Daily Habits Impact Mental Health
By Roanne Johns

Too often, the stigma around mental health leads to unhelpful silence. Many people recoil at the mention of disorders like depression or anxiety, as if even mentioning a troubled condition puts one at risk of acquiring it. Yet it must be understood that, especially in this day and age, mental stability is cultivated, not assured, and talking about mental health is far more productive than letting the subject fester in secrets and painful quiet. It’s time to admit that everyone struggles with mental health sometimes and we all must find routines to maintain our psychological equilibrium. Here are four daily habits that can contribute to improving mental health.

Nurture Proper Posture

The way you physically hold yourself can affect your mental well-being. If you’re often hunched over and caved in on yourself, not only will your bones, back, and neck ache—the bodily discomfort will spike your stress and anxiety. In contrast, sitting and standing straight can boost your energy and mood. Your posture might be difficult to improve by yourself, however, so consider investing in ergonomic furniture—equipment designed to optimize your body’s comfort and position. The best ergonomic chairs should be durable and sturdy, with customizable seating to give your back excellent support. For example, the Steelcase Gesture Chair has a 3D Live Back support that adapts to your spine’s curve and movement, allowing you to stay in a healthy ergonomic posture no matter how you sit. Nurture a proper posture to boost your mental health.

Eat Intuitively

Today’s photo alteration tools that divorce image from reality, make the ideal body type more unrealistic and ridiculous. Yet still, many try to diet their way to that ever-elusive beauty standard, deteriorating their physical and mental health in the process.

Complicating your relationship with food that nourishes you can harm your internal well-being. The more healthful option overall is to let go of aesthetic ideals and simply eat when you’re hungry. That doesn’t mean indulging in every appetizing whim, of course. Instead, intuitive eating means paying attention when your body tells you what it needs and giving it sustenance freely.

According to a 2021 study, doing this predicts better psychological health and lower disordered eating. If you’re having trouble adjusting to this mindset, you can leverage a healthy eating app like Way, which encourages you to be mindful of your eating habits. You’ll be able to reflect on your attitudes toward eating and organically shift your behavior. Eat intuitively every day for better mental health.

Take up an Art

Art fulfills an essential function in our lives, and taking up a method of self-expression can help boost your mental well-being. This is backed up by research. For example, a 2021 study found that singing in a choir is associated with better mood and quality of life in healthy older adults. Those who regularly participated had the added benefit of better verbal flexibility. Choir singing provides an accessible way to unleash your creativity and communicate your thoughts and feelings, as well as opportunities for health-giving socialization. If the thought of performing in front of a crowded room doesn’t sound appealing, that’s alright—your art can be anything. Pick up any creative hobby that inspires you, such as painting or baking. Practice it consistently and watch your mental health improve.

Connect with Your Faith

Your mental health is related to your spiritual health. A 2020 study found that spirituality is positively related to psychological well-being and linked to health-related behaviors, demonstrating that undertaking spiritual practices—especially for those already invested in understanding the human mind and spirit—benefits your mental state. How you apply this is up to you and your faith practice. The crucial aspect is that allocating time for prayer, meditation, or your faith’s equivalent will bolster you mentally.

Your mental health is important and should be cultivated with care. Follow the four daily habits above to keep your mind healthy.

Roanne Johns is a stay-at-home mom training to become a licensed planning family consultant. She loves to help others through her writing, whether it be through advice or real-life experiences. Outside of her work, she does volunteer work in her community and caring for her grandfather who has looked after her since she was young.

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Mary Brewster’s Love Life and Mayflower Chronicles: The Tale of Two Cultures: available wherever books are sold. Bookshop.org/Mayflower; Mary Brewster
Amazon.com/Mary Brewster’s Love Life
Amazon.com/Mayflower-Chronicles
BarnesandNoble.com/w/mayflower-chronicles
BarnesandNoble/MaryBrewster
Autographed copies are available on my website.

The post Four Small Steps to Mental Health appeared first on How Wise Then.

