The Book of Answers.: Solutions to problems and dilemmas.

By Merlin Turtle

In the final book of the Nod trilogy, Merlin Turtle answers all of Nod’s unanswered questions. The narrative like the previous books is a collection of short topics for consideration. Nod deals with transitioning off his antidepressants and comes to terms with his PTSD. There are, however, more than a few distractions to deal with. Within these distractions Merlin crosses the fourth wall and provides insights into his own mental health.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Sep 19, 2023
• ISBN: 9798369493397

Merlin Turtle

Merlin was born in Sydney, Australia in 1960. This was a time when owning a scooter made you a social outcast. He grew up on the edge of the Kuringgai Chase National Park, north of Sydney. He attended a small school in bushland on the edge of Middle Cove. After finishing school in 1977, he attempted to find work in the city. But his heart belonged to the bush. Soon after moving to the country, he attended a rural University as a mature-age student, completing; a Bachelor of Social Science, double major in psychology; Graduate Diploma of Counselling, family counselling; Bachelor of Social Science (Honours), major in forensic psychology; and a Master of Social Science (Honours), major in children’s reading disorders. Previously, he had also been awarded a Doctorate in Divinity (Honorary) by the Order of St. Basil; and an Order of Merlin, first class by OBOD (Aust). While working for the NSW government in 2004, Merlin was diagnosed with PTSD and clinical depression from a workplace injury. To aid in his long-term recovery, he started writing. In the ninth book, he concludes the Trilogy of Nod. A tale of bear with PTSD.

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Copyright © 2023 by Merlin Turtle.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 09/14/2023

Xlibris

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AU Local: [phone] ([phone] from outside Australia)

www.Xlibris.com.au

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This is the last book in the Nod trilogy.

The previous books in order are,

Department of Compassionate Services, and We Care.

Book three of the trilogy is

dedicated to my mother.

Born Hobart TAS, February 13th, 1936.

Died Orange NSW, August 28th, 2022.

You invested in all the lives around you,

to help everyone enjoy a better life.

CONTENTS

Prologue A: Background Noise

Prologue B: Rules and Axioms of the Trilogy

Answer 01: Work-Cover; The Wages Of Immorality

Answer 02: Fifty Ways To Assess Your Lover

Answer 03: International Travel During An Apocalypse

Answer 04: The Golden Rule (Part 1): He Who Has The Gold, Makes The Rules.

Answer 05: The Golden Rule (Part 2): The Rules Make, He Who Has The Gold.

Answer 06: Known Knowns And Unknown Unknowns

Answer 07: Thinking Nitty-Gritties

Answer 08: Pointless Emotions

Answer 09: Up The Garden Path Without A Saddle

Answer 10: Seven Stages of Adaptive Sadness

Answer 11: Unqualified Emotional Consideration

Answer 12: Tearful, Empty, And Worthless

Answer 13: A Conversation With Khufu

Answer 14: Rainbow Connection

Answer 15: Advice For Flowers

Answer 16: Withdrawal, Relapse Or Something Else?

Answer 17: Anxiety Or Guilt?

Answer 18: Unquestionable Questions?

Answer 19: Butch And Sundance, The Early Years

Answer 20: Flash Backs, Forwards And Sideways

Answer 21: Zombie Apocalypse

Answer 22: Jabberwocky Tag

Answer 23: Round The Ragged Rim The Rascally Recovery Ran

Answer 24: And All Shall Sing With Logorrhoea

Answer 25: The Thrilling Adventures Of The Night Owl And The Long Nap

Answer 26: Adventures Of The Night Owl In Sleep Habits

Answer 27: Out Of Body, Out Of Mind

Answer 28: Noisy Eyeballs

Answer 29: Two Types Of Debt

Answer 30: Insidious Insomnia

Answer 31: Forgotten Minds

Answer 32: Terrible And Trivial Triggers

Answer 33: A Magnificent Motto

Answer 34: First Aid

Answer 35: Abnormal Is The New Normal

Answer 36: Dimensions Of Wellness

Answer 37: Trauma Processing Through Mindfulness

Answer 38: It’s Not Easy Being Green

Answer 39: The Unbearable Heaviness Of PTSD

Answer 40: Outrageous Rage

Answer 41: Faking It

Answer 42: A New Hope

Answer 43: When Old Bears Plant Trees

Answer 44: Emotions, Feelings And Being

Answer 45: Shopping List

Answer 46: The Bigger, The Deeper

Answer 47: Developmental Dyslexia

Answer 48: Myths Of The Hegemony

Answer 49: Death Cults

Answer 50: Utopia

PROLOGUE A

Background Noise

I N THE SECOND month of his eight-year employment with the Department of Compassionate Services, Nod was exposed to an event so traumatising, that his mind refused to remember it. This is known as anterograde amnesia. He can remember everything that happened that day up to the event - like it was this morning. But he has no memory of the event or the circumstances immediately afterward.

