When a Little Pain is a Big Pain–for real

Sometimes it hurts a lot even when it isn’t a big deal…because even when it doesn’t look like a big deal, it’s a big deal. Confusing? Yep. Let me explain it with a story… so, last week, a junior tribe member got an unexpected lower limb fashion accessory late in the evening: It’s broken. It …

While you can…

I saw the movie The Descendants on New Year’s Eve, on the recommendation of a good friend of mine. She said the cinematography was beautiful (and it was) and George Clooney was in it…that sold me. ☺ Nothing like a movie set in Hawaii on a winter’s afternoon in Winterpeg! It was a fitting movie …

Inevitable Interpersonal Event

I’ve been marking exams this week…exams that first year Professional Master’s Occupational Therapy students have written on how to conduct a clinical interview. I have read about “Inevitable Interpersonal Events”, oh, about 48 times this week. (Let’s just say marking isn’t in my “Top 10” of favorite things to do.) An Inevitable Interpersonal Event is …

Tis the Season to Drink

December is a time of merry-making…and when people make decisions (or don’t make decisions and just “what happens happen”, which is a sort of passive decision) about drinking. If, when, and how much. Drinking…how do you make your decisions about drinking? I was called the other day to do an interview about how to talk …

How vs Why

Answering “why” is hard. The first experience with “why” that I remember sticks powerfully. I was a child…I think I might have been three or four. My brother and I were brushing our teeth at the bathroom sink…and the toothpaste cap slipped out of my fingers and it fell down the bathroom drain. It must …

Relationship Maintenance

Nothings wrong with a tune-up…but do you bother? I took my car in last week to Winnipeg Honda Service Department…it had been on my mind to get the car in before the snow flew. September and October were crazy months of teaching and driving tribe members hither and yon…and so by the time I got …

The Other Side of Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving Monday…the day many gather as families to eat turkey…or maybe lasagna, or a roast. And tomorrow, if it is as it is other years, the phone at our office will ring. Someone will have made 3 or 4 different pies, been too exhausted to enjoy the gathering, and enormously hurt because no …

Groban: A Reminder of Connecting

So, last night I was at the Josh Groban concert!!! And it was great…in many ways. His music is beautiful, the set was gorgeous, it was funny in moments…and it was a huge treat for me…between looking after my junior tribe members and my two jobs, I don’t really get out much. But my brother, …

Can you say this…

…to your life partner, your business partner, your child, your BFF…and mean it? I want to: love you without clutching appreciate you without judging join you without invading invite you without demanding leave you without guilt criticize you without blaming and help you without insulting If I can have the same from you then we …