why people don’t talk about “mental illness”

this is a guest post by one of my twitter friends, the barking unicorn. “the only normal people are the ones you don’t know very well,” said alfred adler, a colleague of sigmund freud. “most people live in a myth and grow violently angry if anyone dares to tell them the truth about themselves,” said… Continue reading why people don’t talk about “mental illness”

stigmatization through silence

you don’t have to spend a lot of time leafing through therese borchard’s beyond blue: surviving depression and anxiety and making the most of bad genes to find some mention of suicide. here, for example i understand why people who haven’t experienced severe depression believe that a mother who commits suicide is extremely selfish and totally… Continue reading stigmatization through silence

oh geez, the olympics

here is something a friend of mine wrote. i’m reprinting it because, well, i’m not a big fan of the olympics here. (yet? maybe i’ll change my mind? there’s a few days yet to go …) right now the city is in the midst of preparations, and deep collective angst, for the games that will… Continue reading oh geez, the olympics

suicide and … what? do words make sense here?

i’m sitting here checking my email after a lovely weekend away. my daughter is doing the dishes to hedley’s “for the nights i can’t remember”. my husband is exercising on the Wii. and i just opened an email from an artists’ email list i belong to. norm tucker, a fellow vancouver artist and writer, committed… Continue reading suicide and … what? do words make sense here?

i have a dream – about mental health

therese borchard, who wrote the fabulous book beyond blue, has a dream about mental health.  i think dr. martin luther king would be totally okay with her being inspired by his famous words. i have a dream that one day i won’t hold my breath every time i tell a person that i suffer from… Continue reading i have a dream – about mental health

understanding meaning

recently, i have had numerous little conversation bits on twitter about meaning and meaning making. rather than expound on my ideas here, i’d like to invite you to reflect on the questions below and/or the words of others who have thought about the topic. maybe you’ll come up with your own questions. maybe we can… Continue reading understanding meaning

buddhist carnival, the first in 2010

it’s january 15, and time to serve up this month’s buddhist carnival, a selection of posts from the buddhasphere.  here is this month’s poem: a first kensho when things abruptly shift like part of the body misaligned by a sharp move when the house goes, or the he or she, any room at once gets… Continue reading buddhist carnival, the first in 2010