My 2025 Experience With Depression and Anxiety

1) The Rhesus Medicine YouTube channel, in their July 2022 video titled,   Depression Explained (Major Depressive Disorder) notes how depression is expected to be the number one cause of disease worldwide by 2030.

2) Roman Gelperin, writing in his book “And it Was All Your Fault: Unraveling the Inner Psychology of Depression” describes how: “Depressed people will often speak of a state of blankness, loneliness, becoming invisible, fading into nothingness, being reduced to zero. They also invariably report feelings of pain and anguish and misery. The emotion of sadness, of course, is nearly always also reported” (Gelperin 12). The state of blankness, loneliness (combined with an intense anxiety and fear of letting others be close), and being reduced to nothing all resonate deeply for me.

3) Vancouver Psychologist Dr Randy Paterson, in his UDEMY course What Is Depression? describes how depression, as an albeit confusing clinical disorder, impacts one’s behaviour, emotions, thoughts, and physiology at different levels during a depressive episode (Paterson - Floating Diamond Model).

4) Paterson also describes how he views depression not as a disease but as more of a syndrome. For Paterson, a disease has generally accepted symptoms whose causes are usually standardized and known, but with a syndrome one has a set of symptoms tend to occur together based on causes that tend to be unique from person to person (Paterson - Major Depressive Episode Criteria).

5) For as long as I can remember, I have always felt this weight of sadness that is the depressive experience bearing over me, even when I was growing up. Having said that, it is important to note that this record is not an attempt to diagnose myself. It is a record of what I have experienced and where appropriate I will reference professional assistance, diagnosis, and support where I have received them.

6) The American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5) outlines the following symptom list for diagnosing a Major Depressive Episode. To be diagnosed, one must meet the cutoff for 5 of the 9 symptoms, where at least one of  which must be one of the first 2:

7) Dr Randy Patterson, in his UDEMY course, describes several additional symptoms of depression related to additional behavioural, thought, emotional, and physiological changes that are not necessarily directly addressed by the DSM-5, using his Floating Diamond Model of Depression, as follows:

Dysthymia (Persistent Depressive Disorder)

8) Dr Patterson, in his UDEMY course What is Depression? describes dysthymia (persistent depressive disorder) as an ongoing depressed mood that lasts most of the day, more days than not, for at least two (2) years. He describes how a person cannot go for more than two months without symptoms. Furthermore, the problem must cause considerable distress or impairment in a person’s life. Dysthymia also cannot be attributable to a psychotic disorder; underlying medical condition; or the effects of a medication. To qualify as dysthymia, a person also cannot have had manic or hypomanic episodes. Finally, Dr Patterson also notes how individuals require two (2) of the following:

9) In short, I have a low mood, I stay home, avoid seeing others, I have an erratic sleep schedule, I can’t finish many of the things I start, and I don’t eat well or exercise much. My negative self talk and depressive way of thinking has become fairly engrained and even rigid. I have lost the energy I had when I was younger to maintain an interest in and have a positive impact on the world around me.

10) On July 15, 2025 I scored 94/100 on Psychology Today’s online Depression Test. It is a twenty (20) question test where one answers the questions based on how strongly they agree or disagree with a statement. Specifically, a score that falls in the range of “82-100” represents one as being generally depressed:

11) On July 25, 2025, I took the US Smoke Free Depression Quiz, adapted from the Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology 16-Item Self-Report (QIDS–SR16) as developed by the University of Pittsburg, on which I scored 21 which highlights that I am likely severely depressed:

12) On July 25, 2025, I took the Yourself 1st website’s mental health assessment and scored 132/180 which the site lists as being of “High Concern,” broken down as follows:

Generalized Anxiety Leading to a Paralysis in Handling Life

13) I also recognize that I have, starting around 2020, likely developed Generalized Anxiety Disorder, which the Safecheck short course, Mental Health in the Workplace defines as being “…an anxiety disorder characterized by excessive and persistent worry about everyday situations and events.” I ultimately deal with my anxiety by ignoring situations that may trigger it.

