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Healing pain, gaming kids and logic puzzlesFriday, November 30, 2007
I am a 38 year old living in upstate New York with my husband and two children. I grew up in Manhattan in New York City. I have always had a love of puzzles and any kind of thinking games. They have been an important part of my life through ALL of my life and now I love sharing them with my own children. Being the only children of teenage parents – my parents wanted to make sure I got the best education and every opportunity to succeed. My father was always bringing home games and working with me in Math and my mother was always happy to sit and do a puzzle or play a game with me. They both worked opposite shifts so they could spend time with me so I got quality time with both of them learning and playing. I always liked the games that made me think and when Tetris came out I was addicted. My dad and I talked about having those “Tetris dreams” when we had played too long. I even went to a specialty High School for Math and Science and then found out how much I loved lateral thinking and logic problems. Two rough pregnanciesAfter college I taught kid’s computer games in two different computer learning centers and again, leaned towards the logical thinking games. Text adventures, then graphic adventures and kids games like “Thinking Things” were some of my favorites. When I met my husband part of the reason I fell so hard for him was because the first time we met he introduced me to the game The Incredible Machine. My husband and I moved away to the suburbs of New Jersey to get a house and try to have kids and puzzles remained part of our lives. I had two rough pregnancies – my second one wound up with me in the hospital for weeks before delivering my daughter nine weeks prematurely. During that stay in the hospital puzzle books kept me sane and my mind off of worrying about all the possible outcomes. My daughter luckily is as healthy as any other child now four and a half years later. We moved upstate NY and that was about the time I started getting even more ill. I was diagnosed with a few chronic illnesses such a Fibromyalgia and Benign Hypermobility Syndrome and was in chronic pain. This was when I discovered Sudoku. I was very down about my illnesses and about not being able to contribute to my family how I wanted to. I was also very disappointed about all the family and friend events I had to miss. Doing Soduko puzzles took my mind off of my pain and worries and allowed me to use and work my mind. No pain, no painkillersLast Christmas after I saw the movie, “The Secret” my life changed dramatically. After seeing it I knew I had to learn more about the “Law of Attraction” and the mind/body connection. I was determined to heal myself and be off of all painkillers. In this process my son had gotten a Nintendo DS for Christmas that had the game Brain Age with it. On it I could play Soduko and several other puzzle-type games to sharpen my brain. I felt this was an important part of my healing as well and dedicated time every day to sharpening my mind. After a few weeks of adopting a bunch of practices from my studies I felt better than I had in years. No pain, no painkillers and more energy than I could EVER remember having. I had more energy to play with my kids and energy to start thinking about a career again. I am still an at home mom but my daughter goes to school a few hours a day and next fall will be in school full time. I started researching fields and since I always had a love of computers and the Internet gravitated towards that. Empower others to take control of their healthI took a free Internet marketing course that recommended starting a blog. It was then that I began BOTH my blogs. One on healing pain naturally and the other on kid’s computer game recommendations. They are my top two passions. When I was ill I met a lot of people who had given up on being healthy. My doctors had told me I would only get worse and to learn to “manage my pain” through pills. They had also told me I would probably wind up in a wheelchair. If I had not found natural ways to heal myself I would be in bad shape right now instead of feeling the best I ever have. I want to empower others to take control of their health as well. On my computer blog I only recommend non-violent games for kids and usually educational ones. There are so many truly wonderful games out there for kids. Learning, educational, logical and fun and kids can play without even realizing they are learning. There is enough violence out there right now I don’t believe kids need to be exposed to it any sooner than absolutely necessary and don’t see the point of having seven year olds play games where they kill things…. My blog offers parents reviews for games that are great for kids and that they will enjoy playing with their kids as well. It was in my research on games for my blog that I happened upon Conceptis. I contacted Gil and Dave and was SO happy to have found them. I could not believe that Gil had written an article on his blog about the healing powers of puzzles. It seemed like a perfect connection and I was so impressed by the Conceptis site. There are puzzles I had never heard of and I am still making my way through all of them. I love the picture puzzles and the Slitherlink puzzles as well as the Soduko (of course). I think my daughter is still a bit young but I am looking forward to introducing some of them to my 8 year old son. Thank you for such an excellent puzzle site. I see visiting with my kids and telling others to visit for years to come! I know I will always enjoy puzzles and games and use them to help keep my brain sharp and young. Related resources |
