Logan, bronze piece by Dr. Richard Ragle

Medium-Bronze, size-22x16x16;
The plaque reads:

authoritative hand binds the tongue;
repressed feelings overcome;
a sense of shame overwhelms;
as the child within waits for its champion to come.

It is a piece about the recovery from child abuse. After numerous requests I decided to write something more about Logan. Logan is holding his hands to his face — grieving about the emotional turmoil in his life. The poem on the plaque says, “authoritative hand binds the tongue”, this is represented by the hand in the back of the jaw, grasping Logan’s tongue internally. The authoritative hand could be an abusive parent, teacher, anyone that had a negative influence on the child. “Repressed Feelings Overcome”, if children are not nurtured into becoming what God and they want to become, or they get verbally, physically, sexually or spiritually abused, they repress their feelings. “A Sense of Shame Overwhelms”, when children are abused they think it is their fault, they feel ashamed of who and what they are. “The Child within Waits for Its Champion to Come” , which is symbolized by the child within the adults skull. Most abused children hope that the abusive parent will eventually champion them–come to their rescue! This rarely happens! As an untreated adult, the abused innerchild will seek rescue through an abusive spouse, alcohol or drugs, overeating, sex ,etc. If in recovery, now a healthy adult, who has undergone treatment for the abuse, is now the champion for the abused inner child. The healthy adult can now nurture the scared, abused child within, and say, I will now nurture you, love you, care for you in the way that you deserved as a child. Recovery from child abuse does not operate in a linear fashion. A wounded adult child who gets treatment for child abuse, can go back in time, take the wounded, abused inner child, and nurture and love them and in doing so change their current and future life and timeline. It is never too late.

See more sculpture pieces by Dr. Richard Ragle at MedArt

Interview with Richard Ragle by Nicole Izmaylov at Random Thoughts This week, on Novelwatch . . .

This week, on Novelwatch . . . Dr. Richard Ragle, author of The First Law, a look into science and spirituality, is here for another breathtaking interview. A self-proclaimed “physician by profession, artist by passion”, he, in addition to being a medical doctor, creates dazzlingly unique sculptures. After reviewing his work, I can honestly say that you should check it out; it’s amazing, gorgeous, and definitely thought-provoking.

Nicole: When did you start writing? Will it continue to be? What inspired you to begin writing?

Richard: I’m not sure I’ve started yet  Life will determine if my writing career continues. My inspiration was a dream I had when I was 19yrs. old. It was an incredible dream and since then I thought the story needed to be told.

N: Name your favorite book-to-movie adaptation. What is it about it you like?

R: Lord of the Rings. An amazing movie that used some creative license when making the movie, but I think followed the spirit of Tolkien vision.

N: Your book has a lot to do with God. What is God for you?

R: For me, the word of God comes in different forms. It is the quiet, often intuitive voice I hear when in pray or meditation — if I am listening. If I’m being self centered and willful, I don’t hear the quiet voice. Often I hear God’s word from others–which is why I surround myself with people also on a spiritual path. Last I hear the voice in written word. I believe God is the energy binding every atom and sub-atomic particle in the universe. It is conscious,,, thus can be “everywhere at the same time.” Quantum physics/mechanics is proving this…

N: One of the themes in your work is heart vs. brain. Do you think that our heart or our brain controls who we are?

R: I believe the two are so intertwined it is impossible to separate. I believe we are conditioned from childhood to live out what we were “PROGRAMED” with by our parents, teachers, world, etc. We learn what we saw growing up, and then live out as adults what we learned. We either do the same thing we were taught,,,or rebel and do just the opposite. Both are dysfunctional.

N: So I heard that you’re also a doctor and a sculptor, in addition to being a writer. How did you choose?

R: I believe we show our priorities by where we spend our time. So my passion is sculpture/ making objects de art, then medicine, then writing. (Probably not a great answer for a writing forum :)

N: How do you juggle your menagerie of talents?

R: It’s nice to have a balance of Rt. brain and Lt. brain activities. To be able to use intellectual skills, then balance it with creativity is wonderful. I juggle to whatever I need at the time…

N: If you could become one of your characters, who would it be and why? What would you do differently in your story?

R: Leydon in The First Law. He feels unconditional love for others and behaves as such.

N: Name your most annoying thing about the writing process. Coming up with a story? Editing? Cover art?

R: Editing! I’m not good with spelling, grammar, syntax,,, having a degree of dyslexia makes this process interesting  Thank God there’s editors like Michelle Izmaylov that help with this step.

N: What has been your great success in writing? How did you feel?

R: Finishing The First Law, which is a story from a dream I had 30 years ago. So it’s been a long time in the making.

N: If you could go back five (or ten or twenty) years in time, what writing advice would you give yourself?