14) On July 15, 2025, I took the Yourself 1st Anxiety Quiz, and was rated as having moderate anxiety:

15) Specifically, I have found that when I am confronted by a stressful situation that impacts me directly, my mind has a predisposition to go into a frozen state, or paralysis, that makes me to avoid and completely ignore stressful situations, regardless of whatever  consequences may arise from me doing that. In other words, I enter the flight mode of the fight-or-flight response (which is also known as the acute stress response) simply because I am paralyzed by fear. My retreat during the day has manifested itself in a kind of bed rotting, one that feeds my anxiety, my insecurities, and the mental decay which leads to rumination the longer I avoid everything. Combined with my sleepless insomniac nights, the bed rotting during the day forms the little sleep I get.

16) The Online Therapy website, in their article Depression and Avoidance Behaviour describes how: “Avoidance plays a major part in dealing with depression and those who sink into major depression are in the grasps of serious avoidance. For many, it can be tempting to effectively give up, and hide away from the world, but the truth is avoidance does nothing but fuel a life that is less enjoyable, less rewarding and more problematic” (Online Therapy). Avoidance has become a dangerously unhealthy part in my everyday life.

17) Sascha Y Struijs et al., in their article, “Approach and avoidance tendencies in depression and anxiety disorders” note how, “Anxiety is linked to increased avoidance and inhibition, whereas depression is linked to decreased approach and diminished behavioral activation” (Sascha Y Struijs et al.). In my experience I have found that I have experienced elements of both.

18) I remember my earlier instances of my choosing to flee stressful situations arose when I was bullied from grades 7-10 in elementary and high school. One aspect of my being bullied involved bullies challenging me to physically fight them “…at the ponds” of a nearby park after school (the bullying ultimately ended when my parents threatened to take my school, its district, as well as the BC Ministry of Education to court. The school issued an edict that anyone who found to be bullying me would be expelled from the school and the school district. So I went from receiving negative attention to none).

19) I remember being put on antidepressants in 2007 by Dr Ivo DAVID after two separate suicide attempts wherein I tried taking my life by overdosing on Tylenol / Tylenol 3. The first instance resulted in nothing happening, and the second instance made me violently ill as my body tried to expel the pills like I had a case of food poisoning. Each time I had taken the pills I had hoped I would simply never wake up again.

20) Since 2020, more recent examples of how this practice of ignoring and fleeing from stressful situations include my inability to:

    1. apply myself consistently to other post secondary courses I have attempted;

    2. communicate effectively with one University professor, Dr Dorothy Barenscott when I fell behind with my work in her courses I attempted to take to complete my Bachelor of Fine Arts, due to my ongoing health issues;

    3. deal with banking and financial matters by keeping in communication with our family’s accountant;

    4. effectively deal with my high blood pressure, insomnia, need to lose weight, type 2 diabetes, and other physical healthcare issues;

    5. effectively actualize coping skills such as CBT and MBSR to improving my life by reducing the instances where I suffer from mental health issues such as anxiety and depression; and

    6. make significant progress on cleaning up and organizing my house as well as my Mom’s.

21) Andrea Darcy, in her March 2023 article for the Harley Therapy Mental Health Blog titled “Avoidance Coping: Is It Adding to Your Anxiety or Depression?” describes how “One way to see coping avoidance is like a fan applied to the flames of your depression or anxiety, sending you in an endless loop. Your very attempt to avoid stress tends to backfire and create more stress. You end up more anxious or depressed then you originally were” (Darcy). As briefly summarized in paragraph 20 above, I have found I’m caught in a snowball effect of a wide assortment of stressors rooted in how I deal with my anxiety and depression.

22) Finally, Dr Theo Tsaousides, writing in his March 2021 article for Psychology Today titled “Fight or Flight: Which is a Better Choice” describes how: “Sometimes, the freeze moment may last seconds, and other times it may last hours, months, even years. When you freeze for too little, you may make impulsive decisions and take careless actions. When you freeze for too long, you may put yourself in a state of endless anxiety, worry, uncertainty, indecisiveness, and procrastination.” My freeze moments definitely last for weeks, months, and even years, thereby contributing to the prolonged periods of depression I experience.

