Self-esteem and what makes life worth living.

“Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit.” ~ E. E. Cummings Self-esteem is obviously important because it helps prevent you from eating sh**. Even when packaged in a sweet, candy-covered shell. Self-esteem is important because as Chuck Reid remarked, “In theory, there is no difference between…

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Because I had a friend.

“I’m a success today because I had a friend who believed in me and I didn’t have the heart to let him down.” ~ Abraham Lincoln What a remarkable admission. Whether you believe him or not, whether you want to rattle off the dozen character traits, innate or otherwise, you consider responsible for Lincoln’s success – consider that a distraction…

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Wounds.

  “What do sad people have in common? It seems they have all built a shrine to the past and often go there and do a strange wail and worship. What is the beginning of happiness? It is to stop being so religious like that.” ~ Hafiz ‘It is to stop being so religious like…

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Let’s Hear It For The Boy.

“Within the masculine psyche, there is a creature, an unwounded man, who believes  in the good, who has no doubts about life, who is not only wise but who also is not afraid to die.” Clarissa Pinkola-Estes, Women Who Run With The Wolves Ahhh Alan Garner (Zach Galifianakas’ character in The Hangover, above) … Just kidding. Or…

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Being Normal: Overrated and Arguably Impossible.

“The need to be normal is the predominant anxiety disorder in modern life.” ~ Thomas Moore Disengage from the dominant tendency. Just disengage. We could say, ‘there is no normal’; and for sure that is to a large extent true, and the great majority of what I want to say here. On the other hand, abstractions…

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Forgiving and Forgetting: Part Two

“Find exemplary examples.” ~ Catherine Collautt, Ph.D. My last post, Forgiving and Forgetting: Part One, you may have found to be, ‘a hard one’ – simply by virtue of the fact that it was on forgiveness. Forgiveness is hard because of the level it asks us to engage with life on; one we often spend…

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Forgiving and Forgetting: Part One

  “The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naïve forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.” ~ Thomas Szasz There is definitely something important and insightful in Szasz’s statement, but I want to amend it to say: The stupid neither forgive nor forget;the naïve forgive and forget;the wise forgive and – learn.…

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Do We Really Need Do-Overs Or What?

“We were built to negotiate and champion life by evolving, re-crafting, and transforming – not, by hitting the reset button.” ~ Catherine Collautt, Ph.D., On Having One Life. Or What’s True About Reincarnation. So often I have found that as we change – which we inevitably do in the course of this thing called Life…

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A Case, And Some Space, For Introversion

“Telling an introvert to go to a party is like telling a saint to go to Hell.” ~ Criss Jami Ah the guilt, and sometimes shame, we feel as introverts … Why? Because we get replenished by being in our own space and our own energy instead of that of the group (as extroverts do)? Why does…

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