Mental Time website: Mental Time  
Mental Time Twitter:  twitter.com/MentalTimeUK

​As we head into the last 3-4 months. The real editing begins. Lee’Ann hacks and slashes her way with a big red pen. Spends hours laughing at my horrible spelling, punctuation, and ten-line long sentences.

Meanwhile, I post excerpts on Facebook, generate interest. I put the finishing touches on the cover artwork, and take the two or three options out to the bars and clubs to get people’s reactions. That usually narrows it down fast! Then, I spend hours agonizing over composition and a myriad of other details, and am practically forced at gun point to make major changes in the manuscript by Lee’Ann. Those last weeks are hell, we average 2 bottles of wine on a weeknight, and at least three on Saturday and Sunday respectively.

It’s a big celebration when we “launch” a book. It represents so many things. Hard work, dedication, and all that, yeah, but more importantly, it, the book, the story represents a voice. One that may have never been heard if it were not for me, for us. That is the reward, the publication of the voice, the whisper in the dark. That it may be heard by anyone who is willing to listen to its tale, its story. The warning.

And yes, we end with that. My work is about warnings. It is about the ugly truth of it all. That we are bound by one singular thing, Fate, regardless of our decisions, there is a bigger picture, a grand narrative of which we are all consigned. We can manipulate our lives to some degree. Take possession of our mortal fates, but it is our soul that is the real master of our being. It is our soul that has been given a particular path in all of this. What is the soul exactly, can any say? But it is the driver, it is the engine within the machine, even God has a soul, and it is owned by something far greater. Forever.
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And this is what I really write about, our mortal choices, or mortal fates, for what is forever to us, our soul, anyways…

With the love of my family, and the superb professional treatment from a wonderful team of psychiatrists at the Woodbourne, I was given the tools to rebuild my life. And I like to think I've become reasonably successful in the intervening years.

On 3rd April 2016 I wrote a guest post on The Stigma Fighters website, looking at those dark times, and how I combat the mental illness stigma. I've guested on many mental health blogs since then, but that article from two years ago was one of the first, and remains just as powerful and relevant today as it was then.

Sarah Fader, the founder of the Stigma Fighters, gives permission for me to link to that post here. Please read it, and if you're suffering from mental health issues at the moment, you'll see that there's always hope.      Stewart Bint's guest post on The Stigma Fighters.  

My trip to Reykjavik in Iceland last year brought back memories of the incredible 1972 World Chess Championships, which had been held at the Laugardalshöll arena there. 

The epic and controversial clash between the reigning champion, Russian Boris Spassky, and the brash young American contender, Bobby Fischer, put that noble sport on the front page of every newspaper in the UK. And made it the lead story on radio and television news.

Did you spot three pointers there to give you a clue as to why the world was so engrossed in a sport that had barely made news before in the modern era? 1972. Russian. American. The Cold War may not have been at its coldest at that time – or hottest, depending on which way you ran the thermal scale – but it was certainly too cool or too warm (thermal scale again) to be comfortable.

The USSR had dominated world chess since 1948, and Fischer was totally disrespecting them. His increasingly erratic behaviour delayed the start of the match by two days. Then he lost the opening game, and forfeited the second after refusing to play it. But after that, it was all Fischer, and he went on to win 12.5 – 8.5. 

The match captured the world’s imagination in a way that chess will never do again. And true to form, Fischer refused to defend his title three years later. A new Russian star, Anatoly Karpov, became champion by default, beginning another long stretch of Soviet domination. 

It all happened during my own chess heyday which ran from 1968 to 1975 and included beating the then British Champion Bob Wade in a knockabout game in 1970, when he unsuccessfully attempted to disprove an opening system I had created. After losing, he analysed my system overnight, proceeding to demolish it the next day. 

Chess has endured across the centuries because it’s a strategic and tactical war game. The aim is to kill your opponent’s King, and much of the enjoyment during the battle is killing those defending him – bishops, knights, pawns, rooks, and of course, the most powerful person in the arsenal: his Queen.

Yep, girl power rocks on the chessboard.  

The BHF being the UK’s largest funder of cardiovascular research funds around £100million of life saving heart research every year. Currently funding over 1,000 research projects across the UK, and 46 of those are being carried out here in the East Midlands.  Since being established in the 1960’s the annual number of deaths from CVD in the UK has fallen by more than half. That is because the BHF has been behind every pioneering heart related breakthrough from the modern pacemaker through to stents and statins that millions of us take for granted today.
 