Treatment Overview for Anxiety and Depression

23) Following my 2007 suicide attempts, my primary care physician Dr Ivo DAVID placed me on the antidepressant Citalopram, which I was on intermittently until approximately December 2021 (there were several periods between 2011 and 2017 where I was not on anything, in consultation with Dr DAVID. Although in hindsight, there were times when my depression had not improved but I was too ashamed to admit to it).

24) In 2023 and 2024, I attended several Cognitive Behavioural Therapy groups designed to “…support clients in recognizing triggers, challenging negative thought patterns, and adopting healthy coping methods to manage symptoms.” The specific in-person groups I attended were as follows:

    1. May 1 - July 10, 2023: Anxiety Management Group;

    2. January 25 - April 4, 2024: Depression Management Group; and

    3. August 1 - October 10, 2024: Transdiagnostic Anxiety Management Group.

25) There have been times when I have wondered if I might also be affected by borderline personality disorder. Dr Jordan Peterson has posited that the borderline personality knows exactly what’s wrong but feels incapable or struggles with implementing the solutions that can help mend the borderline personality. As one can see from this letter, I’m aware of what has been ailing me but feel utterly helpless when it comes to resolving any of it. And with this helplessness I’ve been tied to a situation where I fall farther behind with life.

Works Cited

Fine Art Photography & the Exploration of Depression

Teaching with Themes

I originally wrote this for a peer reviewed COURSERA project in a workshop by the Museum at of Modern Art dealing with the topic about teaching art & ideas. This write-up is posted in the course mini-blog for week 5 but I liked the work I did on this and wanted to post it separately so I can share it more easily.

Part 3 - Peer Reviewed Assignment

Part One: Select Your Theme

  1. Select a theme. You can choose a theme from the course or from MoMA Learning, or create your own. Remember that a good theme is a universal concept that can be explored on its own and is relevant to students’ lives. For example, Dada is an art movement, but Artistic Collaboration, which relates to Dada, could work as your theme.

  2. Test it through the Theme Machine. If your theme was not successful, choose another theme to test.

  3. When you identify a theme that is successful in the Theme Machine, describe your theme in one sentence.

Topic: Depression, anxiety, and loneliness

Theme Statement: A central theme explored in the fine art photographs by artists Francesca Woodman, Eva Charkiewicz, Jackie Dives, and Janelia Mould is that major depressive disorder can destroy a person’s ability to concentrate, enjoy life, feel connected with others and good about themselves, sleep, and work.

Part Two: Select Your Artworks

  1. Choose 2-4 works of art that have not been discussed in this course to explore in your theme. We encourage you to select works of art from a local museum or gallery. You can also select images from MoMA’s website or another museum website. For each work, indicate the title, artist(s), date, and medium by including this information with your submission or linking to the page about the work on a museum’s website.

  2. Write 100-200 words about how the works of art connect to your theme.

Francesca Woodman. “Untitled, Providence, Rhode Island.” Black & White Film Photograph. 1976.

Francesca Woodman’s work explores many themes related to anxiety, identity, depression, and loneliness, often through a surrealist black and white lens which helps to give her film photographs a timeless quality (surrealist art is marked by the intense unbelievable, fantastical, and irrational reality of a dream. Specifically, the Tate notes how: “It balances a rational vision of life with one that asserts the power of the unconscious and dreams. The movement's artists find magic and strange beauty in the unexpected and the uncanny, the disregarded and the unconventional”).

In “Untitled, Providence, Rhode Island, 1976,” Woodman presents herself as a solitary figure in a sparse, forgotten and desperate space. The camera is also placed further back from Woodman, so there’s space between her and her viewers, as if the viewer is watching from afar, afraid to approach the subject. The light from the window behind her is so blown out that it’s impossible to place the space in any specific location, urban or rural. Anyone observing this scene could imagine it in their own town.

