Having your roof done right is important for longevity. Whether you are working on a smaller job such as a little leak that needs a few shingles replaced, or a larger job like installing an entirely new roof, it is best to leave it to the professionals. Roofing contractors are trained in the field to do the job right the first time without allowing the progression of the problem.

A contractor can add value to your home. Simply by hiring a professional with all the right experience in the field, you can skyrocket the resale value for home. The initial investment may be more than what you would like to invest, but in the long run it will benefit you greatly. Your house will go from decreasing in value to increasing simply by adding a new roof.

There ARE different kinds of roofing available. You could have them install a shingle, slate or metal roof. Shingles are one of the oldest forms of roofing but they don’t actually last as long as other forms such as metal. When installing shingles they use special glue which after a while does get old and can get holes in it creating a leak. Whether it starts with an animal pulling on the shingles allowing water to get in, or a dip in the shingle causing it to create a puddle which will soften the glue and eventually rot and create a hole for animals to make worse and get into where they could start nesting and breeding. This will give you an added animal infestation.

Now, metal roofing is a great thing to have a contractor install. While the initial payment may be more, it will last a lifetime with few or zero repairs. The material that it is made out of is completely sturdy and rust-resistant as well as helps regulate the temperature inside your house. While it may seem to be a dream come true already, it has many more bonuses such as the fact that it can keep noise pollution from invading your space. Noisy cars, children playing outside, garbage trucks, birds and more will all be blocked out by the material. Metal roofing lasts three times longer than shingle roofing.

Depending on your climate and area of living, you may have more or less dependency on an ultimate roof. If you live in a place with lots of noise, animals and harsh seasons it may be better for you to invest in a metal roof where as if you live in a dry area, there aren’t many animals around you and you live in quiet conditions then you may just be OK with shingles.

There are lots of options for you when it comes to using a contractor. Having your roof checked on is the best way to start. Your contractor will tell you what is best for your home that coincides nicely with your budget.

Learning how to persuade someone to your point of view can reap many benefits for both your professional and personal life. Just imagine being able to convince anyone that what you’re saying is right every single time. Thanks to some amazingly powerful persuasion techniques this is something that you can certainly achieve. Persuasion is the art of using body language, wording, and even simple hypnosis techniques to make people think the way you want them to think. There’s nothing magical in it and even you can learn how.

You’ll surprised to learn that one step of learning how to persuade someone to your point of view is to simply agree with the sometimes. This shows that you are not being stubborn about your point of view. In turn your opponent will also be more willing to be agreeable with you. However make sure you don’t agree with them on key facts that undermine your own point of view.

It’s also important that you know your viewpoint from every angle. The better your opponent is the more flaws and loopholes in your arguments they are going to find. Before you start your argument do your research and try and predict what rebuttals they are going to throw back at you.

Another key step in learning how to persuade someone to your point of view is to not come off to strong. Don’t make it look like you’re trying too hard to convince them of your point of view. In fact you’re going to come off as more convincing if your opponent doesn’t think you’re trying too hard to persuade them.

Your point of view obviously has benefits. Explain these benefits and then tell them how these benefits will benefit them. If they can relate to your viewpoint at a more personal level there is a higher probability that they will be persuaded to your side.

These are the simplest of simple techniques of how to persuade someone to your viewpoint. There are hundreds of techniques that you can master to become an expert in persuasion. No matter what topic of discussion, no matter what point of view you have on that topic, you can learn how to persuade people to see it your way. If you want to learn how see below for my recommendation.

Second person point of view writing has the ability to create an intensity that draws the reader into the story as if he is a primary character. It can be very effective in providing a sense of urgency and a pace that is fun and exciting. In spite of that, it is rarely used in a full-length novel.

Readers expect to suspend their disbelief when they pick up a work of fiction. The authors job is to maintain that suspension from the beginning of the novel to the very last word. Second person point of view is the most difficult to pull off for an entire novel.

Each type of viewpoint writing has its benefits and drawbacks. With first person point of view, the author tells a story as if he were living the experiences himself. It creates an intimacy and bond with the reader. Third person is similar although the events are related as though they happened to another character. If the whole story is done in either of these viewpoints, the drawback is that the author and reader are restricted to a single point of view for the entirety.

If the novel is written solely in second person, you not only have the restriction of a single point of view. You have the issue of persuading the reader that the events, thoughts, and feelings, were his own. Done in a prologue or a few short scenes, most readers will be willing to go along for the ride. It can give a fast paced energy that adds dimension to the story.