As the situation escalated, Nod repeatedly called his pond to ask for help. His duck (a bear’s manager) refused to speak directly to him - or to send a more experienced bear to aid him.

What was scheduled to be a routine forty-minute cub collection and return to carers; became a ten-hour ordeal. That has lasted almost twenty years.

After returning to his pond, Nod had expected his duck to debrief him. To his surprise, there was no debrief, or analysis of the event. Nod’s duck and lama were more interested in protecting themselves than in helping Nod deal with his trauma.

The Department prided itself on hiring bears with education and tertiary degrees. Then casually ignored everything those bears saw or had to say. The cub at the centre of the event had a diagnosis of ADHD. But Nod had not seen it. However, Nod had observed a defiant and explosive personality disorder. Though later evidence supported Nod’s observations, he was persecuted for the next eight years.

Nod had placed the care of the cub above the Department, to protect it from harm. The Department, however, appeared more interested in being seen to do the right thing, while protecting themselves from harm.

The emotional distress produced by this trauma imprinted both on Nod’s mind and on his body, negatively affecting his health. Initially, he dealt with this emotional pain through physical self-harm. Having something he could point to, made the pain more bearable and relatable. However, eventually he learnt to deal with the pain by writing his thoughts and feelings on to paper. Creating words that lingered like bittersweet glimpses of his unbearable pain.

There may be more than a little paranoia in these pages. But Nod’s counsellor had always said: Just because you are paranoid, doesn’t mean the ducks are not really trying to get you.

PROLOGUE B

Rules and Axioms of the Trilogy

T HE RULES AND axioms of bears exist to teach. The rules and axioms of ducks exist to control.

But both are derived from the psychology of the animals around them.

BEAR’S, teach.

41199.jpg Do for others, as you would wish them to do for you.

41199.jpg What you see depends on where you stand.

41199.jpg Do for you, as others would wish you to do for them.

41199.jpg If you only have a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

41199.jpg Words are more treacherous and powerful than animals, think.

41199.jpg You only die once; we live every day.

41199.jpg The right answers to the wrong questions, are worth less than, the wrong answers to the right, questions.

41199.jpg Seek not to know all the answers, but to understand the questions.

41199.jpg If you seek to understand the whole universe, you’ll understand nothing at all. But seek to understand yourself and you’ll come to understand the whole universe.

41199.jpg An animal of words and not of deeds is like a garden full of weeds.

41199.jpg Habit is the key to patience.

DUCK’S, control.

41199.jpg Imagination is the enemy of order.

41199.jpg Compassion can be shaped by the control of stories, and images.

41199.jpg Misdirection can be achieved by a body in the water.

41199.jpg An animal in shock can be easily manipulated.

41199.jpg Some must suffer, so that many can survive.

41199.jpg Time must be imposed.

41199.jpg Where there are slaves, there must be Masters.

41199.jpg Truth can be fabricated.

41199.jpg Animals can be controlled by doubt.

41199.jpg Control is not always effective with bears.

41199.jpg Like things, done in like ways, produce like results.

41199.jpg Nothing is desired unless it is known, the ignorant have no desires.

41199.jpg All risk is not equal.

41199.jpg When the ship starts to sink, don’t pray, jump.

41199.jpg Avoid putting down roots. They impede motion.

41199.jpg Chaos is not dangerous unless it begins to look orderly.

41199.jpg To subtract from the truth, add to it.

41199.jpg The reasonable duck adapts himself to reality:

The unreasonable duck persists in trying to adapt reality to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable duck.

41199.jpg A word leaves no visible scar.

ANSWER 01

Work-Cover; The Wages

Of Immorality

N OD HAD BEEN