Mary appears to have been typical of 16^th and 17th-century women. Born in Northern England around 1569, she died in modern Massachusetts on April 17, 1627. Around 1592, she married William Brewster in Scrooby, England. She was probably 23 when she married William. Her first son, Jonathan, was born on August 12, 1593. Specific dates of her other children are not known. Even back then, parents were more likely to record the events in their first child’s life than those of their future children.

Marriage in the 1500s

In Mary’s era, England’s legal age for marriage was 14 for men and 12 for women; though typically, men married between 20 and 30 years of age. Women generally married in their mid-20s, so Mary was in step with the customs of her day.

The first baby usually arrived a year or so later, as Jonathan did for William and Mary. Becoming a mother gave a wife status that childless wives lacked. Children born outside marriage created both a social and moral stigma and economic hardship for the mother. There was no social safety net to help her or her child. Should a wife fail to produce offspring, it was assumed the infertility was her fault.

Bearing children was a woman’s primary focus during her childbearing years. However, having children was risky. Pregnancy and delivery have always included potential danger for both mother and child. It would be wonderful if every pregnancy resulted in a healthy newborn and a mother who lived to raise the child, but that has never been the reality. Today, about 15 women die for every 100,000 who give birth. A century ago, the death rate was approximately 600 deaths per 100,000 births. In Mary Brewster’s era, the estimated death rate was double that. As many as one in three women died during their childbearing years due to infections or other birth-related complications.

The Role of Midwives

Midwives played a crucial role in assisting mothers in birthing their babies. The term comes from a time when “mid” meant “with.” They learned their midwife skills from giving birth to their own babies, observing other midwives, and serving as apprentices to veteran midwives. Their teachers were usually their own mothers, grandmothers, and other women relatives.

Men were barred from the birthing room. If possible, the birthing area was closed off with tapestries over the windows to block out as much light as possible, leaving a window open for fresh air. People back then thought that too much light might damage the mother’s eyes. Religion played an important role in childbirth. The mother would likely have asked her priest to pray for a safe delivery and would have had various religious items around the room to give her spiritual comfort. The thinking was to create a womb-like experience for her as she brought her baby from her own womb.

Three of the other women aboard the Mayflower with Mary Brewster were in their third trimesters when the ship sailed. Elizabeth Hopkins, Susanna White, and Mary Allerton all delivered while still living on the ship. Given that Mary had been through labor and delivery herself six times by the time of the voyage, she would have surely served as midwife to the Mayflower mothers when it was their time to deliver their infants. The mortality rate among the three pregnant women was 33%. Mary Allerton delivered a stillborn infant and died shortly after, likely from infection.

The Dilemma of Childbirth

It seems ironic that the act of giving birth is fraught with potentially fatal consequences when the survival of the species depends on birthing each new generation. Human infants are born helpless and remain so for years. Anthropologist Holly Dunsworth and her colleagues have concluded that carrying a fetus for those final few months “is like being an incredibly good athlete.” Dunsworth lists several factors that make childbirth dangerous: exhaustion, risk of infectious diseases, prolonged labor, and obstructed labor in which the baby isn’t correctly positioned for birth.

The most significant danger to an expectant mother is infection. Before medical professionals understood the concept of germs, people suspected that childbirth fever was contagious. Hemorrhaging was also often a contributing factor when a woman died in childbirth or shortly after.

Until sometime in the late 1800s, delivering babies was almost always women’s work. Medical schools offered little instruction in obstetrical care. However, as the medical profession began to expand, doctors began to replace midwives, and institutional birth edged out home births.  Randi Hunter Epstein writes in  Get Me Out: A History of Childbirth from the Garden of Eden to the Sperm Bank, “Before forceps, babies stuck in the birth canal were dragged out by the doctor, often in pieces. Sometimes midwives cracked the skull, killing the newborn but sparing the mother. Sometimes doctors broke the public bone, which often killed the mother but spared the baby.”