Another impact of our research is illustrated by the fact that in the 1950’s 1 in 5 babies with CHD died and now 4 out of 5 babies survive. In the future we will continue to grow our dominance in the field of research, particularly in the area of regenerative medicine that we hope will one day find a cure.
 
This short video here shows the amazing work the BHF has undertaken and the real achievements made over the last 55 years. But there is still so much more to be done, despite all the successful breakthroughs.
 
Survival

In the UK there are 30,000 out of hospital cardiac arrests each year but less than 1 in 10 people survive an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in the UK.  Without resuscitation cardiac arrest is always fatal and even though many are witnessed by members of the public, bystanders too often don’t step into help because they don’t have the skills or confidence to deliver CPR (chest compressions).

This means that the survival rate in the UK is shockingly low at just 10%. Our aim is to improve this survival rate. If UK survival rates were as good as other areas across the world we could save up to 5,000 additional lives each year. In countries where CPR is taught in all schools, survival rates are up to three times as high.

By placing defibrillators in to the community and teaching people how to save a life through our Nation of Lifesavers programme (which launched in October 2014), the BHF is trying to change all that and our hope for the future is that every school child knows how to save a life. Our CPR kits, are free to secondary schools, aim to teach vital lifesaving skills to members of the public across the UK. Here in the East Midlands so far we have provided over 400 kits and we have helped fund 1,300 lifesaving de-fibrillators.

Anyone who would like more information on this or would to learn CPR can find details here. 

​Through our BHF Nurses in the community, our local Heart support groups and our Heart Helpline that responds to over 46,000 calls every year BHF provides vital care and support to all heart patients and their carer’s. The fact that more and more people are living is great news but it’s a double edge sword. There’s more pressure than ever on the health service and more heart patients having to struggle with their condition at home. Through our BHF Nurses in the community, our local Heart support groups and our Heart Helpline that responds to over 46,000 calls every year BHF provides vital care and support to all heart patients and their carers.
 
Retail
 
Did you know that we have over 720 charity shops on the high streets throughout the UK, where you'll find quality books, CDs, DVDs, clothes, accessories and much more. You could support us by:

• Donating your unwanted items - We’re always looking for good quality items to sell in our shops. You can drop off donations to your local shop or donation bank.  If you have things that are too big to carry, you can book a free collection.  Small Items call 0808 250 0024

 

• We also have over 170 Furniture and Electrical stores across the UK selling sofas, dining sets, beds, plus much more, at incredible prices! You can also donate furniture and electrical items and we can pick them up for free too! Call 0808 250 0024

 
For more information about our shops visit our website.
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If you want advice on living with a heart condition, you have a family member who has heart disease, or you simply want to get some tips on a healthier lifestyle then why not visit the BHF website. You can order lots of helpful publications for free, or even sign up for Heart Matters, our quarterly magazine. This contains lots of helpful tips and advice on how to keep your heart healthy.
 
Or if you want to find out more about getting involved with the BHF through volunteering, trying something new such as doing a skydive for us, holding your own fundraising event, or if you are a part of a company would is looking for new charity of the year. However you would like to get involved then I would love to hear from you.
 
Together, we can Fight for Every Heartbeat.
 
For further information, please contact me on 07967 306483, email seatonc@bhf.org.uk or visit our website www.bhf.org.uk 
 

3) Being aware of what you're walking on makes you feel better. Literally. The brain loves sensory information. It gives you a positive response when it has more awareness of the nature of your environment. For the same reason that images look better in colour and sounds sound better when they have reverb added to them to give you a more detailed impression of whereabouts you are, when your feet are feeding back to you about what you're standing on your brain responds positively to reinforce your habit of providing more information. If you wear shoes and starve your brain of this information you're not going to feel as happy as if you were barefoot. Your sensory information also helps with your motion of course because knowing what you're walking on is always good for balance and being able to know if you're somewhere safe or unsafe.

So that's basically it. Nothing overly technical. Nothing hiding in a load of badly used scientific terms. And nothing that contradicts every scientific experiment ever performed. It should be very easy for anyone to understand

On the other hand, Earthing/Grounding is a failed hypothesis. The evidence that proves it false was discovered by other scientists hundreds of years before anyone ever thought of it and no new evidence has been brought forth to support it today (and if anyone did, manage to, they would also have to explain how computers and other electronic devices can possibly work, because the claims made by grounding advocates directly contradict the way they work.)
 
In simple terms, the fact that I'm writing this on one device and you're reading it on another continent is proof that Grounding doesn't work.
 