Pace is just one of the intricately woven parts that create a compelling novel. As a writer, you have to be aware of precisely when to speed up the pace and when to slow it down. For all but the tremendously skilled authors, a work of fiction done only in second person point of view can be too much of a good thing.

Here is a short example of second person point of view. You are likely able to see how it can add to certain stories as well as how it could become tiring if carried on for too long.

You feel the cold night air fill your lungs. It freezes there. The chill combines with the darkness. You feel like you’ve been swallowed whole.

The power in your entire neighborhood has been out since last night’s storm. The only light is coming from your tiny flashlight. You wouldn’t have even gone out if Houdini, your dog, hadn’t been whimpering for the last hour.

The footsteps behind you echo as the sound fills your head. It gets closer and closer. You want to run. You can’t. Your heart beats into your throat. Your house is only a few doors down. Are you being foolish? No. There was something on the news. A murder, but, it wasn’t in your neighborhood. You’ll be OK. Calm down.

You walk faster, but you still don’t run. Whoever is behind you will only move in, pounce on you. You fumble for your keys as you near the door. Your hand is shaking. The keys fall. Now what? You can hear his breath behind you, feel it on your neck. You can’t turn around. Somehow, giving a human face to the thing behind you would make it more real.

Why did you lock the door anyway. You should have let Houdini out in the backyard. But, there’s a reason you gave him that name. You don’t move. There’s nothing you can do. Then, the door opens. A man smiles at the person behind you, from the entrance to your home.

He winks at you. “I’ve been waiting”, he says, softly.

Second person point of view is generally reserved for authors who enjoy experimenting with unique styles of writing. I predict that as the prevalence of multiple viewpoint writing increases, so will interspersed scenes of second person point of view. If you’re working on a multiple viewpoint story, you might like to try some second person scenes and see if you like the effect.

Introduction:

Consider this scenario: A young man or woman enters university and selects Physics or one of the physical sciences as his/ her major. He/ she study the methods and works of those who went before him or her. He becomes committed to certain lines of thought and a vocabulary which supports these thoughts and ideas. He/ she rise slowly but methodically up the scale of academic excellence and try his/ her best to contribute something worthy to his chosen career. He/ she becomes highly invested emotionally and mentally in such a career, and gradually most of his/ her time and effort go into this chosen career, which becomes for him or her the greater part of life. When he or she writes or speaks of aspects of the chosen career, he/ she is careful to choose the right vocabulary and follow the group guidelines of the profession; guidelines which have been built up for centuries by the most notable names in history.

When he/ she hear or read of something completely outside and foreign to his or her field of endeavor, he/ she instinctively and immediately reject the data as from an uninformed source. We all have prejudices and they can be quite unconscious for many who try always to be objective in evaluating “new” data. But, consider how difficult it would be for them to carefully consider such new data as having any validity, and how easy it would be to simply dismiss out of hand such unfounded data. But, just suppose for a minute that their accumulated data built up for centuries by the supposedly wisest of human thinkers was not quite correct and was based upon a limited area of global existence; a physical and materialistic point of view with a rather “fixed” condition which they have been and presently are trying to discover the truth which makes it all “work.”

DISCUSSION:

Now, rather suddenly they are confronted with an alternate view of everything they hold precious to their chosen fields; fields to which they have devoted the greater part of their adult lives. No wonder they find it rather easy to simply dismiss such novelty and to them, rather ignorant data. Take for example, the “strange” idea that everything is continuously evolving and becoming and there is no fixed anything. And, in addition, that the whole solar system and everything within it is ALIVE. Let’s look at this idea of evolution a bit closer. Can it ever be accepted by modern science that humanity, human consciousness and the characteristics of Matter are all evolving apace each with the other and that even our senses, which the empirical method depends upon so much, evolve along with the characteristics of Matter and human history? Consider this schema, taken from H.P. Blavatsky’s, “The Secret Doctrine:”

1) Ether Hearing (Sound)

2) Air Touch (Sound and Touch)

3) Fire (Light) Sight (Sound and Touch and Color)

4) Water Taste (Sound and Touch and Color and Taste)

5) Earth Smell (Sound and Touch and Color and Taste and Smell)