Labor and Delivery as a Revenue Stream

Once caring for pregnant women became a lucrative medical practice, doctors replaced midwives, and hospitals replaced homes. Ironically, in the first decades of the 20^th century, the maternal mortality rate was higher for wealthier women than poorer women. This may have been because doctors tended to care for wealthier women in hospitals, while midwives cared for poorer women at home.

As far as my research has revealed so far, Mary Brewster raised to adulthood five of the six children she birthed. Given the length of time between a couple of her pregnancies, she may have had other pregnancies that miscarried or resulted in a stillborn birth. We do not have that information, as that information has not been recorded anywhere I’ve discovered. Pregnancy was a private affair, and women seldom recorded their experiences. Miscarriages and stillborn births were common in her era and not all that uncommon in our own times. Midwives likely tended to Mary at home for each of her babies’ births. When her daughters married and had their babies in the fledgling Plimoth Plantation, they surely delivered with the help of the older women in the colony.

I wonder what their reactions would be to the vitriolic discourse taking place today around issues of pregnancy, labor, and delivery.

Some information for this article came from Encyclopedia.com/history, Slate.com, and TudorSociety.com.

Mary Brewster’s Love Life and Mayflower Chronicles: The Tale of Two Cultures: available wherever books are sold. Bookshop.org/Mayflower; Mary Brewster
Amazon.com/Mary Brewster’s Love Life
Amazon.com/Mayflower-Chronicles
BarnesandNoble.com/w/mayflower-chronicles
BarnesandNoble/MaryBrewster Autographed copies available at my website.

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Unlock the Benefits of Forgiveness: How to Improve Your Mental Health

by Michelle Strickland

Forgiveness is a powerful tool that can improve mental health, reduce stress and anxiety levels, and increase our overall well-being. For senior citizens who’ve experienced loss or hurt in the past and are ready to move forward with their lives, forgiveness is a crucial tool. Forgiveness benefits cannot be understated. Forgiveness has also been linked to improved physical health and increased happiness.

What is Forgiveness?

Forgiveness has always been part of human history. It can be defined as the act of pardoning someone or something as an intentional decision to let go of negative feelings such as resentment, bitterness, and anger towards another person or situation. Forgiveness does not necessarily mean forgetting what happened; rather, it means understanding why it happened and choosing to move forward without holding onto grudges.

There are two types of forgiveness. One is interpersonal forgiveness, which involves forgiving another person. The other is self-forgiveness, which involves forgiving oneself for mistakes made in the past. Interpersonal forgiveness requires both parties involved to come together with mutual respect and understanding in order to heal any wounds caused by the conflict. Self-forgiveness, on the other hand, requires that a person recognize their faults, accept responsibility for them, let go of guilt or shame associated with them, and learn from them so they don’t happen again.

How to Practice Forgiveness

According to the American Psychological Association, forgiveness is an essential tool for healthy relationships and personal growth. By understanding the process of forgiveness, we can learn how to practice it in our lives and experience its many benefits. Forgiveness is an important part of healing and growth, helping us move forward without holding onto grudges toward others or ourselves.

Forgiveness can help us cope with difficult emotions and situations. By letting go of anger, resentment, and hurt we pave the way to move forward with a more positive outlook on life. Understanding the process of forgiveness can be challenging, but it is possible to learn how to practice it effectively.

To forgive someone or something requires first understanding why we feel hurt or angry. Taking time to reflect on our feelings and identify what needs healing will help us understand what has caused the pain as we take steps toward forgiving ourselves or others.

Strategies for Practicing Forgiveness

Once we’ve identified what needs healing, there are several strategies for practicing forgiveness. Writing down thoughts and feelings about the situation can help process these emotions in a constructive way. Talking through them with a trusted friend or family member may provide an additional outlet to express ourselves and gain insights into potential solutions. Meditating on the issue can allow us to connect with our inner selves. Engaging in creative activities such as drawing or journaling is a self-expression tool that could lead toward finding closure. Taking time to work through our emotions enables us to come up with solutions that will ultimately result in forgiving those who have wronged us without condoning their behavior.

