Hi friends,

Thank you to all 154 of you who took the time to give my new book, Emerging Rebel, a rating or review!!

It's got a shiny #1 New Release tag as well. Plus, Emerging Rebel coming out helped boost sales of Awakening Horde to another Best Seller tag!

Please keep recommending and sharing! It's really helping! Thank you so much!

I've also been thinking about mental health a lot lately with various family members going through their own challenges.

My adult daughter shared an insight with me, that I found very helpful to reframe struggles with mental health.

Scroll down and let me know what you think.

Meanwhile, here are this week's books and promotions supporting my newsletter:

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My friend, Ginger Booth, has a brand new book - check it out!

Nexus Talks to People by Ginger Booth

New Release! (Free in KU)Free Ebook!

How can Nexus be the Oracle?

On a hardscrabble colony world, Nexus tracks a mysterious rat outbreak to a shy tortoise-like alien, who calls him Oracle. 

Need a new Fantasy book to enjoy?

If you like gaming aspects added to your apocalypse, try out the System Apocalypse books by my friend Tao Wong!

Fools Bond by Tao Wong & David Packer

New Release on Amazon! (Free in KU)

Even in the apocalypse, some people just get more annoying

(They also have a free prequel to the series here: Download here)

All FREE! All Dystopian and Apocalyptic!

Another author friend has a fun zombie series out if you enjoy them.

Love in an Undead Age by AM Geever

Free Deal Today on Amazon!

Surviving the zombie apocalypse was hard but finding true love might be fatal.

New Device? Fill it up with FREE SFF books!

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How to take the power out of intrusive thoughts.

Mental health struggles are no fun. They seem to often ebb and flow throughout life, needing constant attention.

Much like exercise or healthy eating, handling depression or anxiety issues can be a lifetime venture, not something cured in a single therapy session.

So, it's no wonder that sufferers often wish the intrusive issues would just go away.

In the words of my 9-year-old, "Why can't my anxiety just go away and never come back. Why do I have to have it?"

This often results in antagonist feelings toward the condition and its intrusive thoughts.

It turns out that for some, this avoidance and antagonism can actually make things worse. Many train themselves to use multiple methods to pushing these thoughts away, doing their best to remove them.

For some, though, a new-ish method called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) might provide a different perspective.

The idea is to accept the intrusive thoughts or other parts of mental health as something that exists in your life without assigning a lot of negative emotion to it and trying to get rid of it.

You might want to do a little research and see if this idea speaks to you.

Here are a simple exercises to try:

1. Practice "cognitive defusion" by observing your thoughts rather than attaching to them. Imagine your thoughts as passing clouds or leaves on a stream, acknowledging their presence without getting entangled in them.
2. Give your thoughts funny voices or repeat them rapidly for a minute. This helps create distance between you and your thoughts, making it easier to let them come and go without becoming overwhelmed.
3. When you notice a distressing thought arising, mentally label it by saying, "I am having the thought that..." For example, "I am having the thought that I will fail." This helps create space between you and your thoughts.

There are many other ideas out there. The simple idea that depression isn't something horrible I need to avoid was helpful to me. To that, I added the concept of it strengthening me.

The harder it gets, the more I'm able to train and toughen my mental muscles. Much like a weight lifter who endures and pushes through the pain and works to lift heavy weights. I am doing the same thing in my mind. And each time I'm successful, I get a little stronger.

Hopefully, something in my rambling there is helpful to you or someone you care about.

All the best this week!

- Misty :)

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