But it’s worse than that, because grounding doesn’t even explain the benefits of going barefoot that are exclusive to going barefoot. You could wear copper soled shoes all day and be just as well earthed as if you were barefoot all day. You could also go barefoot all day but spend the whole day on a thickly insulated floor up in a tall building. You’re can feel benefits of going barefoot without being earthed. But if you’re earthed and not barefoot, which is equally possible, you get very little benefit because by not being barefoot you’re eliminating all of the benefits I described above. This is another aspect of why the grounding hypothesis is so unscientific. It attributes the benefits of going barefoot to Earthing without making any attempt to show that being barefoot is not the cause of such benefits.
 
Going barefoot is great. It's healthy, it's fun, it's actually the best option for almost everyone on the planet. We don't need nonsense like to support that. The truth is enough. Now I have heard people often ask another question that deserves a proper answer: Even if it’s nonsense, if it encourages more people to go barefoot, isn’t that a good thing anyway?
 
Well, there are two big problems here. First of all, let’s consider the way in which it encourages people to go barefoot. It doesn’t do very much to people who are much happier keeping their shoes on. Even if they believe it, they will find other ways to earth themselves on a regular basis. Lots of people love wearing shoes. A lot. And they hate going barefoot. It’s just not for them and no-one’s going to change their minds, sad to say. If they believe that they need to earth themselves they will find other ways to do it. So apart from them, that leaves the people who want to go barefoot, and probably are going barefoot already but are just looking for ways to answer the questions they get asked so they can justify their choice to friends, family and complete strangers. In this case, it seems that may the grounding idea, even though false, has something to offer them. Except unfortunately, it’s a false friend that will betray them in an instant. They may mentioning grounding the first few times they’re asked why they go barefoot and feel more and more confident about it. They’ll forget the reasons why they wanted to go barefoot in the first place – the simple ones such as “I like how it feels”, or “It helps me keep my balance”, or “Shoes make my feet uncomfortable”, and so forth. And instead they’ll go on bamboozling the untrained listener with fascinating scientific sounding terminology. And then one day they’ll be in a conversation with someone who was particularly good and attentive in their school science lessons, or may even have a physics degree. And then they’ll hit a very hard, painful and unforgiving wall. Because whatever they say about grounding will be challenged, much in the same way that I’ve challenged it here. And then what are they left with? They have claimed that that was their best reason to go barefoot, and now it turns out to be rubbish. They now have no reason to go barefoot and ought to put their shoes back on, at least when out and about where other people can see and judge them. And they end up worse than when they started because they have replaced the uncertainty of “what will people think?” with the experience of “wow, I have been talking nonsense all this time and I got found out! Going barefoot is a really bad idea”.
 
The second big problem is the impact it has on the reputation of the general practice of going barefoot. Anyone like me seen wandering around barefoot is immediately put into that catergory ahead of any other, in the same way that people get categorised by race or religion – the most obvious thing that someone notices about you gives you your label and you are judged alongside everyone else of the same label. So if barefooters get known for being advocates of pseudoscience, who choose not to wear shoes for no reason better than drawing physics-defying electrons out of the earth through their feet, then it hurts all of us. This has already begun to happen. Look up the various anti-pseudoscience pages on facebook and you’ll see among all the memes making fun of all different kinds of mind boggling credulity, are memes about the belief of grounding. There you’ll see how ridiculous it is in the eyes of the scientifically literate. And they do not (sadly uncharacteristically unscientific of them) make the distinction between barefooter and earthing advocate, because until someone like me goes in and tries to explain that we’re not all like that, they’ll have never encountered anyone who doesn’t fall into both categories.
 
I’d just like to leave you with this thought: When you made that decision to go barefoot in places where most people wear shoes, what was your main reason? It doesn’t have to be a fancy technical one. It doesn’t have to be a reason that applies to lots of people. It doesn’t even have to be that interesting. It only needs to be true for you, to the point that you know that you will be better off and happier barefoot all the time and can explain it to anyone interested enough to ask. THAT is why you are a barefooter. Not grounding, nor any of the other reasons I’ve given that might apply to me, or indeed to many people but not necessarily to you. Your reasons, as long as they make sense are all you need. Once you know them well enough to be honest with yourself, then rattling them off to other people is child’s play. From then on you can answer any other questions that arise just as easily and it gets even easier as you get more experienced. “Doesn’t it hurt?” Well once you’ve been doing it for a few months you know the answer to that. “What about in winter?” Once you’ve been through a whole winter you’ll know the answer to that too. And don’t be afraid to say “I haven’t done a winter yet, I’ll let you know in March (or October if you live in the Southern hemisphere)!” “I prefer it” is good enough if you don’t want to say anything more. Just whatever you say, own it and say it confidently as if it should be obvious. Eventually you won’t even have to say anything as your confidence will be evident in you walk and facial expression.
 

