“post-election”

How odd to come back to something I haven’t done since right before the 2016 election when I posted the beautiful Mary Oliver poem, “Wild Geese.” (Mary Oliver has since died, in January of this year.) Since my last post, there have been numerous times in sessions where I have used the phrases “post-election” and […]

meanwhile

How often it is that I like to be reminded of this poem by Mary Oliver, especially now. “Wild Geese” You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body […]

“we write our own daring endings”

Want to watch a two minute video which might be inspiring? It also gets to the heart of what Brené Brown’s latest book, Rising Strong, is all about—choosing realness, courage, vulnerability, and getting back up after falling. (If only there were more trailers for books…)

Narrative Therapy

A lot of people are curious what “narrative therapy” is and what it might be like to work with a narrative therapist. Below are five aspects of the narrative worldview that are extremely valuable to my practice with clients. People are not the problem. Problems are problems. Therefore separate people from problems. In our day-to-day lives, […]

let’s bring back that gem from the 90’s

we are now just over one week into this new year. for different people that means different things including still being in that process of wanting to bring something fresh into your life, starting a new habit or initiative, or feeling guilty about not keeping one up, etc. i’m going to out myself with my new […]

pema chodron on “this lousy world”

Failure: Debbie Downer or Opportunity for Growth?

How do we make sense of a major disappointment or something that goes terribly wrong? Do we let it poison our motivation and give up? Or do we see it as a opportunity for growth? In the New York Times Book Review article “Epic Fail,” Scott Sandage reviews two books that address this question: “How do we learn to stop worrying and […]

The Secret to Desire in a Long-term Relationship

Esther Perel’s intriguing 19 minute TED talk about desire, radiance, eroticism, and the poetics of sex in long-term relationships. In it, she talks about the commonalities of when people are most drawn to their partner and what comes from people answering the following prompts: “I shut myself off when…” “I turn off my desires when…” […]

exposing the “little haters” and their traps

“Little haters” seem to exist all around, so it makes sense they’d also be heard in our minds. The host of WBAI‘s “Underground Railroad,” Jay Smooth, made these two great 3-4 minute videos about those “little haters.” Check them out.

a beautiful story of love and partnership

laurie anderson wrote this beautiful piece in rolling stone about her 21-year relationship to lou reed, who recently passed. a tale and love story of two musicians whose lives and art have deeply inspired me.