Reader's Comment from Japan

Not the lunatic fringe.

Dear Dr. Ellen,

I went to your blog and the first thing I thought, -and I apologize in advance now!- "oh no! Another lunatic fringe self-help Berkeley Doctor."

But wait!

I began to read, just a touch here and snip there...and I went back to your title page;
"Learn with them to write your own survival story for hard times."

It makes perfect sense. It is brilliant. Don't I know the power of writing as a tool for self-healing! Self-growth, and for bringing dis-harmonious thoughts, people and situations into balance.

Writing brings focus, and Dr. Ellen, we all need a lot of that!

I write a lot. It is one thing I enjoy, next to exploring wilderness trails, finding deer-sleeping hallows or wild pig-wallows! It is what I look forward to on rainy days.
I never questioned the...what do I call it? Concept? Application? Seeing your blog, the concept, the question was asked and answered in a split second. I see the connection between therapy and writing, even though many years I have been writing, and I fully understand that it helped me focus and develop a stronger human philosophy. But un-noticed it is like Chinese medicine, a preventive philosophy of mental health!

Oh, I like it.
I book-marked and will return to read it all, if you don't mind? Not confidential?

"What I had to learn was that for life’s survival, we are all interdependent. When our resources are plentiful, we need to share with others, and when our resources are stretched, we need to ask others more fortunate to provide for us."

yes!.