Wearing only shoes and a necklace, Woodman is sitting nude on an old chair, and nothing here hides the emotional state she is in. Her face is forlorn and despondent, she looks very much lost and alone in her solitude. The shadowy silhouette of a figure on the floor feels ghostly, as if it were representative of something that used to exist, perhaps before the depression set in.

Finally, it is important to note that this reading simply comes from a reading of the photograph itself. Biographical evidence of Woodman’s life notes that she appeared to be happy during her time studying at the Rhode Island School of Design. Later, after graduating from her program, Woodman would develop depression as she struggled to get her work shown, and she did ultimately take her own life. There are some who have tried to argue that this work foreshadowed and illustrated her personal struggles with depression, but there are also those who argue that this was not the case. Olga Hubard cautioned people to be mindful of the impulse to psychoanalyze the artist, and that seems particularly important to remember when studying the work of Woodman. An artist can create imagery that explores ideas about anxiety, depression, and mental illness without the artist having to have also suffered from those maladies.

Jackie Dives. “Untitled.” Colour Film Photograph. ~1990s.

As a teenager, artist and documentary photographer Jackie Dives shot a lot of photographs on film but didn’t end up developing a lot of those rolls until after a few decades had passed. It took a lot of strength for her to develop the rolls as she knew they were taken during a period in her life when she lived with anxiety and depression. But she also considered them as representing a major gap in her artistic development, one that she was curious about. About her struggles, Dives says: “So much of my experience has been pretending not to be depressed, instead of figuring out how to live with it” (Berman).

Formally, this image is an untitled colour photographic self-portrait shot on film and the content it contains also informs the ideas about a teenager hiding her struggles with anxiety and depression. This untitled 1990s image was digitally scanned from its film’s negative for inclusion in the Georgia Straight article. It was also printed for display at a one night only, four-hour long exhibition held on March 30, 2017, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The size of the print is like the size of photo one would get from a one-hour photo lab, ~5”x7.

Overall, this photo has an off-white monochromatic colour palette that serves to informs its overall tone. It helps to secure the image in a kind of dreamlike state – a moment captured in time and held there for viewers to see. David Kastan and Stephen Farthing, speaking in their book ON COLOUR, described how monochromatic black and white, as well as sepia images, can exist simply  as the colour of memories (201). Specifically, Kastan and Farthing explain how monochromatic greys can become a representation of, “Not of what we remember but the color of memory itself, which is always, at least in part, a kind of amnesia” (201). They further note how the greyness of black and white monochromatic photographs “…works to sequester their images securely in the past.” Here, Dives is wearing a simple, plain sweater that is either light tan, or even white in colour. The background of this photo is also very sparse, and contextually, this self-portrait of Dives is very minimalistic [an art movement that began in the 1960s as a rebellion against abstract expressionism and modernism. Minimalist art (whether it was in music, literature, or the visual arts), was characterized by extreme spareness and simplicity] in its feel than some of her other self-portraits. Ultimately, it’s safe to suggest that both the monochromatic tone and minimalist feel of this photograph lends to the emptiness one can feel when lost in the haze of despair.

Shot with a snapshot aesthetic, this photo also has a slight vignetting, which Adobe describes as: “…a darker border - sometimes as a blur or a shadow - at the periphery of photos. It can be an intentional effect to highlight certain aspects of the image or as a result of using the wrong settings, equipment or lens when taking a photo.” The vignette here enhances the overall ghostly feel to the image, and it removes it from being grounded in any one specific place and lends to the idea that the subject of the photo, whose facial expression conveys the emotion of someone barely surviving, exists in a kind of fog, both existentially and physically.

Unlike the work of Woodman, we can connect the ideas associated with anxiety and depression to the feelings Dives’s experienced as a teenager because Dives talks about this context in relation to the photographs she took during this time in her life. Dives has also discussed how she views photography as a kind of therapy and way of working through and exploring her experiences.

NOTE: This section on Dives primarily used work from a much larger piece I wrote in fall 2022 for a course at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, IDEA 2900, which can be found here.

