1.

At the depths of my life threatening depression, while recieving electric shock treatment
and having been told by doctors I would need medication for the rest of my life, listening
and reading all these people speaking of chemical imbalances and lack of cure for mental
illness I took a holistic view. I said to myself either I must work out of this naturally, and do
all I can, but if these doctors and people are right that I will remain ill then I will feel ok
finally killing myself knowing I did all I could to get better as I personally am not willing to
live a life like this. I wouldn't say the holistic view helped me make sense of the situation, but
the situation made sense in requiring a holistic view. In my case I felt if subjected to too
much trauma, self guilt, etc, this would indeed change the brain. Chemicals tried to treat my
symptoms but I knew that we cannot cure actual negative events, turning them positive with
a magic pill. So the holistic view of nueroplasticity to me, meant the ability to change the
way I thought, and find a way to find peace within past hurts, and most importantly to
forgive myself. These hurts never became positive but the holistic process involved finding
peace with them, practicing mindfulness and meditation, changing how I acted and
responded to intense situations, and increasing my ability to see beauty where there was
none simply by observing the world that I was never present in. In only 6 months of this I
am off all medication, do not need phychiatric treatment, have completly eliminated my
anxiety, and beaten 80 percent of my depression. Our understanding of things as humans is
very limited, so looking at holistic views makes sense as to me the knowledge of creation
stems much beyond the knowledge of man whom is only the created. We put too much
emphasis and belief on convention, and this is not also the best way to see things.

2. Having a holistic view helps you understand and feel that your personal reality is
interconnected with the bigger parts of reality.

One does not feel alone in this giant world called life because having the ability to gain a
wider awareness that all things are not just about yourself helps you calmly and intelligently
ease into emotional distressful situations.

Becoming a greater individual is simply an aggregation of responses one makes on a daily

basis. After a few days, weeks, months, and years, the individual recognizes their self-
improvement progress from who they were in the past to who they are today. Some will
even not recognize themselves in past photographs.

And more importantly, why one becomes who they are in the near future reveals who they
had to become to rise above the circumstances.