R: Pay attention in English class…

Excerpt from The First Law — Love and energy bind us all together

Logan sat at the desk and examined Elizabeth’s chart and latest lab tests on the monitor. He glanced into Elizabeth’s room and saw Kersti adjusting the telemetry unit. Everett, Elizabeth’s husband, was sitting beside his wife and holding her hand. They both looked tearful. Her lips were moving, but she must have been speaking softly because Logan heard nothing.

Kersti soon finished what she was doing and, leaving the door open, walked towards Logan. An enigmatic look was plastered across her face.

“What’s happening?” Logan asked with concern.

“Elizabeth told Everett what all of the kids and the family said to her,” she explained, her voice somewhat pained. “They were both crying. Elizabeth said she was so grateful that her family had come to see and accept the truth about the situation. Before Everett arrived, she and I had a nice conversation. She wanted me to thank you for what she assumed was your part in her family finally accepting that she was dying. Elizabeth said s-she . . . she loves you” Kersti choked out, eyes swollen with tears. “I told her you would be right in and she could thank you herself. She said that would be okay, but when she spoke it was in a funny, dreamlike tone of voice. I was going to call—”

Kersti froze in mid-sentence when they both heard a loud gasp from Everett. “Oh, baby . . . please, Elizabeth . . . please, not now!” he sobbed.

Logan looked up in time to see Elizabeth’s lips form the word yes. She fumbled with something on her finger for a moment, and Logan recognized it as her wedding ring. She placed it in her husband’s hand and closed his fingers around it. “It is time,” she said. “Remember always that I love you. You have given me my children and 63 years of life with you. I will always be with you. Always!” One of her trembling hands rested on his cheek, and she stroked his face one last time. Smiling faintly, she squeezed his hand and closed her eyes. Everett slumped onto her bed and quietly cried.

A sudden flatline buzz from a monitor startled Logan and Kersti. They realized that all of the readings on Elizabeth’s monitor were at zero. They exchanged a tearful glance. Neither remembered ever witnessing such a sweet, peaceful death. Kersti was awed not only at the way Elizabeth just died but also at the memory of the conversation she shared with Logan over lunch about being able to consciously  release one’s spirit. It was a little spooky for her to witness exactly that and only a few hours later. For his part, Logan was grateful they had gotten a “do not resuscitate” order, a D.N.R. No one would go in and do sonic chest compressions, electric cardioversion, or any other number of procedures that would accomplish little aside from causing total chaos and disrupting this beautiful, peaceful and loving death. A strange sort of deep love for Elizabeth seized him. He felt how much he would miss her; a single tear  rolled down his cheek. He felt honored to be part of this culmination of her life.

What happened next shocked him. The aura encasing Elizabeth intensified in brightness and enlarged in size until it filled the entire room. It was so bright that Logan was forced to squint. The brightness continued to expanded out and passed through the walls of the room. Within seconds the colorful aura around Elizabeth was gone. Logan was filled with a sense of awe as he watched this sacred event. Curiously, Elizabeth’s aura didn’t simply leave her body; it redistributed around the room. One of the other nurses Elizabeth was close to had gotten some. Both Kersti and Logan also received a little, but Everett got the most of her brilliant aura. For a few moments Logan wasn’t certain what he was witnessing, but when it suddenly hit him he gasped. The first law of thermodynamics; energy cannot be destroyed and instead only changes states of matter, was in action before him! He had just seen it happen! He felt Kersti’s hand find his, and her fingers squeezed in between his own. Though she could not see the auras, perhaps she too felt something change. He hoped that some day he could tell her what he just witnessed.

He was frozen in awe as he watched the transformation of energy. Usually, he had a hard time seeing his own aura unless he concentrated on it. Well, he certainly was concentrating now! As he looked at his forearm, he saw the layers of Elizabeth’s aura had condensed into a thin band consisting of all her different colors. Elizabeth’s outer layer—the golden one with purple lingers—was not nearly as wide as when it was surrounding Elizabeth’s body, but her aura was now layered on top of his aura. Normally the outer layer of his aura was a deep emerald green, and he too had purple lingers. Yet now he simply sat transfixed as he watched Elizabeth’s aura coalesce and blend with his own.

Never had he seen anything as incredible as the two auras migrating and mixing in a glowing dance.  As the colors passed, they separated into shafts of colored light. It reminded him of the way beams of light filter through clouds. As the emerald and gold beams of light passed each other, millions of small sparks of every color imaginable formed. It was the most amazing light show he’d ever seen. And when the migration was complete, the emerald-green layer of his aura had returned to the top. The layers of her aura had fully condensed beneath his original aura, and he could only see her outer golden layer. He suddenly became aware of an odd yet powerful scent and realized it was Elizabeth’s perfume. Warmth inundated his body, and an infinite peace settled over his mind. It was as if he had crawled into a bed warmed by the heat of a lover on a cold winter night.

