overcoming alcoholism

stanton peele, north-america’s grand-daddy of progressive (and controversial) views on addiction, has this to say about success with overcoming alcoholism. The most important single prognostic variable associated with remission among alcoholics who attend alcohol clinics is having something to lose if they continue to abuse alcohol…. Patients cited changed life circumstances rather than clinic intervention… Continue reading overcoming alcoholism

the myth of keeping up

in a blog entry, the creating passionate users guys (three software/game developer geeks “passionate about how the brain works and how to exploit it for better learning and memory”) make a good point about the myth of keeping up. it’s really comforting to hear this from leading-edge people in information technology – if they can’t… Continue reading the myth of keeping up

enchantment

To become enchanted is a valuable skill, more essential than it has ever been before. To understand the inner truth of a person who is radically different from you, to penetrate a belief that seems preposterous, to grasp a faith that violates

gratitude

i just stumbled across a sober thought, a blog by dayvud, a recovering alcoholic. it looks like we have a number of interests in common, including buddhist nun and writer pema chodron and the book the spirituality of imperfection (the one by kurtz and ketcham, not the one by richard rohr, another

9/11 – four and a half years later

i just came across an article i tucked away for future use a few years ago. it was written a few days after 9/11 – september 17, 2001, to be precise. in it, one of my favourite authors, psychologist mihaly csikszentmihalyi talks about happiness and harmony post 9/11. csikszentmihalyi specializes in studying creativity, happiness, fulfillment… Continue reading 9/11 – four and a half years later

focusing

through the practice of focusing, we get in touch directly with our “felt sense” – the body’s awareness of all the situations and processes that go on in our lives. it is about notcing inwardly, in the body, all of how it feels. for instance, i’m thinking of the tingling in the soles of the… Continue reading focusing

fractals, chaos and psychotherapy

fractals, like the one here, and one of its associated disciplines, chaos theory, have long fascinated me. according to wikipedia Fractals can be most simply defined as images that can be divided into parts, each of which is similar to the original object. Fractals are said to possess infinite detail. fractals in an of themselves… Continue reading fractals, chaos and psychotherapy

more on sexual identity: asexuality

one of the sexual orientations that seems to often fall between the cracks in the discussion on sexual identity is asexuality. some people have no sexual desire, or no desire to act on it. whether there is something “wrong” with that or not is a matter of controversy. be that as it may, more people… Continue reading more on sexual identity: asexuality