A Painful Permission

Mackenzie Phillips dropped a bombshell that has horrified her family, shocked a lot of people, and given childhood incest survivors an ability to hear their own experience and story through the story of another.   On the ‘Early Show’, she said: “I was hoping to help incest survivors and find some redemption and freedom,” she …

Embrace your Wabi-Sabi-ness!

“Wabi-sabi”–I happened to come upon the term today, which a totally cool concept I stumbled across. Of the Japanese term, Wikipedia says this: Richard R. Powell summarizes by saying “It (wabi-sabi) nurtures all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect.”….. Fading autumn leaves would be …

Losing the Life One Wants to Live

When the urgent takes precedence over the important in our lives, we lose ourselves in the process. The pace of our lives can stop us from being who we know we are, who we really want to be. I was listening to a discussion the other day regarding a study outlined by Malcolm Gladwell in …

Da Nile Ain’t Just a River In Egypt

My brain was successfully escaping the fact that it is mid-fall. I’ve been in denial, pleasantly so. That hasn’t been hard to pull off, actually. The beautiful weather would have us all believe it is still summer. I see the warm sun streaming down the window, see clients come in to session with tank tops …

A Thought

Run your fingers through my soul. For once, just once, feel exactly what I feel, believe what I believe, perceive as I perceive, look, experience, examine, and for once; just once, understand

A Tribute–To Those Who Raise Us Up

sitellite/util/snippets (code=fae023ace7d9033f688a99ee4c38f0c5) To those who raise us up so we can stand on mountains: The mom who wears the handmade beaded jewelry from Mother’s Day all year long The teacher who tells the kid in the back of the room who has long ago learned that she “doesn’t have the stuff” that he thinks the …

Expectations after Failure

The implications of “knowing” what to expect after a mistake ripple. All this blogging about mistakes reminded me of an incident that occured some time ago. I realize that most of life isn’t this obvious, and that the back and forth of relationships produce much more subtle exchanges, but it will allow me to illustrate …

In Celebration of Errors

Adversity, setbacks, and even trauma may actually be necessary for people to be successful and fulfilled. Psychology Today June 2009 p. 67   I had a rare quiet lunch at home today and enjoyed some leisurely reading…and I found myself drawn to finish an article in Psychology Today that I had started months ago but …

When Mistakes Strengthen

The handling a mistake is often more remembered than the mistake itself. It was a beautiful day yesterday morning…and my first class of the year at University. I’ve taught this class before, but it was still hard to “get into it” when finally the weather seemed summery. I rode my bike to school to enjoy …