Illinois Residents

 I love that they named this helpline as the Warm line. We all need some warm and friendly people.

This information is from my local chapter of NAMI:


Illinois Warm Line


The Illinois Mental Health Collaborative for Access and Choice is pleased to announce the
opening of the Warm Line for Peer and Family support by telephone!

The Warm Line is a new opportunity in Illinois for persons with mental health challenges and their families to receive support by phone. Peer and Family Support Specialists are professionals who have experienced mental health recovery in their own lives as an individual or family member. They have been trained in recovery support, mentoring, and advocacy and are ready to listen and help you. The warm line is not a crisis hotline, but is a source of support as you recover or help a family member to recover.

Call: 1 (866) 359-7953

TTY: 1 (866) 880-4459

Hours of Operation: Monday through Friday, 8am-5pm except holidays

From the main menu, select option #2 for Consumers and Families

Next, select option #5 for the Warm Line: Peer and Family Support by Phone.

For more information, Illinois Mental Health Collaborative website

Angry - Damn the Economy

Last night I became angrier and angrier because the longer I am without a full-time job, I have less and less money. The less money I have the less I can do. But what I am really angry about is that my far-away little ones are growing up, and I haven't been able to fly and visit them. I am angry I am missing their growing-up years.

Also, I am angry I cannot afford to buy a better home computer and the printer/scanner/copier to go with it. I am angry that I cannot afford to move to a better place.

I am angry I can't go on vacation.

Now, what do I do with anger?

Ideally, I take my anger and turn it into energy and start a company that takes off and makes me rich. Yep, I got money on my mind today. In my fantasy, I have the knowledge to do this and the hope that it all works out. At least I can take this anger and apply it to my job search.

You know, I hate my life right now, but I don't hate myself. I see myself as lacking some skills though. There's a fine difference. I am angry because other people have the good life and I do not. Therefore, what can I do to get a good life, to improve my situation?

I already went to college and do have various types of work experiences. Damn the economy!!!

Maybe I shouldn't say that. I think the economy has already been damned. Grow the economy!!!! Let the economy live and flourish!? How's that for positive thinking!

Spiritual Affirmations by Philip St. Romain

Spiritual Affirmations

1. If God is for me, who can be against me?
2. I am lovable and acceptable because I exist – because God is choosing to love me into existence in this now-moment, and “God doesn’t make junk.
3. I know how to do many things that can contribute to the improvement of the human community. If I do not share my giftedness, it will be missed by others.
4. I do not judge myself as a bad person when I make mistakes or deviate from a social norm.
5. I do not judge myself as a bad person when I hut another with my behavior. I take responsibility for my behavior and make amends.
6. It is unreasonable for me to expect perfection of myself. I will do the best I can, and that is all that God expects.
7. I accept my physical appearance. If others reject me on t his basis, it is not because I am unlovable but because they are comparing my appearance to a social norm propagated largely by the media.
8. I accept all of my feelings, pleasant and unpleasant, knowing that I am more than my feelings. Feelings come and go. They do not reveal to me my true worth as a person. I do not define myself on the basis of my feelings but on my faith-convictions.
9. Other people have judged me and mistreated me, and this has affected my view of myself. I am more than what others have told me I am, so I do not accept their judgments of me.
10. I forgive everyone everything they have done that has hurt me, for I know that holding on to hurt and resentment will keep me from growing to be the person God created me to be.
11. I take responsibility for meeting my own needs in a moral and loving matter. It is not someone else’s responsibility to meet my needs.
12. I am in doubt about my beauty and worth. I ask God to help me to see and know myself as God sees and knows me.
13. Right now, I am where I should be in life. I have learned many lessons and have many more to learn. That is life: learning and growing. It is good for me to be here in life.
14. Right now, I have everything I need to be as happy as it is possible for me to be in this life. Therefore, I renounce the idea that my present circumstances are inadequate for happiness, that I need more of something or another, or that I need less of something or another. Happiness is an attitude, not an acquisition. In gratitude to God, I accept myself and my life just as they are.

From Handbook for Spiritual Growth by Philip St. Romain

Books by Philip St. Romain