michael

This concept has been bouncing around in my head for a number of years, with no memory where it came from.  I believe it was from some writer with a philosophical frame of reference.  However, over the last year, it has emerged as a guiding metaphor, initially in conversations with clients about the mystical nature […]

From a few Story-Tellers with ancient roots that I’ve experienced (and emulated), I’ve heard the following type of preface: “I carry this story within me, resting next to my heart.  And now it asks me to share it with you, that it may rise within me into my mouth, and my tongue will give it

This is a difficult time for so many right now.  Many don’t know what to believe, who to trust.  Many don’t know what to do.  Many don’t know what to do to survive, to feed and care for their family, their future, their well-being, their mental health.  Those of us in the mental health community

Part Two in a series on Countering Aggression Lying as Aggression My working definition here of lying is A conscious corruption of reality by the spoken word – and therefore, is an aggressive act, even if accidental, and even if the intention is unconscious.  The Mirror Last month, I wrote about using the power of

Part One in a series on Countering Aggression Backstory Many years ago, when my children were “just kids,” I wandered into our living room where they were watching Saturday Morning Cartoons.  I decided to sit and watch since it wasn’t a regular part of my being-at-home regimen.  Here’s what I saw: In the front was

I receive a weekly online publication, Maria Popova’s The Marginalian (founded in 2006) In Praise of the Telescopic Perspective:A Reflection on Living Through Turbulent Times.https://www.themarginalian.org/2017/12/21/reflection/    In 1977, NASA’s Voyager 1 Spacecraft, was launched to photograph the planets of our outer solar system.  On board was also that Golden Record – a time-capsule of the

I need to share that in writing under this title, that I am not just honoring the wisdom of the seasons of Nature. I want to honor the experience of many of my clients, as well as within my own many years of life experience. Darkness I write this at the time of mid-winter –

It’s been a week now of frantic post-mortems, almost ad nauseam. Many more than Baskin Robbins teasing a diabetic with its multiverse of flavors. I would read them when I should have been getting some sleep. I needed to make some sense of some outcomes that weren’t to my liking.  I wanted some guidance on

Some Background and Considerations [This is a minor re-write of an article I originally wrote 18 years ago. Very little of my mind has changed over the intervening years, so I present this as an accurate representation of my current thinking.]  Many people have become accustomed to having their medical insurance cover mental health problems as well.