The Alexandria Papers Newsletter #70 | Dr. Alexandria Szeman 12 March 2023
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….
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 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.
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?
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.
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.
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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Filed under Baking, Books, chronic pain, Cooking, Health and Wellness, hemiplegic migraines, Meditation and MIndfulness, Mental Health, migraine, Migraine with Aura, Migraine Without Aura, migraines, Newsletters, PTSD, Sexual Abuse, Sexual Violence, The Alexandria Papers Newsletter, Trauma
Tagged as books, bread folklore, decluttering, electric literature, english novel, Icy Sedgwick, literary hub, mental health, migraine, migraine again, mindfulness, minimalism, oprah daily, rainn, rainn online hotline, science news, sexual abuse, sourdough brandon, sourdough ears, the simplicity habit, trauma, victorians

The Alexandria Papers Newsletter #69 | Dr. Alexandria Szeman 5 March 2023
Study Finds You Can Treat Chronic Pain With Mindfulness Instead of Addictive Opioids | Everyday Health
In a series of novel studies led by Eric Garland, PhD, director of the Center on Mindfulness and Integrative Health Intervention Development at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, researchers have found that mindfulness training can reduce chronic p
Self-Care Practices for People with Migraine | Migraine Again
During recent years, “self-care” has become quite a buzzword that you’ve likely seen hashtagged all over social media. But how can those of us with migraine put self-care into practice? A good place to start is by viewing it as a two-pronged approach: using strategies acutely during an attack, and…
Grieving With Migraines and Other Chronic Illnesses | Psychology Today
Migraines and other chronic illnesses share grief stages and a tendency toward depression. Understanding the fluidity of these stages may help us better cope. Eventually, many of us reach some sort of acceptance or resignation that migraine is and will be a part of our lives.
7 Self-Care Strategies To Help Manage Trauma, According To Experts | Bustle
The effects of trauma can be complex and far-reaching, and no two responses to trauma are exactly alike. According to the American Psychological Association (APA), trauma is generally defined as an overwhelming, life-altering experience that can cause ongoing pain and distress, and sometimes…
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.
How to Cope with Anxiety: 13 Simple Tips | Healthline
If you deal with anxiety, there are strategies you can use to avoid feeling consumed by it. Here are some quick solutions to help you address the situation immediately, as well as long-term methods to combat a recurring issue. Know that feeling of your heart beating faster in response to a…
The 5 Best Books Trauma Therapists Recommend | Forward Counseling of the Mid South
A great way to heal from traumatic experiences outside of the therapy room is to educate yourself and learn from leading researchers and clinicians who are dedicated to providing the best information about the psychological effects of trauma and the methods that have helped others heal. You are not…
51 Easy Crock Pot Recipes Perfect For Busy Evenings, 2023 Edition | Brit & Co
There’s nothing like the slow cooker to make dinner easy , but on weekdays, it can still be rough to get a tasty home-cooked meal on the table. Happily, with minimal prep time required, these easy crock pot recipes make cooking dinner on busy nights practically effortless.
The Easiest Loaf of Bread You’ll Ever Bake | King Arthur Baking
Recipes Bread Crusty bread With just five everyday ingredients, simple instructions, and no advanced baking techniques, this recipe for European-style crusty bread is a great introduction to yeast baking. It truly is “the easiest loaf of bread you’ll ever bake” – thanks in large part to the…
His real name was Daniel David Davison III, but nobody called him that except Sister St. James and the principal every time he got sent to her office for disrupting class. He used to make fun of his own name all the time, saying, “3-D. I’m 3-D,” erupting into uncontrollable laughter.
Books by Alexandria Constantinova Szeman
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Filed under Baking, Books, chronic pain, Chronic Pain Treatment, Cooking, Health and Wellness, hemiplegic migraines, Meditation and MIndfulness, Memoir, Mental Health, migraine, migraine self-care, Migraine with Aura, Migraine Without Aura, migraines, One-Dish Meals, PTSD, Recipes, Sexual Abuse, Sexual Violence, The Alexandria Papers Newsletter
Tagged as anxiety, books for trauma, bread, crockpot recipes, crockpot soup and stew recipes, glue-boy, King Arthur Baking, King Arthur Flour, meditation for chronic pain, memoir, mental health, migraine, migraine and anxiety, migraine and chonic illness, migraine and depression, migraine self-care, migraines, mindfulness for chronic pain, rainn, rainn online hotline, trauma self-care