Now, consider this: So far humanity has undergone five Root races, or unique civilizations at specific global locations. Each number above represents one of these five evolving Root races from the first to the present Aryan Root race. Each root race developed one of the elements at the same time developing one of the five senses, which as can be seen, incorporates the ones previously developed. Since the “Septenary Principle” holds throughout all existence, there are two more Root races in our human evolutionary history. As these new Root races come into existence they will develop at the same time, new elements, or characteristics of Matter, and new senses, which we have no conception of at present. The sixth Root race is reported to begin in about seven hundred years from now, and a Seventh Root race in millions of years. At the conclusion of the seventh Root race, our globe will “die,” and the Life Force which now circulates upon it will move on to reportedly, Mercury. Before the Life Force came to earth, it circulated on Mars and the Moon, which is the progenitor of Earth, and is much older than earth. Both Mars and the Moon are now undergoing decomposition, just as the human form does after it dies, and by the next Root Race the Moon will disappear from our skies. As Root races evolve they each display a difference in not only physical appearance but in levels of consciousness as well. Have you ever tried to explain the causes of the differences in physical humanity? For example, the Oriental races, Japan, Chinese, Korean, etc, are the present day remnants, last sub-races of the fourth Root race, the Atlantean. The Aborigines of Australia are the final remnants of the third Root race, the Lemurian. Each Root race has seven sub-races.

As can be seen here, evolution is a never ending process and carries both humanity and the characteristics of Matter along on tide of the Cosmic Plan of the solar Logos. And, that is true not only for our little planet but for existence and Life on all aspects of our solar system and the Universe as well.

Supposedly, the next characteristic of Matter to evolve will be Permeability. This means that we will be able to see the Astral Plane, the one above the physical, just as clearly as we can now see the physical plane. There are seven planes to our solar system. The physical plane is the lowest one; the bottom of the system, and this is where most of us have centered our consciousness. And, this is the plane which modern science now studies for answers to its questions. The answers provided by the Ancient Wisdom come from higher planes of our system; the only source which contains the Truths science seeks.

The only genuine science is the esoteric science which originated in the East and has been gradually making inroads into the West for centuries, and will one day give our scientists the answers which they now seek in vain. #

Do you take them personally and conclude you are not as good as you thought you were? Do you beat yourself up and languish in pain and misery over them? Or even worse, do you use them as reasons to give up or change your goal or profession? Do you fear them so much that they end up becoming self-fulfilling prophecies? All of the above are common reactions to mistakes and/or failing that many people occasionally or regularly make.

As common as the above reactions are, they do not come naturally to us, but rather are learned in our environment. Very early on in life almost all of us begin to dislike making mistakes and failing. Thank goodness that we are not born that way, or it is likely that none of us ever would have learned to walk or talk. Can you imagine babies trying to walk and each time they fail berating themselves about what a screw-up they are? Or imagine if they attempt to talk and gobble-de-gook comes out and they conclude they are not good at talking and give up to focus their energy on drooling−which they are already pretty good at doing.

One of the key differences I have noticed in the higher performing people I work with is the way in which they view their mistakes and failures. First, they tend to be much more understanding of them in the sense that they know they are going to happen. Viewing mistakes and failures as inevitable turns them into part of the process of getting better versus the more common belief that they are a threat to their own value or competence.

Secondly, they have an understanding that if they want to get better they have to constantly be attempting things that are currently out of their reach. No one ever learned to ride a bicycle by staying on a tricycle. In other words, no progress is made without risks. They understand the more things they attempt, the more things they learn to do and the more skilled they will become.

The best of the best that I have worked with are able to completely distance their ego from their mistakes. Failure and mistakes are looked upon as necessary annoyances that will enable them to reach their goals faster. When people ask me how to reach their goal(s) faster, my standard reply is that it’s simple, just learn to fail successfully faster and more often.

The great basketball coach John Wooden once told me that most people think the team that makes the fewest mistakes will win, but he has found the opposite to be true. When teams are not making mistakes, they are usually playing it safe and not striving for greatness.

Wouldn’t it be great if everyone looked at their mistakes and failures simply as gifts of learning new ways to do things? The truth is, nothing is stopping any of us from doing just that. Like anything, with deliberate practice this will become a habit, and there’s a high likelihood that if you adopt this attitude it will enhance your happiness and success.

It’s been several years since I’ve flown- generally, when we travel, we drive wherever we are going but driving from northern Nevada to Austin, Texas then south to Houston in mid-June did not sound all that appealing to either John or me so I decided to fly, alone.