The prosecution witness was very firm when Santa Claus went on trial for cruelty to children.

“He’s completely wrecked the spirit of Christmas,” she said. “Instead of bringing joy and happiness to those poor little souls, all he does is bring misery and heartache.

“The wonder and awe in children’s eyes when they open the presents he brings, soon disappears when they see what their friends have got. It fosters discontent and jealousy.  And when I ask what Christmas actually means to them they say ‘Presents.’ ‘Lots of chocolate.’ ‘It’s about some geezer who died and we remember the day he died.’ ‘Dad gets drunk and Mum cries.’ ‘It means I get a new computer. The one Santa brought me last year isn’t as good as Robin’s, so I want a better one.’

She concluded: “It’s time Santa was jailed for such cruelty, and Christmas scrapped.”

Santa was equally forceful in his own defence: “I agree that the spirit of Christmas – its true meaning – is being lost. But you can’t blame me for that.

“I’m afraid Mankind’s progress through time has become tarnished. The further he goes and the more he gets, the more he wants. Whatever happened to families going to church on Christmas morning, and it was a time for rejoicing because our Saviour had come to Earth on that day two thousand years before?
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“If it’s ever possible for Him to come again, the time is now, for Mankind has strayed from the path He showed them. They’ve let grasp and greed cloud their lives and they’ve lost sight of the true road ahead. Most children grow up with no appreciation of values – either material values, or more importantly, spiritual values.

“But remember this: the spirit of Christmas is still there for those who choose to seek it. If you find me not guilty, Christmas will continue to come to the world every year, despite the self-destructive path Mankind is taking. But, if I’m found guilty, can the world itself survive if we no longer celebrate the birth of its saviour? I put it to you, that it cannot.
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“The world is what people have made it. And people are what the world has made them.”   

Both the Liebster Award and Mystery Blogger Awards call for me to give a few facts about myself. So here are ten:

1. I'm a full-time writer, encompassing PR, a magazine column, and four published novels
2. I watched the very first episode of Doctor Who in 1963...and haven't missed an episode since
3. Having suffered a severe mental health crisis in 1997, I was sectioned for 28 days under the UK Mental Health Act
4. I normally go barefoot, only wearing shoes when it's absolutely necessary
5. I have an extremely charismatic budgie called Alfie, who features regularly on my Twitter account
6. My acclaimed 7,300 word horror/fantasy novella, The Twitter Bully, was written after trolls turned on me for supporting victims of online abuse
7. I'm married to Sue, and we have two grown-up children, Christopher and Charlotte
8. I was named on the 2016 list of "Inspirational Mental Health Advocates that are changing the world" 
9. My wife and I are cruise addicts. We have two lined up for next year, and have already booked one for 2019
10. From the age of 20 to 30 I worked as a radio broadcaster...newsreader, current affairs presenter, and 'phone-in show host. 

Some of the questions from each nomination were the same, too. So here's a combination:
1. Since when did you start blogging / What made you decide to take up blogging?
My website came with a built-in blog. It was something I'd never done before, so decided to give it a go, initially to promote my books. My first post was in May 2015, and tells of the somewhat drastic research I did for that novella I mentioned earlier, The Twitter Bully. Here it is:
 stewartbintauthor.weebly.com/stewart-bints-blog/handcuffed-in-a-tiny-cell-suffering-for-my-art 

2. What do you feel about blogging? 
It's a perfect platform for any writer to express their opinion,  or promote themselves and their products. My original intention was to use mine simply to promote my books. But then I saw how I could lend my name as an author to promoting good causes, charities, and supporting other writers. So my blog now covers any subject, and is open to anyone who would like to write a guest post.

3. Who would you like to work with in the future?  
Anyone and everyone ( twitter.com/ShadowsDay asked if I'd be willing to work specifically with them as well. Of course).

4. Are there any tips you can give to new bloggers? 
Content is crucial. Don't simply write something for the sake of it. Make it entertaining or informative...preferably both.

5.Will you still continue blogging years from now / What are your plans 10 years from now?
I'd like to think I'll still be writing and blogging, but I will be almost 72 in 10 years time. I don't have any plans to retire, because I love what I do so much.

