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Mental Health

What Lies Underneath Worry

It hasn’t happened recently, but occasionally, I will publish a piece that evokes an: Are you ok? Should I be worried? First of all, yes, you should be worried about me as I am worried about you and the state of the world all day every day. It’s part of having been born Jewish. My (…)

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Saved

You can’t save people who don’t want to be saved. You can pull them out of a bathtub, but you can’t *make* them want to live. To love someone is to let them sit in their own consequences. To risk losing them if they want to be lost.

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Light and Fluffy

I had a serious piece queued up for today about how you can’t save people who don’t want to be saved, but I’m in the mood for something lighter. Things in my world are heavy. Hope takes effort. I’m told this is a symptom of trauma, not depression. Depression displays anhedonia, which is the absence of pleasure (…)

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Why Doing Creative Work Will Save Your Life

Creativity is not in conflict with what is essential to survive. It is vital to survival. Yes, Kyle, I know it’s not bread. It is soul sustenance. In my life, I’ve watched many people I love commit soul suicide in the name of preservation. I’m not convinced it’s worth it. Suffering is inevitable in life. To suffer gratuitously (…)

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The Courage it Takes to Be Happy

Lately, I’ve been mulling over the courage it takes to be happy. Not the Instagram performance “happy.” Truly, sincerely, happy. There is significant research on happiness (Dr. Santo’s lab, The Happiness Research Institute, Dr. Ed’s Stuff, Shawn Anchor who is meh, Google Scholar pieces here, it’s ENDLESS). We know empirically that joy > happiness (one (…)

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Meaningful Text Series: The Dance of Anger by Harriet Lerner

If there is one psychologist whose work has influenced my life more than anyone, it’s Dr. Harriet Lerner. And Dr. Ramani. And Dr. Eger. And Dr. Judith Herman. Ok, there are many. But if you don’t know who Dr. Lerner is, this podcast is a good place to start.​ Dr. Lerner’s book The Dance of Anger (terrible title, wonderful book) quite literally blew (…)

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livin' the dream, photo of family on the beach

Livin the Dream (But Whose Dream Is It?)

Dreaming is a topic we reserve for Kindergarten and elementary school. I move we upgrade this topic to an adult one because we’re making a royal mess of it lately. We’ve confused dreams with escapism and naivety. And we’ve normalized pedestaling the dreams of those who came before us over our own, resulting in outcomes (…)

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What I Would Like For Mother’s Day

About eight years ago I had the privilege of being at a conference that was mostly a waste of time, until the last day when I found myself at a round-table with Patron Saint of Relationship Wisdom,  Dr. Esther Perel.  I couldn’t tell you what  someone like Esther  was doing at this godforsaken conference, but I’m thrilled (…)

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