After boarding three different planes and two layovers; one in Salt Lake and then a second longer one in Dallas, I have become re-acquainted with the art of flying. The actual feel of flying is unchanged: people hurrying, racing, in some cases running to their next flight only to find that the plane has not yet boarded, the very worst kind of stress. Men, women and children of a variety of races, languages, dress- a microcosm of the world- trying to get from one part of their world to another as quickly as possible; their faces revealing expressions ranging from anxiety, frustration, boredom to impatience as they wait and wait and wait.

The airlines have made some significant changes in attempts, I assume, to streamline their processes and reduce costs. Among those that were made immediately apparent to me are the now strict weight limits for careless passengers who thoughtlessly add one and then five more books along with other non-essential and fairly heavy items result in an ‘overage fee’. A surcharge of $100.00 for the offending three pound excess works exactly like a speeding ticket: I know I’ll remain under the fifty pound ceiling the next time I fly.

Gone are the people who struggled to make too large a suitcase fit into too small a overhead bin with the not so patient steward assisting in the futile attempts to make the impossible happen while the minutes ticked by. The rules are clear and they are enforced. Airline personnel spot and then stop the few folks with over-sized luggage before they get on the plane; efficiently, the large piece of luggage is whisked away so that the process of boarding moves a few hundred people into the airplanes within twenty minutes or less.

The ubiquity of mobile devices with free WiFi in the airports and on the planes permits instant communication for everyone from everyplace. People writing, texting and talking on smart phones about the latest corporate catastrophe like the man standing in back of me in the Dallas Fort Worth airport exhaustively sharing his distress about the unexpected resignation of a key top player to a listener assumed to feel the same way.

I am on board my third plane since 6:30 this morning as I complete this post. A quick and unscientific survey of the hundreds of people seen during this long day revealed only two others carrying a real book to read. Many passengers use their mobile devices to avoid the gaze of a stranger, ear buds carefully in place.

The young woman sitting next to me on the last leg of this trip is one of the three people I have seen with a book- a real book and expresses gratitude when l hand her the novel I had completed.

” Do you like fiction?”

Smiling, she replied, “Yes, I do, I travel all the time and am always on the lookout for books to pass the time. Is it good?”

Smiling back, I replied “It’s OK, it will pass the time.”

Captain Samantha Martinez is, a member of the Texas Joint CounterDrug Task Force Operations OIC, coalition of many agencies working together to stop the choke hold of cartels on the global economy. She loves her job because she knows she is making a difference.

She listened as I explained that a character in my next book is a member of a Texas coalition drug task force that I thought I had invented, replying sure when I asked if I could use her name in the novel and handed me her business card as we walked together off the plane and on the way to baggage claim.

One of the unexpected gifts of spending forever on planes was meeting a young woman like Captain Martinez; working to make this world a better place: God Bless you, Samantha. And many thanks for the permission to use your name for one of my characters in my next book.

Using Google Street View for Feng Shui Purposes

For many years now I have used Google Earth aerial views to determine remotely the compass reading for a property. Google Earth shows true north at the top edge of their photos, but then notes the longitude and latitude coordinates at the bottom of the page. With that information, I would go to the National Geophysical Data Center website to figure out the magnetic declination for the area being viewed.

The aerial photos provide insight into things a consultant may not even be aware of when doing an in-person evaluation, such a noting which neighbors have a pool that could be affecting another property, as a large body of water.

More recently, using Google Compass, the work is done for you if you follow the clicks all the way to the end and you can see on one final page the comparison between True North and magnetic North, which they refer to as the “compass bearing.” In a classical Feng Shui analysis, using a compass is paramount for a proper reading. “The compass is to the geomancer what a telescope is to an astronomer,” to quote Feng Shui historian, practitioner and author Stephen Skinner.

As much as I appreciate these aerial photos, something was still missing and Google Street View has been yet another great application, to fill in the missing pieces, when doing remote analysis. Google Street View captures the scene at street level and you can move the view around to see the property in question, up and down the street and the land across the street.

This is an important feature in a Feng Shui analysis. For example, some houses benefit from having higher land level on their facing side. If there is a slope upwards, a real mountain, or even a neighbor’s stone wall across the street, these are natural influences which can affect the health and well-being of the occupants. What is not always evident or easy to see from aerial photos can be corroborated with Google Street View, such as the height or density of trees, hedges and other landscaping elements nearby. The natural surroundings near a house or building can play an important role in manipulating or shoring up the air currents.

Man-made features, can also be evaluated such as a roof line pointing toward a property or statuary and things of the like which cannot be easily identified from just an aerial perspective.

