
The Alexandria Papers Newsletter #66 | Dr. Alexandria Szeman 5 February 2023
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.
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…
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.
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.
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,…
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.
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
Tagged as anxiety, BuzzFeed, CNET, Crime Reads, crockpot soup and stew recipes, Debbie Hampton The Best Brain Possible, depression, Healthshots, Historical fiction, migraine, migraine again, mindfulness, PTSD, rainn

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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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
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 #61 | Dr. Alexandria Szeman 11 December 2022
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No newsletters for the remainder of December, for the holidays and the new year. I’ll see you in January 2023. Meanwhile, here’s a picture of my youngest cat (11.5 years old) on the blanket I’m making for them, and she’s wishing you a happy end of the year.
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If you suffer from chronic conditions such as anxiety, depression, or posttraumatic stress disorder, meditation may worsen your symptoms. Traditional meditation, such as sitting silently and relaxing your mind, is very challenging when your inner world is in chaos. Consider nontraditional forms of…
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When we feel mentally and physically well, we’re better able to care for ourselves and others We can try using these 5 tips to practice self-care during the holidays Try 10 meditations for holiday self-care When there’s a lot going on in our lives, we tend to deprioritize taking time to care for…
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According to a new survey, no, most of us would not feel comfortable talking about our migraine and mental health with our doctor. A whopping 77% of people with migraine and depression or anxiety say they hesitate to talk about their mental health with their medical provider, according to the…
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As a physical therapist, there’s one thing I am sure about when it comes to the human body – it is meant to move. Our anatomy and physiology are fine-tuned to navigate and interact with the world.
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Year-round, we encourage providers to adopt a trauma-informed lens-to use knowledge of trauma and its impact to make decisions about all aspects of their relationships with clients and how they run their program. During the holiday season, the need for a trauma-informed approach is critical.
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Interest in psychological manipulation has never been so high, according to online dictionary searches. “Gaslighting” beat out other words such as “oligarch,” “cancel culture,” and “Omicron.” The US dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster announced on Monday that their 2022 word of the year is…
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Journaling does more than just help you record your memories or find self-expression. It’s good for your health.
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You don’t have to wait until Thanksgiving to practice gratitude – you can do little (and big) things all year round to express your generous spirit. It’s easy to get caught in the stress of the day-to-day and forget all the things that are actually going your way.
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“The main thing you’ve got to overcome is getting discouraged… writing pros is the hardest thing in the world” – Ernest Hemingway (July 21, 1899-July 2, 1961) Arnold Samuelson refused to hand over the $5 fee to get his diploma in journalism at the University of Minnesota.
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“I need your John Hancock.” “He’s the prodigal son of our family.” “That job was like working in the seventh layer of hell.” “He has a Willy Loman-esque resignation about him.” “We’re navigating between Scylla and Charybdis here.” Anybody with the literacy of an eighth-grader could read those…
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Here they are, the holiday classics! These are the top-rated main dish and side dish recipes you need for a perfect traditional Christmas dinner. They cover the savory side of Christmas dinner, from prime rib, baked ham, and roast turkey to scalloped potatoes, green bean casserole, and cranberry…
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Christmas lunch and dinner would be nothing without the comforting classics we love to eat year after year. These 49 recipes are the ones we hold dear at this time of year, whether they be classic through and through or with a slightly modern…
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Filed under #CSA, Baking, Cats, chronic pain, Cooking, hemiplegic migraines, Meditation and MIndfulness, Mental Health, migraine, migraine self-care, Migraine Treatment, Migraine with Aura, Migraine Without Aura, migraines, Newsletters, PTSD
Tagged as #csa, anxiety, books, Childhood Sexual abuse, childhood trauma, depression, gaslighting, gratitude, holidays, journal writing, journaling, migraine, mindfulness, self-care, trauma, triggers