Janelia Mould. “{ADORNMENT}.” Colour Photograph. 2018.

Janelia Mould is a fine art photographer who also explores the depression that impacted her life through her photographs. Like Woodman, Mould’s works are surreal and dreamlike, and often only show parts of her body. Speaking with My Modern Met, Mould notes: “I have purposefully left out the head and some limbs… I wanted to give a glimpse on how a person with depression might experience life, through creating a character that never feels fully complete” (Stewart).

Like Dives and Charkiewicz, Mould shoots her portraits in colour, but here her 2018 photo is grainy, and not tack sharp, mimicking the feel of an older roll of colour film, possibly shot in low light with a high ISO. It gives the portrait a hazy feel, as though the figure exists out of time, lost in the fog of despair. Here, it’s suggested that the unknown figure is also nude like Woodman, leaving the figure vulnerable to a viewer’s gaze.

On her belly is something that appears to be a tattoo, only here it’s an embroidery the figure is applying to herself in an almost nonchalant manner. There’s no blood, no suggestion that she is in pain as she threads the needle with red thread. This is telling as the pain associated with depression is also usually hidden below the surface of those who are suffering. It’s also interesting to see the figure do this to herself as some psychologists have linked the getting of tattoos to be representative of a person’s struggles with mental illness. One study conducted in July 2016 of 2,008 adults living in the United States found that “…people with tattoos were more likely to be diagnosed with mental health issues and to report sleep problems” (Wood). But by changing the tattoo to an embroidery, Mould is making a link to a tradition that is strongly feminine in its craft. It may also be leaning into the long held notion that more women suffer from depression than men, although there are psychologists who believe the difference lays in the possibility that women are more likely to report having depression than men.

Finally, Mould has called this piece “{ADORNMENT},” which refers to an embellishment or colourful decoration. A decorative distraction to keep people’s focus on something superficial. With each of Mould’s photos in this series, she quotes an author, in this case, Rachel Wolchin:

"I assure you, l'm not put together at all.

Nor am I broken.

I'm recovering -

finding the beautiful in the ugly and stitching it into my life."

The quote emphasizes a desire to overcome the depression, but it leaves one wondering if the approach is in any way sufficiently sustainable.

Eva Charkiewicz. “Everything Passes Away.” Colour Photograph. 2021.

Eva Charkiewicz is another fine art photographer who explores the depression she’s experienced through the self portraits she’s produced. Like Dives, Charkiewicz sees her creative process as being therapeutic, noting how: “I want to show you my world (my four walls) – my photographs. I became interested in photography after being diagnosed with clinical depression. Photography helped me and still helps me with my emotions” (The Perspective Point). 

Her 2021 photo, Everything passes away… is deceptively simple in its construction, and similar to the Dives photo above in its monochromatic use of colour. There’s an overall bluish grey tonal haze punctuated by her muted orange-red sweater. The red is reminiscent of a kind of life blood that’s being drained from the figure. And the blue grey haze feels like a wash of colour that’s been painted onto the image, one that also has a slight grainy effect that is evocative of the grain found in Mould’s photograph.

There are two figures visible, and the bodies of both figures face forward but there heads are turned towards each other, looking away from the viewer. All of these elements succinctly captures the isolating feeling that depression can have, leaving people turning inward, unaware of the world around them. That the figure on the right is more opaque than the one on the left suggests something about the individual is being lost due to the depression. It’s not that dissimilar to the impression of a figure on the floor of Woodman’s image.

Part Three: Summary (100-200 words)

  1. What interested you about the theme you chose?

  2. Why did you select these artworks?

  3. Which age group or grade level did you have in mind when selecting this theme?

  4. How would you introduce this theme to your students? What question could you ask or what activity could you develop to give them an entry point into the theme?

Ultimately, I was interested in the theme of depression as I’ve personally suffered from major depressive disorder for most of my life. And for better or for worse, it’s a theme I’ve also explored in my own fine art photography and non-fiction writing.

