The Author
John Ferguson joined the Marine Corps at 19 years old in 1990. After serving 20 years and three tours, two tours in Iraq and one tour in Afghanistan, he retired in 2011. His tours took a toll and he struggled with the return after each deployment. Anger became something he feared. Once he retired, he felt more alone than ever. The retirement world was difficult and he felt very lost, angry and confused. It felt like no one understood and no one cared.
This is the very essence of why he wrote this book. John wants to share his experience and how he is starting to heal from the trauma of PTS. No matter where or when you experienced your trauma, trauma is felt by everyone. This book shares not only his story, but it shares tools and methods to help you with your trauma.
He decided it was time he needed to fix things; get to living or get to dying, and dying was not an option.
John Ferguson is still on his path to healing. It is a long process and will take time, but it is nice to still have time. He lives in Virginia with his wife. He will dedicate the remaining days to helping other people find their path. He hopes you will reach out and open up about your struggles.
First of all
Reviews of the Author by fellow Veterans
...this book guides anyone seeking to relieve stress and find peace, in a simple and straightforward manner. The art work gives readers a visual understanding of the anguish too many people feel. John makes it easy to practice on your own by creating an acronym-CENTER-to guide your process. I also very much enjoyed the life guiding quotes he provided. The book mentions John's singing bowls, truly they need to be experienced to appreciate their powerful calming power.
...it's changed my life in a positive way. My prior experiences have not had this affect.
...thank God for angels like "John" who sacrifices personal and family time to help others be released from the "ghosts" that followed us home from combat hell
...needs to be offered to every veteran, with mental and physical benefits for everyone. I am in a much better place now than when I retired after +37 years in the Army to include 30 months in Iraq/Afghanistan
...my experience so far with the singing bowls; [the bowls] allows and trains or retrains the mind to get to a clearer state. I feel as a veteran truly wanting to start treating PTS. I believe this is the first step.
About the Illustrator
When Tim is not sketching and drawing, he enjoys hiking and people watching in his spare time. Many of his art pieces are directly influenced by studying people in their natural surroundings. Tim loves recreating scenes and personalities in portraits and paintings. When he was in third grade, his teacher said someday he would be an artist. As he got older, this love never faded and eventually he began to study art, particularly portraiture. He uses many mediums and prefers to paint in acrylic and oil. He believes that working in many mediums expands the artistic process. Each idea manifests in its own individual style. He also served his country with honor, thank you for your time and dedication to this book.
And let's not forget
The Illustrator's Gallery of PTS Pain and Trauma
Tim Crisman has graciously donated the illustrations in this book. I would like to thank him for donating his touching art, which demonstrates and brings into painful illustration the challenges and pain that we veterans feel.
Contact Tim at https://crisman-art.com