In addition to forgiving others, it is also important to practice self-forgiveness when necessary. This means accepting responsibility for any mistakes made while also being kinder towards ourselves by recognizing that everyone makes mistakes from time to time and learning from them instead of dwelling on them indefinitely. Aging.com points out that therapy can be helpful during this process and provides information on finding online options. Additionally, setting boundaries with people who may not be supportive during this process is an important part of protecting mental health. This can still allow room for growth within relationships later if desired.

The Impact of Forgiveness on Mental Health

Forgiveness can be a difficult but rewarding process. With patience and understanding, we can learn to practice forgiveness and reap the benefits of improved mental health. This is important because holding onto unforgiving attitudes affects our mental health.

Forgiveness is an especially important part of mental health for older adults. Unforgiving attitudes can lead to a variety of negative emotions such as anger, resentment, and bitterness. These feelings can cause stress and anxiety, which can have long-term effects on physical and emotional well-being. Holding onto grudges or refusing to forgive someone who has wronged us can also lead to depression and isolation from others.

Clinging to unforgiving attitudes towards people who have hurt us in the past prevents us from moving forward with our lives. We become stuck in a cycle of ruminating over what happened instead of focusing on the present moment or looking ahead into the future. This kind of thinking leads to increased levels of stress hormones like cortisol, which can weaken our immune systems and make us more susceptible to illness or disease. It also makes it difficult for us to form meaningful relationships with others because we are focused on what happened in the past rather than building new connections with those around us now.

Impact of Grudges on Aging Issues

Research suggests that holding onto grudges can cause people’s brains to age faster than normal aging would suggest, leading us down a path towards cognitive decline earlier in life. This puts seniors at greater risk for dementia-related diseases if left unchecked, as elevated levels of cortisol weaken the immune system and decrease vulnerability against illnesses like colds or flu. Furthermore, studies have shown that holding onto grudges increases one’s risk for heart disease by up to 30%.

Forgiveness allows us to:

• Move forward.
• Free ourselves from the burden of resentment and anger.
• Create healthier relationships with those around us.
• Reduce stress, anxiety, depression, and other negative emotions.
• Promote feelings of peace and joy.

For seniors, especially, understanding how to forgive others as well as ourselves is an important step in creating a more meaningful life experience. By taking the time to learn about what forgiveness means and how to apply it, seniors especially will reap the rewards of its many benefits.

As we age, it is important to practice forgiveness to bring about a sense of inner peace and calmness that we need to live happily and contentedly during our later years. It can help us forgive ourselves for mistakes made throughout life and extend compassion towards those who have wronged us.

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Mayflower Chronicles: The Tale of Two Cultures is still available wherever books are sold. Now so is the follow up story of Mary Brewster’s Love Life: The Matriarch of the Mayflower. 
Bookshop.org (Support local Bookshops)
Amazon.com/Mary Brewster’s Love Life 
Barnes and Noble
Order Autographed copies directly from me. Or ask your local bookstore to order a copy for you.

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The first friend I can remember was Karl. He was my age. His sister was the age of my younger brother. Though we only lived in that community for a year or so, I vividly remember some of the many adventures the four of us shared as pre-school-age children. We lived in a rural area and were relatively free to roam the wide open spaces between our adjoining yards.

Friends Forever

There are those special people who come into our lives and become a permanent part of them. Distance may separate us, but the bond survives. It may be years between times when we can be together in person, but when we do meet up again, it often seems like it’s been a few days rather than a few years.

Mary Brewster, Matriarch of the Mayflower, had such a friend in Bridget Robinson. Bridget’s husband, the Reverend John Robinson was the designated pastor of the English Separatist community when they relocated from Amsterdam to Leyden. Another pastor had been their official pastor, but after they fled from England to the Lowlands, that pastor stayed in Amsterdam. Robinson, along with future Governor William Bradford, and Mary’s husband, Elder William Brewster, decided to move their community to Leyden. The community lived there from 1608 until some of the group sailed for the New (to them) World in 1620. During those years, Mary and Bridget became as close as sisters.

