…having crossed into the second month of 2021. What do you think? Are we better off? Do we see positivity on the horizon? Are we feeling better? Healthier? Mentally more stable? Are you at work on any resolutions? I’m just glad that I’m not toggling between CNN Live and MSNBC 24/7. Although I did appreciate […]
Posts in the Mental Health category:
Your Phobia, My Joy
This morning I was reading a piece in The New York Times about three friends embarking on a 7-day kayaking trip in the wilds of Alaska*. On Day 1, within minutes of being dropped off, a whale spouts offshore, close enough for gleeful joy or absolute fear—depending upon your response to large mammals in close […]
Running
I haven’t followed the sport of running in recent years, but this morning’s profile of Eliud Kipchoge in The New York Times caught my eye and I was only too happy to have it interfere with my writing frustrations. Eliud Kipchoge is the greatest marathoner ever. He broke a world record in Berlin this morning. […]
Cancer, the Lesser of Two Evils
I have a friend—a fellow writer—who sold it all, packed up, and moved to a foreign country this year with her nearly blind 90-year-old mother and a little French poodle named Prose. Impressive, right? Alison took it all step-by-step, sharing the ups and downs along the way with her Facebook followers and newsletter subscribers. Mostly “ups” […]
Seasonal Blues: Eventually It All Comes Together
Except when it doesn’t. But hang in there—this isn’t a blog about pain and misery. It’s about life’s surprises. When I was diagnosed with breast cancer in December 2017, I actually wasn’t too freaked out. My first response to my primary care physician, who was delivering the news from the other side of the country, […]
Misfits
Misfits are all around us, sitting next to us on trains, wrapped in sleeping bags on wet sidewalks in doorways of businesses darkened for the night, taking deep cleansing breaths on adjacent yoga mats, directing us in traffic, speaking to us from the fronts of classrooms, handing us change at cash registers, sipping a mug […]
Maslow Meets Fear
Three days ago, I posted about the fear of tap dancing. Well, there was a little more to it than that, but fear and hesitation pretty much sum it up. Received an email newsletter this morning from Holstee, with its editorial written by one of Holstee’s two brother founders. He referenced the psychologist Abraham Maslow […]
The Easy Way Out?
This summer, I’m taking a series of twelve tap dancing classes for adults at our local arts center. It was a last minute decision. I saw an ad in the local newspaper that triggered one my childhood desires. Remember Shirley Temple and Bojangles tap dancing up and down that steep flight of stairs? Shirley’s banana […]
Meditation on One’s Calling
Clearly, for me, May has been a month of false starts and unfinished business, crossroads, and decision-making. Let’s try this blog post again. 🙂 Every Friday morning, I park my vehicle under a large Kwanzan cherry tree in a parking lot a couple blocks away from the Senior Center. With its fragrant double blossoms, it’s […]
Sit With Us App
The Sit With Us app was announced yesterday, creating a subtle but ground-breaking way for lonely teens to connect in lunch rooms without calling attention to themselves. 16-year-old Natalie Hampton designed the Sit With Us smartphone application in response to the feelings that she experienced when she spent her entire 7th grade year eating lunch […]