There is also something to be said for visual “sha.” The word “sha” refers to something objectionable, ugly, draining, or a condition which could undermine the health or mental outlook of a person. With Google Street View, you can sometimes clearly see the condition of a house and if there is any dilapidation to the structure, what exterior colors are being used, and all visuals at ground level and closer range than what the aerial photos provide. As another example, from just aerial photos alone, it is not always evident how many stories a building or house is, but this is clearly shown with Google Street View. There is always a relationship between structures and their comparative height matters.

These are essential tools for a feng shui practitioner, offering advice remotely. A person may take their own pictures of course and provide them to a consultant. But for a variety of reasons, the Google Street View can give instantaneous information, especially if a prospective buyer or renter is not near the property either, to be the eyes for the long distance Feng Shui consultant.

The Street View image also helps locate the exact address of a property when the Google Earth pin just lands in the center of the street.

The value of a spiritual view of autism is that it enables the pain of limitation and helplessness suffered by those who experience significant impairment and those who care for them to be held within a sense of purposefulness and meaning. This can support individuals and families with a sense of truth and love, even during times of greatest challenge.

To begin with, there are many layers of understanding that relate to the phenomenon of autism, and each has to be viewed in its own right.

Within one layer are the demonstrable expressions of impaired neurological functioning that are the basis for such things as seizures, aphasias, difficulty performing routine motor tasks, nervous gestures or tics, and other anomalies of nervous system functioning.

Within another layer are the problems of thought and speech that have to do with difficulties in communication, strange thought patterns related to non-ordinary perception, difficulty forming coherent thoughts or forming thoughts whose sequence is intelligible only to the person expressing them; also patterns of thought and speech that are pervasive that have to do with brain synapse functioning and the ways in which neural energy gets released. All of these aspects of autism are also within the layer defined by physical functioning.

Within a third layer are the social and emotional aspects of autism which are often considerable and which vary in degree from person to person.

Yet, there is still another layer within which lie the reasons that autistic functioning is more prevalent today and also more widely understood. It is this:

For a long time now, humanity’s brain function has emphasized the left side of the brain, once the right-brain functions went into recession thousands and thousands of years ago. This left-brain functioning has overemphasized certain aspects of the brain’s capacities and eliminated or significantly reduced other capacities associated with right-brain functioning. The need of the time we are in, however, is to bring into balance right and left-brain functioning, and for this purpose, heightened neural and brain activity is needed to connect the two hemispheres. This increased activity requires an adaptation by the human organism in order to tolerate the increased charge to the neural pathways, and sometimes, when this adaptation is incomplete or limited, it is possible for the system to become overcharged or overstimulated, with subsequent problems in releasing the excess energy that is taking place on a cortical level.

This feature is often associated with a particular genetic picture or predisposition and so it is. However, it is also associated with the wider spiritual phenomenon that is occurring today which involves humanity’s movement into the next level of its spiritual expression – one in which right and left-brain functioning will be more in balance and in which new capacities will emerge that will enable a wider range of mental and perceptual activities than are present today.

Many of those who are presently diagnosed as ‘autistic’, today, are the forerunners of this transition into a new level of brain functioning. They do not appear as such because of the limitation that autism brings to their lives on so many levels. But they have chosen to experience this limitation in order that further on in their development, they may express as more evolved and balanced beings and ones for whom more will be possible. The reason for this choice is hidden within the inner motivational pattern of each soul according to its own Divine essence and its need to manifest the truth of who it is. It is not something that can be seen from an outer perspective, or understood within any other frame of reference other than the drive of a soul to seek its own self-realization.

There are, of course, other reasons that are karmic that a soul chooses to experience limitation in this as well as in other areas of life, but the karmic purpose of limitation can also be employed in service to the larger spiritual purpose of evolving brain function and capacity.

To see those who are diagnosed as ‘autistic’ as forerunners of a new generation of capable souls who will emerge from these very limitations is a perception that requires a deep understanding of the sequence of lifetimes and how they contribute to and enhance one another. Without such a perspective, this context for viewing autism makes no sense. Within such a perspective, however, it may be seen that what has limitation on one side, may have advantage on the other, and that souls may have chosen to experience both the limitation and the advantage because of their desire to quicken their own spiritual development.