6. Who or what is your inspiration in writing?
I mentioned earlier that I've never missed an episode of the world's longest-running science fiction series, Doctor Who. Not only are the stories charged with emotions, heartbreak, action and adventure - the very essence of a good yarn - but it was the original series back in 1963 that inspired me to start writing when I was seven. I became enraptured by the storylines which could take place at any time in Earth';s history and future, and anywhere in the universe and beyond. I started creating my own worlds and my own characters, writing my stories in little blue notebooks until my parents bought me a portable typewriter for my ninth birthday.

And those make-believe worlds became invaluable after my Dad died when I was 11. I retreated more and more into those places where I was in control of my characters' fate - knowing that  whatever happened to them during the story, I'd always make sure they were okay in the end. My worlds were certainly better than the real one at that time. 

7. If someone offered you a large sum of money to give up your blog, would you do it?
Yes, I would. But on one condition; that someone takes it over and keeps it going for guest bloggers. I'd like to think that it could continue to support charities, good causes and other writers, without me.

8. If you could have any celebrity round for tea, who would it be and why?
 It would be my Twitter friend Talia Dean twitter.com/taliadean 
( www.taliadean.com/ )
Talia is a great singer who was a contestant on X Factor this year. But as well as loving her voice, I admire her for her determination to help children and children's charities.

9. You are stranded on a desert island, with only enough phone battery to make a single phone call...who do you call or help and why?  
John Tracy, of International Rescue, on the Thunderbird 5 satellite. It would be a great thrill to ride in whichever Thunderbird they sent to rescue me, 1, 2 or 4.  I'm loving the rebooted CGI TV series of Thunderbirds Are Go, but I still remember the original puppet series back in the 1960s. It was an essential part of my childhood.  

10. You have won the lottery! What is the first thing you do with your winnings?
A large donation to the Dorothy Goodman School
twitter.com/DGSAcademy   ( www.dorothygoodman.co.uk/ ), which, incidentally, Talia Dean is also interested in.  And I'd restart West Leicestershire Mind. The picture of me with one of their organisers, above, was taken shortly before the Government's austerity cuts forced it to close two years ago. I was working with them at the time, on a major awareness raising event.  

1.  What is your favourite thing coming into the festive period?
The feeling of friendship, family and belonging, when the decorations go up; and Susie B and I getting ready for the open house at Bint Towers - our doors are thrown open to all family and friends to drop it any time.

2. What is your favourite Christmas themed drink?
Snowball (Advocaat with lemonade and lime juice).  And Ginger Wine.

3. Do you have any Christmas or Winter traditions?
Christmas - our open house for all friends and family. We always have a houseful for around seven days, and it's lovely.
Winter - I do try to gt a barefoot hike in at some point.

4. Christmas jumpers - yay or nay?
Well, I do have a couple. But they're not garish..very tasteful, in blue and grey!

5. What are your favourite Christmas songs?
Silent Night, Fairy Tale of New York, A Winter's Tale, Never Do A Tango With An Eskimo.

6. If you could star in any Christmas movie, what would it be, and why?
White Christmas. It has to be the most iconic Christmas movie of all time, and is certainly the first one I remember watching as a young child.

7. If you could kiss any celebrity underneath the mistletoe this year, who would it be?
My first celebrity crush was Olivia Newton John - I had a poster of her on my bedroom wall as a teenager. And she's still stunning today.

8. Do you have a favourite Christmas scent (such as candles, fragrances...)?
Mulled wine. When I smell that, it really is Christmas.

9. What is your favourite festive food?
Duck. We always have a duck with the turkey, and I only have one small slice of Turkey, preferring to focus on the duck!

10. What is the one extremely extravagant gift that you would love, but are unlikely to receive?
 A bottle of Balvenie single malt whisky. But at $37,000 a bottle, I'll be happy with a Glenmorangie instead.

What is the best dessert to have after a Christmas dinner?
Oh, I'm going to be traditional here - Christmas pud with oodles of brandy cream.

Have you ever had a midnight kiss on New Year?
In my romantic days many years ago, yes. And if Susie B's still up on New Year's Eve, we still do indulge! But we have been married nearly 36 years!

Do you still visit Santa on the run up to Christmas?
We always used to take our children, Chris and Charlotte, to see Santa. But now they're grown up and flown the nest, no. When grandchildren come along I shall look forward to taking them to Santa, and to seeing if Santa remembers me - in particular, if he remembers bringing me the most wonderful wind-up toy train was I was six.
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/scarlettparrish
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Blog: https://scarlettparrish.wordpress.com/

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* Scarlett Parrish's latest novel, Stay the Night, (cover depicted above) is available on Amazon: 
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0772SFNTL
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