Seeing how other artists examine this malady through their own work also interests me, irregardless of whether or not they have personally suffered (to this end, I am reminded how Olga Hubard cautioned people to be mindful of the impulse to psychoanalyze the artist and their process, which is why I started with an examination of work by Francesca Woodman).

In terms of an age range for presenting this work to, I believe the work could be shown and discussed with those who are aged 13 and older. The work shown here by Woodman and Dives was done while they were teenagers, and the issues of depression, anxiety, and loneliness impacts many teenagers. It’s also known that making art can serve as a kind of therapy for working through difficult feelings and struggles.

To that end, I’d introduce the theme of depression by having students share moments when they’ve felt sad or depressed, or moments when they’ve seen family or friends feel that way. We’d then discuss how art could provide a way for expressing those feelings. Finally, I’d have students create an artwork that expresses the emotions they’ve felt or seen others feel, as discussed earlier in the session. Students could use whatever medium of expression they felt drawn to: collage, drawing, painting, photography, or even writing a poem or short story - fiction or memoir.

Works Cited…

Berman, Sarah. “Faded Snapshots from Teen Years Spent Lost and Depressed.” Vice, 19 Feb 2017.

The Perspective Point. “Eight artworks inspired by mental health problems.” The Guardian, 17 Jan 2018.

Stewart, Jessica. “Interview: Photographer Explores Own Depression with Surreal Self-Portraits.” My Modern Met, 10 Mar 2017.

Tate. “ART TERM - SURREALISM.”

Wood, Janice. “People With Tattoos More Likely to Also Have Mental Health Issues.” PsychCentral, 27 Jan 2019.

Peer Reviewed Feedback

COURSERA - Diabetes the Essential Facts

This week I started a short course through Coursera on the subject of Diabetes, which is an affliction that I’ve been struggling with for several years. This blog post serves to document the short writing reflections that are a part of the course…

Week 01 - Fundamentals of Diabetes

In 2014, as part of a larger strategy to combat obesity, Mexico implemented a tax on sugar sweetened beverages. The first studies of its effects show a positive impact with a 11.6% reduction in sales of the taxed drinks.

This kind of public health intervention is being tried out in many countries across the world. Some, like Mexico, use taxation as a means to reduce consumption of certain foods and drinks. Others go the way of limiting access, or completely outlawing a product or ingredient.

  • Can you think of any examples of this kind of intervention from your own country or region?

  • Can you find any data that shows if the intervention was efficient or not?

If you want more information about the study you can google “Mexico sugar tax” or read the editorial that accompanied the publication in the BMJ.

In Canada, health and wellness is primarily a provincial responsibility, but since 2020, the Government of Canada has been working on a Framework for Diabetes. Specifically, the framework “…provides common policy direction to help align efforts and to support improved access prevention and treatment for all types of diabetes to ensure better health outcomes” (Government of Canada). It also ensures all stakeholders (which includes provincial and territorial governments responsible for health, Indigenous groups, and other relevant stakeholders) work together on ensuring that there is “…improved access to diabetes prevention and treatment to ensure better health outcomes for Canadians” (Government of Canada).

See: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/news/2022/10/government-of-canada-announces-new-framework-for-diabetes-in-canada.html

In 2016, the province of Newfoundland considered adoring a fast food tax as a part of that year’s budget but ultimately rejected the plan as being too costly and difficult to implement in a province with only a population of 500,000 people. The government also faced significant backlash from citizens over the tax, although there were some who supported it. Today, no government in Canada has any kind of a junk food or sugary drink / sin tax although in 2021, the government of British Columbia removed the exemptions of the provincial sales tax on sugary drinks, but it is not a new tax, just an existing tax applying to more products.

See: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/bennett-junk-borrowing-attacks-rich-taxes-cbcaks-special-1.3564153

See: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-tax-changes-affecting-sugary-drinks-netflix-vaping-products-come-into-effect-april-1-1.5939189

In 2017, “University of Toronto nutritional scientists are leading a study with national experts calling on the Canadian government to outlaw junk food marketing to children, impose stricter limits on unhealthy nutrients added to foods, and impose a “sugary drink tax.”” I agree with the idea of outlawing advertising of junk food. Years ago, governments outlawed the advertising of cigarettes, as well as the ability for cigarettes to sponsor events.