The Alexandria Papers Newsletter #68 | Dr. Alexandria Szeman 26 February 2023
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…
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.
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.
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: 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.
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…
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.
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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Filed under Baking, Books, Childhood Sexual Abuse, chronic pain, Chronic Pain Treatment, Health and Wellness, hemiplegic migraines, Meditation and MIndfulness, Mental Health, migraine, Migraine with Aura, Migraine Without Aura, migraines, Newsletters, PTSD, Sexual Abuse, Small Business, The Alexandria Papers Newsletter, Trauma
Tagged as cheesy focaccia, chronic pain, cptsd, King Arthur Baking, King Arthur Flour, meditation, mental health, migraine, mindfulness, PTSD, rainn, rainn online hotline

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.
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…
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.
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.
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.
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…
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.
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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Tagged as anxiety, baking, baking bread, chronic migraine, depression, journal writing, journaling, migraine, mindfulness, minimalism, poem, poetry, rainn, rainn online hotline

The Alexandria Papers Newsletter #60 | Dr. Alexandria Szeman 4 December 2022
Guided Meditation: Notice How Sadness, Loneliness, and Anger Show Up in Your Body – Mindful
Instead of trying to make difficult emotions change or go away, you can simply tune in to how they show up in your body, and see how they’re always changing on their own. When we’re caught in the throes of an emotion like sadness, loneliness, or anger, shifting our awareness into our body allows us…
Self-Care: The Struggle is Real | Migraine.com
A man with migraine shares how he put his loved ones and responsibilities ahead of his self care when he had episodic attacks.
7 Self-Care Practices Every Migraine Sufferer Should Know
A hangover headache is bad enough, but a full-on, out-of-nowhere migraine attack? What’s worse? If you are a migraine sufferer, no matter how long it lasted, you know what your brain and body can feel like after an episode. You’re tired AF, cranky, and probably feel like crying.
How to Actually, Finally, Truly Set Some Boundaries With Your Family This Holiday Season | WonderMind
If you’re dreading the holidays because they typically come with ~family drama~, I’d like to introduce you to the magical power of setting boundaries with family. You’ve probably scrolled past a TikTok or two about the importance of this powerful thing called a boundary…
Resources for Sexual Assault Survivors | Greatist
We include products we think are useful for our readers. If you buy through links on this page, we may earn a small commission. Here’s our process. Trauma is easier to cope with when you have support, just like a broken bone is easier to set with a cast.
Keeping a Journal Isn’t Lame, It’s Self-Care | YourTango
At one of my very first Scholastic Book Fairs, I begged and pleaded with my mother to get the “Dear America” package. It was one of my favorite book series growing up, and it even came with a hardcover journal so you could add pages when you ran out.
Exercise for Mental Health: 8 Keys to Get and Stay Moving | NAMI
Mental illness has deeply impacted my life. I have experienced the flooding of anxiety and the drowning of depression. I have waged, and won, several battles with postpartum depression and been through loss and grief.
What Can We Learn From A 1794 Novel About Turning Points In Crime Fiction? | CrimeReads
Turning points are incredibly important landmarks in crime fiction. They are the peak or series of peaks we climb to, where everything shifts inside the story. These moments are when we realize nothing is what it seems. Once we reach them, whether it is the climax of the book or an earlier point of…
A Guide to the Essential Regional American Pizza Styles | FoodAndWine
Before the 1950s, most Americans didn’t know what pizza was. Arriving to the U.S. in the late 1800s, it was considered a cheap “ethnic” food, eaten mostly by marginalized Italian Americans in hole-in-the-wall restaurants or on the street.
Top 20 Tips for Food Bloggers | Cookie+Kate
I wish I had some magic secrets or shortcuts to share, but the truth is that food blogging is hard work. I receive questions about the subject fairly often, so I sat down to compile my best tips for food bloggers and ended up with an even twenty.
Books by Alexandria Constantinova Szeman
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Filed under #CSA, Baking, Books, Childhood Sexual Abuse, chronic pain, Chronic Pain Treatment, Cooking, E-books, Health and Wellness, hemiplegic migraines, Mental Health, migraine, migraine self-care, Migraine Treatment, Migraine with Aura, Migraine Without Aura, migraines, PTSD, Rape, Sexual Abuse, Sexual Violence, Trauma
Tagged as baking, books, Childhood Sexual abuse, cooking, crime fiction, mental health, migraine, mindfulness, self-care, trauma