Years ago David and I were in Texas for the funeral of his mother who had died only two days short of her 94th birthday. Although David and his sisters were far busier than I was, those four days were nevertheless fatiguing for me. So when we boarded the bus from the car rental center back to the terminal I was off-balanced and tired. “What you doin’ luggin’ […]
For the Babylonians and Romans the new year was a sobering event, a time to renew allegiance to pagan gods, emperors, kings. The consequences for making unrealistic and unkept promises to a pantheon like that had teeth, by Zeus! There’ve been no teeth for a long time. We might as well be gumming to death our intentions for all they mean to achieving concrete consequences. Pledges about mental health and wellness […]
“I can’t work with someone who’s broken,” he said calmly. The young man had just read my Disclosure, a description of rights that, as a Marriage & Family Therapist, I’m legally required to give all clients. Although it isn’t necessary, my Disclosure also relates that I have multiple sclerosis; I don’t want clients to wonder whether my stumbling is about a liquid lunch. Broken, he said. Broken. I never imagine […]
Who came up with this idea, anyway? Blame the Babylonians and Romans who used their new year to reaffirm allegiance to the gods as well as to lesser but still powerful mortals like kings or emperors. Much later, in 1740, John Wesley developed a religious alternative to holiday partying. These watch night services were held as a renewal of the covenant with God. Resolutions ran with a powerful crowd. Ironically, […]
Casting a spell is done by the lovers among us; no exorcism needed. Anyone who’s had a broken heart knows words and potions don’t work anyway. And, unless you’re a crazy cat lady, the likelihood of being under the spell of a lover’s words is far greater than being enchanted by a black cat. Loving someone calls out parts of us untouched by anything else. Loving and being loved is the genesis […]
(This blog was first published by Disability.gov.) In the mega-wattage aimed at Robin Williams’ suicide everyone had something to say. But when all was said, everything went back to the way it’s always been when mental health’s the issue. The disabled or chronically ill population often inhabits a landscape where mental health is a place of shifting sands; they know that psychological symptoms are only part of the territory. And […]
This post was first published the first week of August, 2014 by the federal government’s blog Disability.gov. To date it has had over 1,500 hits. As a Marriage & Family Therapist with multiple sclerosis, I write for Disability.gov, my own blog, and others like it, getting the opportunity to be a source of strength for people and their families. That’s why I was surprised when one organization denied my professional […]
If you’re allergic to dogs, happiness is not a warm puppy. Metaphors about puppies, or anything else, are potentially dangerous. Even knowing where happiness — like any other emotion — occurs on the emotional spectrum doesn’t give the whole story. The only way to really know about someone else’s happiness is for you to ask and them to tell. Thinking in deep and different ways about happiness isn’t easy. Here […]
First published on Disability.gov For 70 years she put up with his (sometimes volcanic) rumblings. He doted on her with diamonds, and was a poorer father for it. The youngest of 5 much older siblings, she was babied into being passive and timid. He was a blustering bad boy who loved control; a lifelong natural at most things mechanical. He took seriously his duties as a man, a spouse, […]
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