Finding a Way

When the faith community decided to establish a place of their own across the Atlantic, they also decided that the Brewsters would sail with their two younger sons, Love and Wrestling. The Robinsons would stay behind, along with Jonathan, Patience, and Fear, the Brewster older children. Bridget and Mary had to bid one another farewell; hoping they would eventually meet again when more of the Separatists joined them in the new Plimoth Plantation.

Here’s an excerpt from the last afternoon Mary Brewster and Bridget Robinson spent together before the Mayflower sailed.

I wanted my last afternoon with Bridget to be a happy one. I took Love and Wrestling with me, along with more things for Patience and Fear, and went to the Robinsons. I was overcome with gratefulness that Bridget would watch over Patience and Fear, but equally distraught that they needed a new home.

Love and Wrestling entered the Robinsons ahead of me and bounded up the stairs. I had to stop midway to catch my breath, and also to collect my thoughts and prepare myself for this final afternoon together. I dreaded saying farewell to her.

 “Please, do not talk of the trip,” I begged. “Let us pretend this is like any other afternoon when we pass the time in one another’s company.”

“I agree that is the best plan, but I do have something for you, so you will not forget me.”

“I will never, ever forget you.”

Bridget left and quickly returned with a locket on a delicate chain. “My father gave this to my mother many years ago. I have treasured it, and now I want you to have it.”

My throat grew thick, my tongue seemed stuck and incapable of moving. I reached out to touch it. “I don’t think I should accept a treasure that belongs to your family,” I finally managed to say.

“That is precisely why I want you to have it. You have been as family to me. And now your daughters live with me as though they were my own kin. Please accept this.”

 She took my hand and pressed the locket into my palm, curling my fingers around it. I put my clenched fist against my breast and murmured, “Thank you. I will treasure it always.”

To Be Continued

More of the story about the friendship between Bridget Robinson and Mary Brewster is told in the book coming out this spring: Mary Brewster’s Love Life. It should be out in March. I’m filling my days doing final edits and tending to other publishing details.

Other times, I’m likely out making new friends or phone calls to keep up with old friends. I learned this song in Girl Scouts a very long time ago.

Make new friends,
But keep the old.
One is silver,
And the other, gold.
A circle’s round
It has no end
That’s how long
I’m gonna be your friend.

In preparing this article, I learned a bit about the history of “Make new friends.” There are several verses to it, with various lyrics, but the concept is the same. Some friendships are life long; some for a season of life; and some brand new. All add incredible value to our lives. I’m glad I can count you as a friend. I trust you have many other people in your life that you consider a friend.

Thank you for being part of this growing online community. If you appreciated this post, share it with one or more of your friends. Or, sign up for your own FREE subscription.

Mayflower Chronicles: The Tale of Two Cultures is available wherever books are sold in paperback, eBook, and audio.
Bookshop.org (Supporting local Indie Bookshops)
Amazon.com/Mayflower-Chronicles-Tale-Two-Cultures/
BarnesandNoble.com/w/mayflower-chronicles-kathryn-haueisen/
Autographed copies are available from my website or BlueWillowBookShop.com/book/

The post Friendships appeared first on How Wise Then.

Writing about our inconveniencies seems ridiculous compared to their plight from November 1620 through the following spring thaw. The weather then was probably comparable to what we experienced in Houston last week – temps in the teens and in places below that. Though we were cold, the house temperature only dropped to the lower 50s. We have a gas stove to prepare warm meals and endless hot drinks. The Mayflower lacked such luxuries.

An Ounce of Prevention

Anticipating the pipes might freeze, we turned off the water and drained the water into numerous pots and pans. Good thing we did. By mid-week we were advised to boil all tap water before consuming it. The people on the Mayflower didn’t have running water. They drank beer, a safer option than water, and used chamber pots to handle necessary functions. There was no privacy. It repulses me thinking about it; let alone living that way. Though the voyage was only two months, they were onboard for two months before they actually sailed and lived on the ship a couple more months after arriving, until they built their first shelter. First, they had to chop down the trees for the wood to make the shelter. We had to find some matches to light the gas stove and remember where we stored the extra batteries to run the flashlights.

