napowrimo, day 13: trying to write a poem

turquoise alabaster veins run through a bright forest of rocks somewhere in a corner of my imagination. the cat makes cracking noises as she eats her food, the daughter clicks and clickclickclicks the mouse, and somewhere over in a corner of my imagination there sits a little treasure that i want to catch. the phone… Continue reading napowrimo, day 13: trying to write a poem

how to create a heaven on earth

aaaah, book reviews. let’s start with the bad parts: how to achieve a heaven on earth is full of conservative christian overtones, quite a few of the articles have a bit of “chicken soup for the soul” feel, and at times i thought i was dealing with an aborted e-book. but there were clearly good… Continue reading how to create a heaven on earth

divorce: a ballad

he screams at her and she screams back he in this corner, she in the other over there. the children, they run back and forth with “who will fix our toys?” she screams at him and he screams back but only in their heads. their mouths are silent and their eyes don’t meet. the children… Continue reading divorce: a ballad

success in 2009 – part 2

here’s part 2 of my social media friends’ nonmonetary successes in 2009: (the ones with the @ are people’s twitter accounts).   part 1 is here. darren barefoot: i wrote half a book, which, it turns out, is a shocking amount of work. hamish: two of my former clients (and now friends) successfully landed new jobs… Continue reading success in 2009 – part 2

understanding parents

a few semi random musings on parents … through my parents, a lot of challenges came my way. but through them, i also learned how to build the tools to overcome those challenges. for example, creativity was highly encouraged. parents irrevocably shape most of the way we view the world. some of that can be… Continue reading understanding parents

hurry down sunshine – a father’s story of mental illness

hurry down sunshine is the supremely well-told, literally mind-boggling tale of a father, michael greenberg, who suffers through and survives the experience of watching his teenage daughter go through her first extreme manic episode. it is an iridescent story, shimmering with many facets in the hot new york summer that provides the backdrop of this… Continue reading hurry down sunshine – a father’s story of mental illness

walking away from guilt: a conversation, part 2

this is a continuation of my blog post a little while ago on helping a person overcome guilt. clara’s and my exchanges were a conversation, with a thread going through it of questions (on my part) and replies (on carla’s). at the end of our process, i asked clara to tell me which questions were… Continue reading walking away from guilt: a conversation, part 2

letting go of guilt: a conversation

earlier this year, i wrote a few posts on guilt. this turned into a case study with one of my readers where over the course of a few months, we sent emails back and forth. this reader, let’s call her carla, has agreed to publish some of our emails. of course, we’ve changed some of… Continue reading letting go of guilt: a conversation

raising children, raising parents

lin over at telling it like it is has an article on 10 ways to raise children to use drugs. examples: encourage insecurity by telling them to keep secrets from other family members or family secrets from others avoid touching, hugging, and taking time to interact with your children. disregard their physical needs. ignore their… Continue reading raising children, raising parents