See: https://www.utoronto.ca/news/canada-needs-sugary-drink-tax-study-led-u-t-researchers-urges

The Tobacco Free Kids organization notes how: “An international review of the effect of advertising bans on tobacco consumption concluded that: “a comprehensive set of tobacco advertising bans can reduce tobacco consumption but a limited set of advertising bans will have little or no effect.” The study, based on data from 102 countries, found that per capita consumption in countries with complete bans fell by approximately 8 percent, compared with 1 percent for those without such bans. Consumption also declined more quickly in countries with strong advertising bans.” So banning advertising can help to curb uses of certain products.

See: https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/assets/global/pdfs/en/APS_tobacco_use.pdf

Some organizations in Canada have argued strongly against sin taxes on junk food. The Fraser Institute, a right wing think tank, has noted that junk food taxes unfairly punish low income Canadians for whom healthier options are too expensive and therefore out of reach. They also argue that it punishes those who generally make healthy choices but may decide to indulge every now and then, such as when they go to the movies and have a soda, popcorn and chocolate bar to eat while watching their show.

See: https://www.fraserinstitute.org/article/taxing-unhealthy-foods-wont-reduce-obesity

And, writing in 2020, the Queen’s Journal advocated for Canada to, “Instead of making junk food more expensive, we need to focus on making healthy food affordable. Or, better yet, making our food healthier across the board.” It notes how: “Big corporations producing junk food choose to load it with salt and sugar—not because they have to, but because they know these addictive ingredients will draw customers back time and time again. Instead of taxing consumers for these products like Mexico, Canada should tax the corporations and pressure them into producing healthier food. Doing something as simple as reducing salt and sugar content would make a difference. But junk food corporations won’t do this themselves—they need a push from the government. Taxing these companies or banning certain ingredients could help.” I like this idea of having corporations become more responsible for the food they produce, from food we find in the centre aisles of our grocery stores to the food served at restaurants nationwide.

See: https://www.queensjournal.ca/story/2020-09-28/editorials/canada-should-say-no-to-junk-food-but-not-before-making-healthy-alternatives-accessible/

The Dehumanizing of Justin Trudeau as a Tactic in the Battle over COVID-19 Mandates

On February 19, 2022, the hashtag #BlackfaceHitler is trending across Social Media platforms such as @instagram & @twitter. The hashtag has been used to primarily promote opposition to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s direction regarding the handling of the COVID-19 Pandemic. In posting about this trend on my Instagram and Flickr, I chose not to share the images I saw, but I did describe them in detail. But, to help provide a clear context for why I was upset, and for why I posted about this online, I am going to post the two images here.

Justin Trudeau: BlackFace Nazi?

This was the very first image I saw today on Instagram, by an account I actually really like. And when others as well as myself commented about why we didn’t like the image, it was eventually taken down by the account in question. But the FITgirlonFIRE account still has the image on her feed.

The post itself calls on people to “Let’s keep #BlackFaceHitler trending shall we?” Formally, this collage presents two columns of five photos of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with a block of white text on a black background appearing in the middle of the second column.

In terms of the content of the image, the top two images are unedited photos of a young Justin Trudeau wearing blackface (which Trudeau apologized for and admitted as being real during the 2019 Federal Canadian Election). The bottom three photos are of Trudeau, purportedly wearing 1930s and ‘40s Nazi style uniforms worn by individuals serving the German Government of Adolph Hitler. And the text in the middle of the right hand column of the collage reads: “Trudeau throwing around the word ‘racist’ when he was dressed in ‘Black Face’ and as a Nazi multiple times.”

This was the second image I saw today related to the #BlackFaceHitler hashtag, as found on Twitter. Normally, I would have taken a screenshot of the Tweet in question, and even copied a link to it, but in this case I didn’t.