The problem of autism is indeed a problem for individuals, for families, and for society as a whole, with much hardship involved on a personal and familial level where the emotional and physical challenges are very great. However, as with any other physically manifesting problem, it can be considered to be an avenue of growth as well as of difficulty. One way of looking at the problem in its present context is to find ways of supporting the positive qualities of functioning and of life that are present within autistic individuals, and to know that these are always there, no matter what outer behaviors may suggest. Such support can go a long way toward affirming the value of a lifetime in which great limitation is present. It can also acknowledge the soul within that has chosen the limitation and can accord to that soul equal dignity and equal opportunity to live to the limits of their capacity, rather than seeing the diagnosis as a detriment to life. Such a view is optimistic and supportive, and allows families and society as a whole to view the sacred life within the limitation, rather than viewing the person as the limitation, thus enabling that person to live a fuller and more fulfilled life.

Picking great stocks is only the very first step to end up being a consistently successful investor. Those of you that track the efficiencies of stock choices made by ‘experts’ online recognize that it is difficult to determine if a stock is great without an excellent exiting technique. As well as for many investors, an exit strategic approach is the hardest component. Many individuals say that to trade productively you need to establish the best mindset. However, such winning mentality can just be created through experience. Nevertheless, there is a route to get through the knowing contour without dishing out hundreds of bucks while doing so. This route is playing POKER.

Yes you heard me best. Evidently, playing poker has a great deal of resemblances with investing in stock. Firstly, they both deal with money, uncertainties, as well as a keen judgment of prospective threat as well as incentive. In this article I will clarify the similarities and also distinctions between stock trading and also poker. However prior to continuing, make sure you know the regulations of Texas Holdem and are fluent with the terms.

Think about selecting top stocks as trying to find excellent hands to play. In Texas Holdem, you can check out the two hole cards and determine whether you can play the hand or otherwise. In a similar way, you can evaluate a stock prior to going into a position. Luckily for you investors, nobody will raise pre-flop, so you just pay the commission payment. Remember to exit the position you also need to pay the commission payment, which indicates that the expense of getting in a position is two times the compensation. Excellent poker players just play good hands, so you should do complete researches prior to going into a position or placement. One advantage concerning trading is that you do not need to await good investments like poker players wait for good hands, you can locate great stocks on stock picking internet sites or utilizing screeners to find them yourself.

Once you call the blinds in poker, you get to see the flops as well as 2 more cards. Consider these cards as the efficiency of your stock after you go into the position or placement. In the game of poker, the flop can make a good hand, a moderate hand, or a negative hand (by helping your challengers).

In trading, you can observe the capacity of the stock too, and also you should fairly judge the drawback and also upside potential of the stock. In poker, there are times that you have a great hand, and your challenger have a much better hand, as well as you know you are beat. These are the moments where your way of thinking matters one of the most. An experienced poker gamer will certainly fold his hand despite the quantity of money he has put into the pot.

As an investor, at times that you believe the upside possible stops working to actualize, you need to market the stock regardless of how much you have actually shed. On the other hand, when a good poker player understands he has the winning hand, despite the opportunity of losing at the river, he would bet strongly, without fearing the small losing opportunity.

In trading, this equates to if the stock goes up and manifests greater upside prospective, you should not fear that you will certainly shed your recent winnings. Therefore the winning mentality is to ride when the stock is rising, as well as sell off when the stock is losing its heat.

This self-control is quickly said than done. Numerous times I have actually listened to individuals shed all their money since they hold on to losing settings (as a result of wish) and market winning positions too early (as a result of fear).

By playing poker, you would certainly get the opportunity to grasp your feelings, finding out not to really hope when you are beat, as well as not to be afraid when you agree with to win. You want to lose tiny and also win huge, not the contrary.

Currently, go exercise this technique or strategy. This mindset only develops with experience.

Abstract:

Franz Kafka in 1916 wrote a short novella called Metamorphosis (1. Bantam Edition 2004) a book of immense psychological and insightive nightmare into the human condition. Here we will exam Kafka’s masterpiece from a psychoanalytical perspective to see that this work was an insightful self examination of depression, mental health and the role of carers when love turns to loathing. To begin our journey for the non-reader of this famous text we will give a brief outline and then turn to the specific role of psychoanalytic insight from Freudian to Burns and beyond.

Introduction:

Kafka was born in 1883 a middle class Jewish boy, introverted, shy and inadequate, believed to be a result of a critical father, (2. Letter to his Father 1919) he was later educated in Prague in a German University however he went on in his spare time to write many works of outstanding literature. Here we are not going to delve into detailed life but satisfy ourselves with a small picture of the man as writer. Kafka was very driven and wrote daily through the night with a dedicated passion. Today he might be seen as OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Behaviour) prone to perfectionism. It is his perfectionist emotional driver that made his literature something very special.

