michael

Even from my youth, that forceful solo Bass air from the midst of G F Handel’s Messiah is seared into the musical memory chambers of my brain, including the frantic energy of the orchestra with its stirring lead-in. Yet it has never made its way to become one of the memes of the Holiday season – as […]

Let me begin with an illustration. Let’s say I ask a particular person (person A) this question: “How are you feeling today?” And he answers, “I’m feeling depressed.” That’s a level one question – a data-level question, and he gives me a data-level answer – “depressed.” Now I ask him a second, meta-level or meaning-level

The other day, I pulled from my living room bookshelf a small volume I’d long forgotten – a small paperback with a blue cover by the American poet, William Stafford, with the title “You Must Revise Your Life.”[1] I don’t remember when or why I purchased it, perhaps Robert Bly had mentioned it. And strange

Apologia: Truth be told, I don’t write about Burning Man from having direct experience. I’ve had clients who were “burners”, and have observed from a distance this annual ritual (according to a BM ad) “emphasizing art, self-expression and self-reliance.” Now, I must admit my real interest in Burning Man is that my son Michael has

Some (many) years ago, when I was in training for the work I do today, a guest trainer named Richard Bandler (of NLP fame) was working with my group of ‘therapists-in-training.’  And I vividly recall him telling us the following story: Richard had met a man who came to him for therapy – with the question

I recall a few years ago enjoying a cartoon in which a car was sitting at the bottom of a pond, from which emerged a GPS voice, “Recalculating.” A few years ago a client approached me with an unusual ‘problem’. A young woman had made it known to him she had new DNA information he

Mark Twain 1835-1910, a great favorite of my father, once said, “You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.” And in the words of a great favorite of my own, Carl Jung 1875-1961, “Wholeness is not achieved by cutting off a portion of one’s being. but by an integration of

I’ll tell a client “This doesn’t mean your heritage or destiny is determined by your family of origin – but, if/when the ‘demons start dancing’, at least I know who they are and what are their names[1] It’s been 40 years or so I’ve been drawing out genograms or ‘family trees’ on some clients. Initially

The other day, I pulled from my living room bookshelf a small volume I’d long forgotten – a small paperback with a blue cover by the American poet, William Stafford, with the title “You Must Revise Your Life.”[1] I don’t remember when or why I purchased it, perhaps Robert Bly had mentioned it. And strange

Let’s imagine we’re in a classroom somewhere, perhaps in an institution of “higher learning” – and a teacher (say, a professor) was lecturing on a particular topic. Then, at one point, he or she would pause, then say to the class “Now let’s suppose I’m wrong. Please respond to me. Let’s talk.”[1] If this hadn’t