Resources for Mental Preparedness

by **wannabemountainman** Tue 06 Oct 2009, 02:57

Religious and philosophical beliefs aside, I found this to be a very useful piece of work.

By Kellene Bishop

The second most important aspect of preparedness is your Mental Preparedness. This category isn’t just about attitude, it’s about knowledge as well. Today you will receive some resources for mental preparedness that I have found incredibly useful, all in one article.

James Wesley, Rawles, author of <a href=

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James Wesley, Rawles, author of www.survivalblog.com

To start with, yes, there is an abundance of information available on the internet. However, a word of warning. In order to get the most reliable information for your mental preparedness, use the internet to access university studies, copies of speeches, and previous news articles. Obviously, if you have a website that you trust, use that as well in order to maximize your learning time. I believe that Preparedness Pro is one of those sites you can rely on. Personally I go to www.survivalblog.com since this is founded by James Wesley, Rawles. (He’s the author of “Patriots”, an excellent novel that teaches sound preparedness strategies. He’s truly an expert on matters of preparedness and is also a former US Intelligence Officer.) He has written on his blog every single day for five years, but recently his wife passed away after struggling with cancer. So I’m sure he’s taking a break. In the meantime, you MAY have a chance to catch up on a great deal of his content. I also love everythingunderthesunblog.blogspot.com (corrected link). This is created by one of my heroines, Wendy DeWitt. She was employed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for years to travel all over to teach various aspects of preparedness. The girl knows her stuff! (You can also find some video footage of her classes on YouTube.) Although she doesn’t update her site regularly, there’s a feast of information available otherwise. One last site that I would recommend is www.theheartlandusa.com by Dr. Gregory Evensen. (The site isn’t pretty, but the content is riveting.) Read his editorials and if you get a chance to attend one of his events—DO it! My husband and I attended an all day event of his last Saturday and I can assure you it was worth just about every minute! It’s great to associate with like-minded people, get to the root of concerns, and be educated by knowledgeable individuals instead of just web-spinners.

In addition to reading sites, I’ve found it VERY helpful to get to watch instructional videos for my mental preparedness as well. Videos on making solar powered heaters, or pressure cooking, making wheat meat, etc. I know, I know. You’re probably hollering at your screen right now wondering when I’M going to get on the stick with instructional videos as well. Well, it’s going to be THIS week, so there! <img src= " class="wp-smiley"> )

This may sound a bit self-defeating, but when it comes to getting information on preparedness, focusing on the internet should not be your only resource. In fact, I smirk a bit every time someone asks me to “post links” to my resources when I write an article—as if we no longer had telephones and libraries anymore. I mean really, folks, not all “facts” are backed up with links to other websites. Seriously though, books are a great resource to have on hand every day—now and even in the midst of calamity.

I personally enjoy and highly recommend the following books for your mental preparedness:

“Alas, Babylon” by Pat Frank. (A real eye opener! This is the first book I recommend everyone read who’s thinking about getting into being more prepared.)

“Passport to Survival” by Esther Dickey. (Marked up all over with tags, etc. I use this book all the time. Packed full of information on the use of only 4 food items for long-term survival, it’s also got lots of recipes.)

“The Amazing Wheat Book” by LeArta Moulton. (Another book that is all marked up. I’ve never understood the value of wheat so well and felt so confident using it as I did after reading this book. It’s invaluable!)

“One Second After” by William Forstchen. (Opened my eyes to components of a disaster I hadn’t thought of before…unfortunately. Note the realistic language in this book does make it “PG-13”.)

“Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse” by James Wesley, Rawles.

“The 5000 Year Leap” by Cleon Skousen. (This one is critical reading to me because it helps me study what kind of a government must be put back into play after the crisis, as well as what kind of government I need to strive for now in order to ensure that our freedoms stay in place.)

“How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It” by James Wesley, Rawles. (This book just BARELY came out but I’ve already devoured it.)

“Cooking Under Pressure” by Lorna Sass. (I consider her the foremost authority in cooking with a pressure cooker and MOST of her recipes have been great! She’s got many great cookbooks for pressure cooking that I would also recommend.)

“When There is No Doctor” by Jane Maxwell. (Great resource book!)

“When There is No Dentist” by Murray Dickson. (Another great resource book!)

“The Bible” by…well, you know who all wrote that.

“The Boy Scout Handbook” (This is also a regular read in my house—and not just by my husband.)

The key is that you actually READ these books–not simply have them on hand as some informational reading DURING a crisis. The time for preparatory learning is before the opportunity manifests itself. I heard a gal the other day claim that one of her preparedness “assets” was the fact that she had so many books on preparedness. Uh, nope. Not unless you think you can learn by osmosis.

If you’re inclined to read books from the LDS genre, I highly recommend:

Chris Stewart series, “The Great and Terrible.” This 6-book series is addictive! It’s like “Alas, Babylon” but on steroids and I absolutely loved it—when I could sneak it out of my husband’s clutches, that is. I also LOVED the book “Prophetic Statements of Food Storage for Latter-Day Saints” by Neil H. Leash.

Ok, those are the books that I’ve read that are fit to recommend for mental preparedness. (Unfortunately there are at least 50 others I’ve read in the last 18 months that AREN’T fit to recommend.)

May I also recommend that you go to as many classes on preparedness topics that you can possibly handle! Anything that fits within the 10 Areas of Preparedness would be worthy of your time. Take your family with you as much as possible, and understand that getting this kind of information is an investment in your family. I had one gal who drove 200 miles last Friday to attend two of my classes. There is another delightful woman who regularly drives 3 ½ hours to attend my classes whenever she can as well. (Yes, I call her a stalker. Hee hee.) And I don’t want to hear any griping about how I’m not any closer to YOU or in your area. I’ve told you a hundred times that I’d be willing to teach in your area if you just took care of travel expenses. All you have to do is contact my assistant Sarah to arrange for dates. We don’t charge anything to teach the classes–yet. It just can’t cost me anything except for time—otherwise I’d definitely go broke.

Bottling butter photo c/o Adventures in Self Reliance

Attending classes is an investment in time, and sometimes money, but with as much as you all think I know, you should be aware that I also attend classes at every possible chance I get. It also presents a great opportunity to “interview” other individuals. In doing so, I’ve been turned onto aspects of preparedness that I never would have thought about otherwise—such as cheesewaxing, bottling butter, canning meat, diatomaceous earth, etc. In fact, last Saturday my husband and I spent a rare “free” Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at a Dr. Greg Evensen event. I loved it. It was also great realizing that my husband isn’t crazy. Hee hee.

To be perfectly blunt, if I could do a “mind dump” to share what I know, what’s in these books that I’ve recommended, and what Dr. Evensen teaches to only 500,000 people in America, I would sure sleep better at night. And frankly, every other American could sleep better at night knowing that there are people like you who care and are prepared.