Kafka wrote Metamorphosis in 1916 as a short novella about a young man who was the stalwart of the family, supporting an out of work critical father, a doting mother and childlike sister, in which our hero, Gregor Samsa was not popular at work and under daily stress of travel and deadlines to meet for which he felt a losing battle. In the beginning of the book he awakes from a troubling dream to find he has in fact turned into an ugly giant beetle his mind trapped in an alien body. From this beginning Gregor begins to explore his new limitations and narrow world view, his sight becomes dim, he cannot move without constant pain and great effort. His family are dependent on Gregor going to work, earning their keep and supporting their needs when suddenly he cannot no longer act in this role. His father is disgusted, his mother stricken and his younger sister while becoming his carer is repulsed by this new version of her brother. As time passes and he does not return to his old self – the family must make new plans to survive and now see him as their burden (roles reversed). In the beginning Gregor thought this was just a temporary situation that would soon pass and he would re-uptake his old life and continue forward. However in the end there is no solution and suffers a lonely eventual death.

In writing the following psychoanalytical analysis I have not read the many introductions, essays and critical insights of other writers. This was purposefully done to avoid contamination of my thinking process in treating Gregor as my patient in a psychoanalytical setting. I did not want to have the bias of others opinions to my way of seeing the text as the only evidence of the patients mental health problem.

The Patient:

Like any new psychological patient to the clinic a first one hour session would be usually conducted in two parts – the first – why have you come to see me? The second the clients ability to vent (tell their story in their own words) and so set the scene for further sessions. Lets imagine Gregor’s typical answer to why have you come here.

Gregory: My family is very dependent on me to support them but lately I have been feeling very stressed by work and home alike. I had a very bad dream a few weeks ago and woke up in a deluded state in which I found it impossible to get our of bed. I just felt overwhelmed with exhaustion and the loss of will to keep going on with my miserable life. It was like I was some ugly bug that everyone despised and yet took for granted. All they want to do is squash my passion for life and replace it with their needs.

Psychoanalyst: It sounds very much as if you are stressed and reached what me might call a point of exhaustion – this means your energy has been depleted both physically and mentally. So to summerise – you are depressed right now from the burden of work and a non-supportive family environment and you feel you have given up trying to be the one who supports everyone else?

Gregory: Yes, it is like I was a donkey with burden I could no longer carry.

Psychoanalyst: Tell me a little of your background? (second part – venting)

Gregory: I have a very critical, controlling father who tries to dominate the household, however he is unemployed right now and his health has deteriorated through becoming lazy and irritable. My mother cowers to him and goes along with his demands even when unreasonable, I have a younger sister – she is just finishing her education but has not found any real outlet for her abilities just yet, she is kind and sweet but very naive about the world at large. At work my supervisor while pleasant enough but he is also under pressure from our boss who like my father is controlling and micro manages our every move. This means you feel you are being scrutinized constantly and found lacking. I have to travel a lot for my work and often come home late and exhausted but then am expected to be there for the family as the main stay of their comforts. I do not have time for relationships and I am probably not a very good catch for any girl who might have any interest in me beyond the obvious. At home things have changed now that I have been fired and lost my income. My sister has started to care for me more and tries constantly to rescue me from my mood swings, however my mother has just fell apart and cries insistently about her poor boy yet shy away from actually helping me. As for my father he is even more disgusted by me than ever as I forced him to go out and find work, he even took in some lodgers to help make ends meet and so the burden has passed to my mother and sister to keep the household clean and fed. We have had some cooks and cleaners but they have mostly left because they refuse to have anything to do with me. I cannot really think of much else to tell you – but at least I feel I managed to get it all out.

Psychoanalyst: I think that gives me quite a lot to think about Gregor and you have been very clear and systematic in the way you have explained the background. Tell me how are you actually feeling right now?

Gregory: A little relieved to have finally explained myself and someone listened without a sneer on their face or laughing at me. Thank you for that. In general I know that everyday I feel sad and tired by life – I just want to lay down and sleep – that somehow when I wake up everything will be normal again – that I can function and have some sort of life.

