brain Sees Anxiety as an Advantage (and How You Can Calm It Down) | The Best Brain Possible by Debbie Hampton

Your brain’s top priority is always keeping you safe and alive. Therefore, your brain is biologically wired to be jumpy and reactive. It feels safe and like it is doing its job well when you feel that way. That feeling of anxiety has been fundamental to our species’ survival throughout evolution.

RAINN Online Hotline

Do you need help dealing with sexual assault, rape, or incest? Call @RAINN ‘s Hotline 800.656.HOPE (4673) to talk to a trained staff member from a sexual assault service provider in your area. Don’t feel comfortable talking? Use chat/text instead.


Mental Health

These 5 Exercises May Ease Your Depression and Boost Your Mental Health | CNET

The key to fixing your mental health may be as simple as moving your body. Exercise can improve your mood and relieve symptoms of depression and anxiety. It’s also a great way to alleviate stress. Exercise can sometimes be a loaded term, especially for people who don’t love going to the gym.


Books

Does Historical Accuracy Matter in Historical Fiction? | Crime Reads

I write a historical fiction series set in World War Two London. My protagonist is a Scotland Yard detective called Frank Merlin. I place great importance on being historically accurate in my books. I take the view that as I am attempting to transport my readers to a very different time and place,…


Cooking and Baking

19 Slow Cooker Soups To Help You Stay Cozy This Winter | BuzzFeed

Winter isn’t all bad, especially when there’s homemade soup to warm up those cold nights. The following soup recipes come together entirely in the slow cooker, so you can set it, forget it, and enjoy a home-cooked meal.


My Books

The Butcher Birds (a poem)

Each morning as we walk the farm’s perimeter, we find victims of the butcher birds.

Books by Alexandria Constantinova Szeman
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Filed under Books, Cooking, Crime Drama, Meditation and MIndfulness, Mental Health, migraine, migraine self-care, Migraine with Aura, Migraine Without Aura, migraines, Newsletters, Panic Attacks, Panic Disorder, The Alexandria Papers Newsletter

The Alexandria Papers Newsletter #65

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Mindfulness


Meditation Could Be as Effective for Anxiety as Medication, Study Says | Psychology Today

Anxiety is the most common mental health challenge in the U.S., with 34% of the population affected by an anxiety disorder during their lifetime. A new scientific study is the first to directly compare meditation/mindfulness to medication for the treatment of anxiety.

Migraine


Maximize Headache Relief From Home With Drug-free, Natural Treatments | Migraine Again

Although medication is an important part of any migraine or headache rescue kit, there are a number of things you can do to relieve headache pain at home. When it comes to self-care, there is no shortage of natural remedies and at-home antidotes. Here’s our guide to the top home remedies to treat…

Trauma & Sexual Abuse


How to Heal from Childhood Trauma: 3 Steps to Start Coping | Better Up

Physical or sexual abuse This kind of trauma can cause not only physical damage to the child but also psychological damage that can last for years after it happened. Physical abuse includes any kind of physical violence against a child. It’s sometimes masked as a “discipline measure” by many adults.

RAINN Online Hotline

Your privacy and safety are crucial. Please make sure you are in a safe place and that you are using a secure device and Internet connection. Please note that while we have taken numerous measures to keep your communications safe while using our site, no Internet transmission is 100% secure.

Mental Health


The Science of Wanting: How We Unhook from Dopamine | Mindful

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter in the brain that helps motivate us to fulfill our basic needs, but in our modern age of plenty, it can also lead to overindulgence and addiction. So how can we find balance and contentment in an age of instant gratification? Anna Lembke’s gateway drug was Twilight,…

Books


Happy Public Domain Day! Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse Is Copyright Free | Hyperallergic

January 1 is the annual Public Domain Day, meaning a large collection of historically significant literature, films, artwork, and photojournalism is now totally accessible for public use. The Public Domain Review has created a special advent calendar countdown spotlighting their top picks in…

Baking & Cooking


17 Best Food Blogs to Sate your Hunger in 2023 | Influencer Marketing Hub

How did we ever manage to cook before the arrival of the internet? I suppose we had to rely on cookbooks, cooking tv shows, and knowledge handed down from our grandmothers. Of course, the more daring would experiment in the kitchen, remembering the successes, and mercifully forgetting any culinary…

My Books


My Childhood on Planet of the Apes (Memoir)

The most important rule in our world was that no one had to be human two days in a row. It was only fair.

Books by Alexandria Constantinova Szeman

 

 

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The Alexandria Papers Newsletter #63

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The Alexandria Papers Newsletter #63 | Dr. Alexandria Szeman 8 January 2023

My little Saschie. She doesn’t want me to take down the Christmas lights.

 


Mindfulness

A Journaling Practice to Help You Let Go of Limiting Habits | Mindful

Instead of judging yourself for what you want or what you’re feeling, explore these writing prompts to help you turn toward your experience with greater understanding and self-compassion. Encountering the people, places, and things that activate us out in the real world can feel like too much…


Migraine

Relief from Chronic Migraine: Medications and Other Treatments

Chronic migraine is defined as a migraine headache that occurs 15 or more days a month, for at least three months. Episodes often last four hours or more. Finding relief from chronic migraine symptoms can be difficult. Explore multiple treatment options here.


Trauma and Sexual Abuse

New longitudinal research highlights how grave the effects of childhood trauma can be for anxiety and depression | Psychology Post

Childhood trauma is well-known to have adverse effects on mental health into adulthood, but the nuances of these outcomes are not well understood. A study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders explores how childhood trauma impacts specific aspects of depression and anxiety over time. …

RAINN Online Hotline

Do you need help dealing with sexual assault, rape, or incest? Call @RAINN ‘s Hotline 800.656.HOPE (4673) to talk to a trained staff member from a sexual assault service provider in your area. Don’t feel comfortable talking? Use chat/text instead.


Mental Health

How to Use Journaling to Cope With PTSD | VeryWellMind

Some psychotherapists are now recommending journaling, also called expressive writing, to help people cope with the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). If you have PTSD, here’s how journaling can help, as well as how to do it. Journaling is one method of helping people cope…

Minimalism and Hygge: How to Make Your Home Cosy Without Adding Clutter | BalanceThroughSimplicity

Here are some ideas on minimalism and Hygge and how to embrace both whilst enjoying a simpler lifestyle. I’m sharing some tips on how to make your home cosy without adding clutter so you can enjoy feeling warm and safe at home and still stay clutter-free! Autumn is my favourite season.


Books

The best of 2022: the new books I’ve loved this year | TolstoyTherapy

This website started out as a celebration of my love for classic literature. Tolstoy is even in the name! But that said, over the last decade, Tolstoy Therapy has evolved around…


Cooking and Baking

16 Bread Baking Tips Your Grandma Forgot To Tell You | Joybilee Farm

Use these bread baking tips from Grandma and learn how to bake better bread with the perfect rise, chewy, golden crusts, and pillowy soft crumb. 


My Books

Portrait of the Poet as a Woman

Your second wife calls to say that the children get ill after you bring them home Sunday night it must be something they eat what do I feed them something dreadful? She calls collect when she’s away. If I ask who’s calling she says, This is his wife.

Books by Alexandria Constantinova Szeman

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Filed under #CSA, Books, Cats, chronic pain, Chronic Pain Treatment, hemiplegic migraines, Meditation and MIndfulness, Mental Health, migraine, migraine self-care, Migraine Treatment, Migraine with Aura, Migraine Without Aura, migraines, Newsletters, PTSD, Sexual Abuse, Sexual Violence, The Alexandria Papers Newsletter, Trauma