Nevertheless, this image for me is a bit more problematic than the first one.

Formally, the image is a single shot of Trudeau appearing in the middle of the frame, and looking at the viewer. His uniform appears outrageous, in bright shades of pinks and purples. Behind Trudeau, lies a field of cut grasses, a roadway, more grasses, and further off, a grouping of trees.

In terms of the photo’s content, the most glaring thing about the photo is the ridiculousness of his uniform. The rainbow swastika stands out prominently in the image, as does the male gender symbol ( ♂) which appears in the centre of Trudeau’s hat.

Specifically, these uniform changes seem to want to present Trudeau first and foremost as being both soft and weak. Furthermore, it’s safe to assume that perhaps the creator of this image is trying to attack the Trudeau Liberal’s past support and campaign promises targeting the LGBTQ Community, even though it took almost seven years for Parliament to ban ‘conversion therapy,’ and even conservative publications such as THE National Post have criticized the Trudeau Liberal’s for not walking the talk of their own rhetoric when it comes to delivering on LGBTQ promises.

The above images certainly appear shocking, especially the ones in the first collage - which really do appear as though they could feature Trudeau dressed up as a Nazi on at least three different occasions, similar to the amount of times Trudeau was found to have worn blackface.

Enter, Major Talbot Papineau…

The thing is though, Trudeau has never dressed as a Nazi multiple times. Trudeau did wear a Canadian World War 1 uniform when he played Major Talbot Papineau, a French-Canadian First World War hero, in director Brian McKenna's 2007 film called THE GREAT WAR. Papineau, who had been a lawyer in Quebec, enlisted in August 1914 to fight for allied forces in WW1. He died at the young age of 34 in the Battle of Passchendaele near Ypres in Belgium. You can read more about Papineau in Sandra Gwyn’s book, “Tapestry of War: A Private View of Canadians in the Great War.”

In my photo collage here, you can see a photo of Major Papineau in the upper right hand corner. The other photos are of Trudeau portraying Papineau on the set of THE GREAT WAR. These three images are also the most common images that are being altered using programs like Adobe Photoshop to make Trudeau’s WW1 uniform look like Nazi uniforms.

In summary, specific alterations include:

  • adding swastikas & other Nazi emblems to the uniform Papineau would have worn;

  • making the uniform look grey over the olive green that it originally would have been; and

  • removing more of the moustache Trudeau wore while playing Papineau, to try and make Trudeau look more like German Nazi Chancellor Adolph Hitler.

Ultimately all of these altered images dehumanize not just Trudeau but:

  • the memory of fallen war hero Major Talbot Papineau;

  • the memory of those who fought for Canada during World War 1 and 2; as well as

  • the LGBTQ+ Community.

Twin Flame Resources

In 2020, I learned about the Twin Flame dynamic and for me the central tenant behind this idea is the return to self. That is, becoming the best person you can be, by aligning your personality with your soul. The personality is your ego, it’s tied to the five senses which have helped humans navigate the Earth school. The soul however, exists in a place of pure, unconditional compassion, forgiveness, gratitude, love and reverence for all life (both human and nonhuman - including animals, insects, the planet and even our universe) starting with yourself.

As a part of this journey, I’ve watched many videos on YouTube, and I’ve compiled my favourites into different playlists. At first I dumped them into one big playlist, but I’ve been breaking that out into more focused lists related to different spiritual self improvement topics. Some are nicely organized, in alphabetical order while others are not!

Eventually I’ll add books to this and documentaries as well. So check back often as this will be a very organic list that grows over time. And if you have any resources you want to share, please do so in the comments below.

Twin Flame YouTube Playlists

Other Helpful YouTube Playlists

Articles & Blog Posts

Twin Flame Readers

Udemy Workshop Courses

Note: Never pay full price for a Udemy workshop course. If you’re interested in any course but it’s expensive, create an account and add it to a wish list. Then keep an eye on the site near the end and start of each month as most courses drop in price to $9.99 - $24.99.