The events of last week, combined with spending hours each week back in the 1500 and 1600s doing research, got me to thinking about life in the 21^st Century. I am conflicted.

Stuck Between Grief and Gratitude

Years ago, I did my required Clinical Pastor Education (CPE) training at Houston Hermann Hospital before it became Memorial Hermann. One day I was given the task of convincing a new mother she had to name her twins for their birth certificates and go home. She was stuck. One twin had died almost immediately after birth. When she mourned that baby, she felt guilty for not being grateful for the life of the surviving twin. If she rejoiced at the birth of her healthy baby, she felt guilty for not mourning the dead one.

Her family wasn’t helping. They kept reminding her, “At least you have one.” My assignment was to talk her into moving on. I had no words of wisdom to offer. All I had to offer her were two ears and a few tears at her plight. One of the things they drill into us in CPE training is the power of just showing up. I probably spent an hour or so with her, saying very little. She didn’t say much either as I recall. Somehow being together for a few minutes in the midst of such a conflicted moment gave her the ability to comply with the hospital’s request to name her babies, and prepare to take the living one home with her.

Grateful and Yet Frustrated

My days of naming babies ended a long time ago; but I am today about where this young mother was in that hospital room long ago – conflicted. If I count my blessings, I feel guilty for all the privileges I had even in the midst of the challenges of last week. Though our home was cold and dark by 6:30 p.m., we have a good home with insulation and plenty of warm blankets and clothing. Though we lacked power, we have a gas stove to prepare warm meals. Though we lacked running water, we had water and a way to heat it. I am grateful for all this.

And yet it was a miserable week. Without power I soon drained the computer and could no longer use it. The phone reception dropped to nearly nothing in the house, rendering anything related to digital or voice communication slow or non-existent. A couple of times we moved the car to a nearby parking lot where we got reception to send and receive e-mails, listen to the news, recharge the phones, and warm up. All luxuries to be sure.

Life Elsewhere

I’ve travel to places where none of these resources exist. I’ve been hosted by a woman whose “bathroom” is an outhouse, whose “bedroom” is a hammock under a canvas canopy, and whose “kitchen” is a charcoal grill outside that “bedroom.” Her situation was neither rare nor temporary. That is how she and her family lived until Habitat for Humanity selected her family to get one of the new homes Habitat was building in her community.

She, along with others, kept food coming, meal after meal when they could barely feed themselves. I think the local Habitat affiliate paid for the food they prepared for us. I hope so. I and my team members slept in relative luxury at night in a hotel a few miles away.

Asking Questions That Lack Answers

My conflicted response probably comes from too much time to ponder a question that has no adequate answer: “Why?” Why are some condemned to live in squalor and misery while others live in comfort, surrounded with conveniences?

To whom much is given, much is expected. How are we who have so much, even in a week lacking heat and running water, to respond? I do not know, but I have some theories.

• I don’t believe anyone deserves to suffer any more than others deserve to prosper, though I know this theology was widely taught a century ago. Our actions do have consequences, but many of life’s circumstances are beyond our control – like the Texas Deep Freeze.
• The causes behind the circumstances are complex. It is so much easier to blame some scapegoat than work collaboratively to identify and implement workable solutions.
• Corny cliches are often true. The rain, and the freezing temperatures, really do fall on everyone, regardless of social status.
• We are all both sinners and saints. The amount of which trait dominates depends on which one we nurture.
• We are all interdependent on one another. Ultimately, there is no “we” vs. “them.” There is only one enormous “us.”

Better Days Ahead

The past year has rattled a lot of assumptions, upset semi-tractor size truckloads of plans, and continues to cause real danger and plenty of consternation We need one another in times of crisis, and yet the pandemic crisis keeps us apart or risks lives getting together.