Psychoanalyst: Well we have had our time today Gregor, an hour can pass very quickly the first visit. I hope to see you are least once a week for an hour, in the meantime I have a little homework exercise for you to complete for me. A one page biography of your family, where you grew up, your education, relationships and the current here and now situation. I know you have told me some of this already but it will help save some time in sessions by having a short version of your life so far. Please send to me via email before our next session so that I can read and analyze the content before you come. Here is my card and details. If at anytime you feel you are in crisis and need me – please call for an earlier appointment.

Gregory: Thank you Doctor, I will see you same time next week.

Psychoanalytical Analysis of the First Session:

For insurance purposes the analyst is forced to write a psychiatric number and diagnosis. This labeling is not a reflection of the true nature of the mental health problem but merely a forced situation in order to get paid. In Gregor’s case – Clinical Depression DSM V 296.3.

In reality a psychological outcome may have been Reactive Depression to stress at both home and work leading to a lack of everyday cognitive functioning in both thought and behaviour.

Clearly in this case – depression is the key element from signs of mental exhaustion, a sense of hopelessness and helplessness from the role reversal of stalwart breadwinner to helpless victim in need of rescuing by his sister in particular – the constant disappointment to both his parents and rejection of his work colleagues. At his stage we do not have enough data to surmise the underlying unconscious drives that might be fueling his depressive state other than the external pressures of family and work. In further sessions the need will be met from a more in depth scrutinizing of his emotional world and inner conflicts. He clearly feels alone in his burden although the sister is obviously doing her mother’s duty of care. The client mentioned a bad dream – this can be further pursued for unconscious motivations.

Further Sessions:

Over 20 or more sessions – Gregor’s analogy of being an ugly beetle are further explored and his relationships with both family and work – more importantly his feelings about himself and his depressive state. It also became clear that his family were now neglecting his everyday needs for nutritious food, care and comfort. They in fact have become physically violent towards him causing him to further withdraw into his delusional world where he feels he is nothing more than an ugly beetle that should be stamped upon. Risk of suicide has now become evident in his demeanor. His appearance shows he is not looking after his ablutions, clothing is dirty and unkempt and he has lost considerable weight. He was also becoming lethargic in that he no longer cared what happened to him as long as this constant pain would cease (pain being mental anguish). His sister although dutiful in looking after him has lost heart in him getting better and so now only is a functional caregiver as opposed to a empathetic one. His biography homework showed that his father was not only controlling but bitter in that he lost a business owing considerable money to Gregor’s employer who now expected him to pay off his fathers debts through a reduced salary for his own work putting considerable burden on him to support the family at home. The mother was ashamed of the home situation and was too weak to stand up to her husband in any matters of economy or otherwise. The sister was in the past spoiled and now resented her reduced situation and blamed Gregor for being sick. Again adding to his feelings of alienation and being alone.

Sadly Gregor died after the end of the sessions from self-neglect – basically willing his life to cease as he saw no longer any purpose to it. His father had found new employment, the mother felt relieved to see her son no longer in this life suffering and the sister finally felt free of her own burden that being her brother. While psychoanalysis would have hoped for a different outcome – the book itself determined the ending that we have to accept.

Conclusion:

While Franz Kafka meant his novella of Metamorphosis to be a comic tragedy of a wasted life it springs out at any educated reader in the art of psychoanalysis as a perfect example of chronic depression and futility. Those in this delusional state often contemplate suicide although mostly via ideation (I think it but don’t), however self neglect is very common trait that leads to slow death from a lack of self care. When you have a non-supportive family, where their needs are being thwarted by your mental state – then further rejection can cause a spiraling effect of deeper resentment about your own part in the downfall of your mind. Many depressives play victim (3. Berne 1960’s) inviting others to rescue them – when in fact they need to rescue themselves – but in the end they become their own persecutor and further victimize themselves to that bitter ending of death.

In real life via treatment for depression a sense of purpose is sought from the client in that he can see a new fresh change to his circumstances despite the battle of a non-supportive family and hostile work environment that is all to common in today’s economy. In Gregor’s case over time he would have explored his past traumas and realized the underlying demons that led to his lack of self assurance and efficacy to find a new solution to his mood.

Summery:

This paper was an exercise in psychoanalysis from a famous work of literature and reflects the art of the analyst who tries to understand the underlying concepts of the unconscious mind in creating monsters from our own imagination to battle with when we reach that point of exhaustion both physically and mentally called – depression.

References:

1. Kafka F. 1915 – Metamorphosis – Bantam Edition 2004

2. Kafka F. 1919 – Letter to his Father – Bantam Ed 2004

3. Bernes E. 1960’s – Transactional Analysis – various volumes.

Word: 2310