This may sound kind of dumb, but this is something that's happened to me a lot. It is often said that Scizophrenics(sp?) think that there are hidden messages in books and newspapers and TV shows just for them. To me, that's not as crazy as it sounds, as I've often felt the same way. Not as if the author of a book knew me somehow and wrote something just for me, but as if the hands of fate or a guardian angel or whatever was guiding me to read a certain book or watch a certain TV show, because it had to deal with something that I was currently experiencing. It happens when I learn something new or when I'm going through a problem in my life and I'll stumble upon something, completely by accident, that deals with that very thing, as if some guiding force has decided that I was ready to see or hear it. My most recent experience of this happened just last night when I was reading a book, The Last Unicorn 2(don't laugh it's a great book!). You see, I've just recently quit a part time job I had at a nursing home as an activities assistant. Anyone here who's ever been in a nursing home should know of how depressing those places are. I worked there for six months, and became friends with a kind old man, but things there got so bad that I had to quit, and afterwords I felt really bad about it, because I felt like I had abandoned my old friend, as he had no family of his own. Now back to the book I was reading. Little did I know, the book had to deal with a senile old king who was once a great hero. (My old friend did many great things when he was younger.) He was extremely forgetful but he would always remember the love of his life, who left him a long time ago. (My old friend talked about his deceased wife a lot.) Then during the story the king befriends a little girl who needs him do battle with a Griffin who is wreaking havoc on her village, then at the end of the story, the king get's killed by the Griffin and his last words were to his little friend(and this is when I really felt as if the book was speaking to me): "Little one, do not be ashamed of me because I am old." Like I said, this has happened to me countless times. Has anybody else had this happen to them? Has anybody else felt like some unknown force was guiding them to something they were supposed to see or hear?

It's just coincedence. I think you may over analyze things. I know a lot of people like that.

Read between Sweets lines....I think he's trying to tell you something.

I like this idea. The media says to me... death, crime, fear...shopping..death, war.. pets with hats..greed..shopping.

Good mental health is all about reality, but with so much fiction posing as reality these days, it's no wonder any of us think sometimes that we're losing it. Hang in there, and if you find yourself focusing too much on you, then try some volunteer work. Changing the focus from you to others will help you find reality.

Now, having said that, the U.S. government has a huge budget for playing with our minds, with respect to the "war on terror." Outside of this theme, I'd worry if I thought that anything was going on. Propaganda has moved into a new realm that is truly stunning. Creative thinking is being used as a weapon for marketing concepts the government wants us to believe in. It's a subtle form of mind control, but its methods can be determined and even examined if you know what to look for. Unless you're a peace activist, I wouldn't worry too much individually. If you are a peace activist, then you've got a lot to be concerned about, because key people in media have hinted that the propaganda machine being utilized would, as Keith Olbermann of MSNBC says, ["make even Tokyo Rose quit."] In other words, the Media apparently know a lot more than their FCC licenses permit them from saying. There's some major stuff going on, but I wonder if the story will ever be told, given the length of this supposed war, the terror of which, was likely manufactured at least in part, by the Bush cult of death.

I did that for ten years, but was lucky enough to be at a very well funded private home. I'm sure he would love a visit from you, and it's much nicer going when there are no obligations, volunteer - but on your own terms! Activity directors are generally glad to have old employees come back for one on one sessions as long as you left on good terms. If not you could always go and talk to the administrator.

Had to squeeze that in there. Regarding the media, quite often in books and news reports I see things that relate to what is going on in my life, but associations are easy to make. I still think of my Labrador as a rabbit because I happened to be reading Watership Down when we got him and he kicks and jumps like a rabbit! I really don't trust the news media as they pick and choose what to report, and not always for the good of society. Too many important stories are ignored, important details conviently left out, and the general population is left in the dark. It doesn't keep me from reading, I just don't take what I read at face value anymore.

Co-incidences like this are always happening to me. A few years back I read a book called "Crash", a fictional story about a train wreck in England. Imagine my surprise two weeks later when an almost identical crash actually happened - on the same line as the fictional one, and in the same circumstances (goods train derails into a passenger train).

I know exactly what you mean about the media, we have a running joke that they've got secret cameras on us lol it started when my husband made a comment about someone on the news knowing what we're going to be doing over Xmas, I then jokingly said they're spying on us of course they know (it was late lol) Anyways since then we've noticed some hilarious occurrances, for example my husband biting into a mince pie and a tv presenter saying "Have another mince pie" and again when he said it was time for bed and someone said "It's only 11pm, if you're thinking of going to bed don't" We don't take any of this seriously, it's just a good laugh we have whenever it happens, but I can see how easily it would be to form paranoia over this as it's been happening at least twice a day for the last two weeks

Check this out.