Though we can’t control the weather, we can help one another. Deliver a meal. Write a check. Call to check up on people. Share the heat and safe water.

This scripture quote popped up this week in a journal friend Liz Johnson gave me: Finally, friends, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. (Philippians 4:8).

Spring is coming. That is certainly true, right, and lovely.

The post The Texas Deep Freeze of 2021 appeared first on How Wise Then.

According to a 2012 study completed at Johns Hopkins, over 250,000 people die each year from medical error. Since then, that figure has been hotly debated for many reasons. Most prominent is the question: How is medical error defined? Is it an adverse, avoidable event that leads to death? A procedure that should have been done, but wasn’t? If an adverse event occurs but the patient doesn’t die, should that count as medical error?

The good news is that for the last twenty years procedures have been put in place to track medical error (all types of them) and hold people accountable. Risk management teams spend their days ensuring patient safety is a priority within a health system. Peer review organizations, both within health systems and outside as well, meet regularly to assure clinicians maintain and improve procedures and care. Most physicians agree that you are safer now than ever before when you enter a health system.

Fictional Dr. Angela Brennan’s Medical Error Nightmare

Dr. Angela Brennan isn’t so fortunate in my contest-winning novel, Devil’s Grace. She loses her husband and son in a car accident, only to watch her daughter die after surgery in the very hospital where she is chief of Cardiac Surgery. When she begins asking questions about the medical error she believes led to her daughter’s death, Angela finds herself pitted against the very colleagues she used to call friends.

I often refer to Devil’s Grace as being “borne of Light.” I was busy writing another book when a friend, who regularly communicates with those who have passed, texted me and told me I was supposed to be writing about “the Light.” Neither of us understood exactly what that meant, but then I remembered two real-life stories my healthcare executive husband told me. I mentioned them to my friend and suggested that perhaps I could create a novel by combining the two stories. She laughed and said, “That’s it. That’s the Light.” I started writing Devil’s Grace that day.

Devil’s Grace – Not About Death

You see, Devil’s Grace is not about death and dying. Or even about medical error. Sure, it starts that way…that’s the basis, the roots of the tree, so to speak. But the real value for the reader is what grows from the roots. It’s about the relationship between those who have passed and those left behind to complete their own missions. It’s about choices each of us make in our daily lives related to morality, spirituality and personality. Angela is a scientist who uncovers irrefutable proof that she has been communicating with ghosts.

Losing Her Mind?

She believes that she’s losing her mind. But the advice offered by these spirits aids in her quest to discover why her daughter died, so she begins to accept her “new normal.” With her newly discovered ability to communicate with the beyond, the emotional walls she has so carefully constructed begin to crumble and leave her swaying with her emotional tides. Yet over time, as she begins to acclimate, she transforms into a more compassionate, patient, kind person. And, in turn, a better physician.

Devil’s Grace is, at its heart, a medical thriller/mystery wrapped in a spiritual drama. Angela could implode after losing her entire family, but instead she’s surprised to find a fortitude and patience she didn’t know she possessed. These traits allow her to forgive instead of scorn, to love instead of hate. In the end, Devil’s Grace is about the Light: kindness, forgiveness and hope, each of which are sorely lacking in today’s climate. I hope that readers can immerse themselves in the story and find their own emotional release and growth, even as Angela struggles through the transformation herself.

The universal themes outlined in Devil’s Grace make it great reading for book clubs around the world. I’m hoping the book generates discussions about medical error, the role of kindness in society, and issues surrounding balancing work and family.

About Author Splaine

Splaine grew up in Wilmington, Delaware and received her MHA from UNC Chapel Hill. She worked in healthcare administration for eleven years before turning her creative mind to writing. She entered Devil’s Grace in the When Words Count writing competition in which not only is the author’s writing judged, but her marketing plan, cover copy and the book’s cover as well. Splaine’s operatic performance background came in handy when she completed the required public reading, as she memorized the novel’s prologue and kept the audience rapt throughout the reading. When not writing, Splaine teaches voice at Rhode Island Philharmonic Music School. She lives in Rhode Island with her husband, sons and dogs. Devil’s Grace, her third novel, is published through Green Writers Press. You can reach her through her website: www.elizabethsplaineauthor.com.

