Transfer and Get the Best Destination April 15, 2012

Having travelled on public transportation, sometimes I’ve needed a transfer to get to my destination. Having a tendency to be indecisive in parts of my life, I usually know where I plan to go while traveling. If the bus only goes to here, and I want to go there, I’m going to have to transfer [...]

Holding a pose March 31, 2012

Sometimes when Mark takes my photo, or he is photographing someone else, the idea of holding a pose comes up. Keep smiling, tilt the head this way or that, turn to the side. The idea is to look good or capture some mood. In yoga, we also hold poses. The idea is to get into [...]

The Leaning Tower of (insert your name here) January 29, 2012

There are so many ways to understand one’s self… understanding how your family of origin affected you, the order of your birth compared to your siblings, personality tests, astrology, the era you were born in, genetics. What these things ultimately tell us are our tendencies. Which way are we likely to lean, which path are [...]

Do NOT join the Resistance! January 17, 2012

I’d like to think if I’d been born in the right place and time, I would have been part of the French Resistance. These comrades fought against the Nazi German occupation of France to help Allied forces and people in need. Partially because of this idea of resistance, I’ve often thought of resistance as a [...]

Intimacy January 16, 2012

One of the earliest ideas I learned in graduate school was that people want to love and be loved and feel worthwhile to self and others. It’s a simple idea that has stayed with me over the years. For me, TO LOVE means to learn who am I, to love and respect myself, and to [...]

Eating Sugar January 7, 2012

I once went to the emergency room for sugar and chocolate consumption. Mom sent my favorite Hershey’s fudge to me at Purdue. I loved that fudge – its firm sugary goodness… so addictive the way the granules melted in a chocolate sugar blob on my tongue. Well, this experience was one I did NOT want [...]

Happy trails to change! January 4, 2012

As I’ve been thinking of making changes in my own life, I’ve observed two tendencies in myself. First, when I achieve small goals I often minimize them and don’t feel much accomplishment. Second, when I don’t accomplish bigger goals I criticize myself and use the situation as proof that I can’t manifest change in my [...]

Priorities December 31, 2011

An over-achiever, I started my New Year’s resolutions early today by meditating, eating a healthy breakfast, taking a hike at Kanawha Forest, swinging on the swings, and doing a cardio workout at the Y. Will I keep it up? The answer will likely depend on what I value, what I make a priority. Often, I [...]

Allowing December 23, 2011

Several years ago, while undertaking spiritual direction with Catholic sisters, I learned of lectio divina – a divine reading of the Word… http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lectio_Divina As opposed to the ‘Let’s hurry up and read the entire Bible in a certain time frame,” lectio divina involves picking a story or passage and reading it aloud – often three [...]

An Outlaw’s Guide to In-laws: Holiday edition November 21, 2011

It’s that time of year again. If my therapy office is ever quiet, it isn’t during the holiday season. It seems that normal stresses get magnified during the period after Halloween until New Year’s and sometimes lasting through Valentine’s or Mother’s Day! Yikes: that’s a lot of time lost to stress and dis-stress!! It seemed [...]