Want to read more?  The First Law

 

So you’d like to feel hopeful and less depressed

In my practice of medicine it amazed me how many people want to drink, drug, live a life on the edge — addicted to the excitement of chaos, and then come to the doctor and have the physician “make them better.” Most of us intellectually know it doesn’t work this way, but the subconscious, emotional belief is different. Self responsibility is elusive in our culture. The word “Physician” means “Teacher.” The easiest way to practice medicine is the intellectual way, make a diagnosis, initiate the appropriate treatment. Being a “teacher” in medicine is a more difficult, but also more rewarding way to practice. It takes much more patience and empathy. People change slowly, at best.

A subplot in my novel The First Law shows how depression and apathy are ultimately fatal — even on a global scale. The hopeful thing in the novel and in real life is we can and do change. My experience is we first have to embrace and heal our programmed beliefs from childhood. Why do you think the therapist always asks patients, “Tell me about your mother”? What happened as children we carry into adulthood. Someone wiser than I said, “We learn what we lived as children, and as adults we live out what we learned.” What does this look like in real life? We carry the survival traits learned as kids, into adult relationships. I don’t know about you, but as a child I didn’t have the intellectual or emotional ability to stay present when someone was mad at me,,, I ran away! This survival trait doesn’t serve me well as an adult. I had to reprogram my brain’s software. I was operating on windows 3.2 and needed to upgrade to windows 7 (or buy a Mac )

I could not change my beliefs alone. The famous psychiatrist Carl Jung said, “We don’t become creatures of light by thinking of the light, but by bring our darkness into the light.” I needed other people who had done this work to guide me in bringing my “darkness” into the light. The work is worth the effort. Not only did I feel less depressed — I was happy! Then the miraculous happened. I went from hurting, to healing, to helping guide others bring their “darkness” to the light. During surgery I have revived a life by squeezing their stopped heart back to life! That was thrilling, but it does not compare to seeing the light shine in the eyes of someone who was once depressed.

Love and energy bind us all together — for my vision, please read The First Law and my hope is that help will transfer through the written word. In order to get better, feel better and reprogram YOUR software, whatever version it is, I had to ask for help. Blessings…

Listen to a radio interview with the author, Richard Ragle

Guest author Richard Ragle joins me tonight as he reads an excerpt from his latest book, The First Law, an Amazon best seller.

Energy. It defines our universe and our lives. Yet as the first law of thermodynamics makes clear, energy is never destroyed. It only changes to a different state of matter. Beyond life, there is death. But death is only the beginning as the energy of life becomes a different state of understanding and leads to revelation.

Dr. Logan Rainell confronts a deadly syndrome that threatens to consume the world. But when he begins to see auras and energy fields around the sick and healthy, he discovers a cure that may have been with us all along. A story of unconditional love, heartbreak, loss, and the wonderful lessons we uncover in our journeys through life, The First Law is a novel that will make you laugh, cry, ponder wisdom, and ultimately feel hope for the evolution of humanity and Earth.

Listen to the Interview

Authentic Happiness :: Using the new Positive Psychology

Authentic Happiness is the homepage of Dr. Martin Seligman, Director of the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania and founder of positive psychology, a branch of psychology which focuses on the empirical study of such things as positive emotions, strengths-based character, and healthy institutions.

Do you enjoy exploring yourself through questionnaires?  Do you want to learn more about yourself.  Sign up for this free, secure and very enlightening testing service at the University of Pennsylvania.

:: Authentic Happiness :: Using the new Positive Psychology.

What is happiness?

What is happiness? For me it has changed over the years. I grew up in a poor, alcoholic family. One part of my novel The First Law which came from experience is we didn’t have toilet paper. We had rags, cleaned in bleach and then washed and re-used over and over. Understandably, I developed a belief that money would bring happiness. I worked hard, became a physician and eventually made money. I could buy all the toilet paper I wanted and then some. But the money did not make me happy.

Happiness evolved from money, to a career, to a lover and came to rest within me as having a good sense of self-esteem, not narcissistic, but comfortable in my own skin. This was a process of self discovery, healing childhood wounds and learning new healthy behavior. One of the beliefs that helped me — is to know that I am not a victim and I am self responsible for my life. Today I believe that I’m a CPA, no not the accountant type, but that everything in my life is there because I either Created it, Promoted it, or Allowed it to happen — CPA. This type of self-responsibility gives me happiness. If I’m not happy, it is because of my behavior, not the fault of someone else, and thus within my ability to change. I Create, Promote and Allow happiness in my life today. For a fictional portrait of this lifestyle please read The First Law Thank you!

What does happiness means for you, comment and lets get a dialogue going.