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The Great Dying – an often neglected chapter of American history – suggests we take coronavirus seriously now to speed up how soon we can safely move about freely in public again. Public health officials, familiar with the consequences of previous pandemics, have good reasons to urge our cooperation in slowing the rate of infections. History records the tragic outcomes when pandemics spread faster than health systems can keep up with diseases.

Impact of the Great Dying

In March 2019 a team of scientists at the University College London released their conclusions that the 15th Century Great Dying among the Indigenous people of North America actually impacted climate change. So many people died during that pandemic that the cumulative effect altered the earth’s climate, cooling the earth. The team published their conclusions on the science and medicine database Science Direct.  I’ve been reading how our current pandemic is actually having a positive impact on the environment.  The significantly reduced number of cars and planes on our roads and airways has resulted in improved air quality.

The pandemic introduced to the Americas in the 1400s broke out in New England in the 1600s Great Dying. Estimates of how many died vary according to who you ask. A conservative estimate is that around 70 percent of the Pokanoket population died shortly before the Mayflower dropped anchor in Cape Cod Bay. European-introduced diseases were lethal. Massasoit Ousa Mequin, watched in helpless horror as thousands of his people died from diseases previously unknown. Little wonder he worried about further trouble coming when another ship full of white people arrived in 1620.

Catastrophe

I first heard the term “Great Dying” when I interviewed a Native as part of my research for Mayflower Chronicles: The Tale of Two Cultures.  The man I interviewed told me his people’s version of what happened. Words like ‘catastrophic,’ ‘horrific,’ and ‘devastating’ fail to adequately capture the horror that swept through the Native population in the early 1600s, shortly before the Mayflower arrived. Natives may not have known what caused the Great Dying, but they knew it had something to do with encounters with white people.

In early 1621, on their third expedition to find a suitable place to settle, a team of Englishmen came upon the deserted Patuxet village, known today as Plymouth. The village had been abandoned only a few years earlier, when around 2,000 Native men, women, and children died in the Great Dying.

One man from that village escaped the pandemic because in 1614 Captain Thomas Hunt kidnapped him and took him to Europe to sell into slavery. Tisquantum (Squanto), dodged slavery and wound up in England, where he learned English. He returned to North America a couple of years later, working as a translator in the Newfoundland area.

A Bitter Homecoming

After five years away, Tisquantum, accompanied by English Captain Dermer, arrived at Patuxet in the spring of 1621. Dermer recorded the homecoming in his diary:

[We] passed along the coast where [we] found some ancient [Indian] plantations, not long since populous now utterly void; in other places a remnant remains, but not free of sickness. Their disease the plague, for we might perceive the sores of some that had escaped, who described the spots of such as usually die. When [we] arrived [at Patuxet]. . . all dead. (Nathaniel Philbrick, Mayflower, pages 52-53).

Other accounts describe scenes of bones bleaching in the sun along the beaches. People died in such great numbers none were left to bury them. Fields that once grew crops turned to patches of weeds. Wetu after wetu, in village after village – all empty.

Why Public Health Officials Want Us at Home

Medical and public health personnel fear we could have a similar global catastrophe. They sound the alarm and pray we heed their warnings. We’re all inconvenienced by this. There won’t be anyone, anywhere, who will not be impacted by this in some way. I already know of one friend who’s lost three relatives to coronavirus in recent days.

The Natives had no idea what caused the rapid spread of a disease that proved fatal to the majority of their people. We do know – we have a scientific name for it and an abundance of information on how to protect ourselves from it. May we heed the warnings from history and follow the advice of the scientists, medical personnel, and public health officials. May we all do our part by doing as they ask as though our lives depended on following their directives. For many people, their lives do.

May it be well with you in these challenging days. #TogtherThoughApart.

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