fifteen really short stories that have crossed my path in fifteen years of counselling: depressed, manic. manic, depressed. depressed, manic. marry you? you gotta be kidding. have anxiety, will not travel. help! too thin. better eat. that’s hard. “can’t think straight.” “relax.” “oh, wow!” booze, cocaine and
Month: January 2007
free lunch!
well, almost free. if you submit a comment in the next week or so, you may win a free lunch. you see, i love statistics. i love to see numbers grow and change and make a potpourri of interesting patterns. and if you contribute to this obsession, you may get a free lunch.
carnival of healing #68
how do you heal the emotional aftermath of cancer treatment? how do we deal with the ups and downs of our personal journeys? what does external clutter tell us about the chaos in our minds? these are just a few of the questions posed in this week’s edition of the carnival of healing, a readers… Continue reading carnival of healing #68
our bodies, our environment
thanks to changeeverything, i feel inspired to bring my environmental consciousness a little more up to date. i dug around in the environmental column i used to write for the the review, a small vancouver newspaper, from about 1988-1991 and found an article that seems just as fresh today as in april of 1990. (it… Continue reading our bodies, our environment
the ashley treatment: what we need is compassion and humility
should ashley, who may never develop mentally beyond a 3-month-old, grow up physically to be a woman, fully capable of bearing children? you know what, i really don’t know. i can’t even begin to imagine what it’s like to be ashley or her parents. for the parents – is it like living
the stigma of mental illness
i have lived on the bipolar continuum at least since my early 20s, though it didn’t dawn on me until quite a bit later. when it finally dawned on me, my first reaction was to laugh at myself: why wouldn’t i be living with a mood disorder, seeing that many of my relatives had struggled… Continue reading the stigma of mental illness
obesity virus
this is a repeat from my old blog from last year, with an update. this article showed up in medicalnews: Can You Catch Obesity? Apparently You Can, Say Researchers 30 Jan 2006. Written by Christian Norquist In the past, all we had to worry about was our ability, or inability, to resist fattening foods. According… Continue reading obesity virus
15 words of wisdom
15 words of wisdom i’ve picked up over the last year or so: we grow in a climate of love, not a climate of judgment. that’s why we need to make sure we don’t judge ourselves and others. it takes a village to raise a child, and it takes a village to heal from our… Continue reading 15 words of wisdom
the therapist as a person – pt 4
this is a long overdue continuation from a post in march, about the therapist as a person. here is another vignette, or really almost a caricature, of the kind of role that a therapist can fall into – with all the positive and not-so-positive consequences. The Irreproachable Professional What she does: Is very mindful to… Continue reading the therapist as a person – pt 4
using your negative voice
in a recent post about journaling for healing, louise de salvo recommended not to use journaling in order to complain. in principle, i would agree but i think there is some value in kvetching, as long as it’s done consciously and it’s not the only thing that finds its way into your journal. i think… Continue reading using your negative voice