mental-health
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Pollyanna, Radical Feminist
Find joy in everything you choose to do. Every job, relationship, home… it’s your responsibility to love it, or change it. Chuck Palahniuk I have secret pleasure. I adore 1950s and 1960s live-action Disney movies. I suspect that much of that has to do with my childhood. I have very powerful memories of piling into… Continue reading
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Entirely Ready
I have to be composed; I have to be poised. I have to remember what my first piano teacher told me: ‘You do not touch that piano until you are ready and until they are ready to listen to you. Nina Simone It has been a few months since I wrote A Fearless and Moral… Continue reading
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The Art of No
Letting go helps us to to live in a more peaceful state of mind and helps restore our balance. It allows others to be responsible for themselves and for us to take our hands off situations that do not belong to us. This frees us from unnecessary stress. Melody Beattie In 1964, as an 8th… Continue reading
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Teenage Crash and Burn
When I was a teenager, I was an ultra late bloomer, and my mom would say it was a blessing because it means you never have to wonder if guys are only interested in you because you’ve got boobs. Anna Kendrick I recently came upon the following: A survey conducted by the Survey Center on… Continue reading
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By the Light of the Stars
It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves. William Shakespeare I’ve been far too serious lately and it’s time to lighten up. I can only write about the sad state of my country and technical gobbledygook for so long before I need to balance it with something ridiculous. Several years… Continue reading
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Visualizing Success
Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other. Abraham Lincoln I was recently in a conversation with a friend who spoke of his struggles at work. He questioned his effectiveness and whether or not he was making a positive difference with his clients and coworkers. After listening… Continue reading
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Lifelong Learning (It’s a Family Affair)
Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. Mahatma Gandhi Like all people married as long as Linda and I have been (43 years and counting), our relationship needs the occasional tune-up to keep things moving in the right direction. This can take on many forms, but… Continue reading
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The Joy of Just Enough
Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough. Emily Dickenson It used to be that if you asked me what I wanted I would have said “everything.” It didn’t matter if I earned the right to make such a statement. I wanted what I wanted and I expected everyone to understand… Continue reading
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Emotional Tattoos
In Hinduism, Shiva is a deity who represents transformation. Through destruction and restoration, Shiva reminds us that endings are beginnings, and that our world is constantly undergoing a cycle of birth, death and rebirth. Karen Salmansohn Not too long ago I heard an interview with the director of the 2013 movie The Place Beyond the… Continue reading
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Believe Him
Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamedlet it be that great strong land of lovewhere never kings connive nor tyrants schemethat any man be crushed by one above Langston Hughes Tomorrow is voting day here in The United States and I am still trying to make sense of the Trump voter. How is it… Continue reading
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Everyone Needs Someone to Bark With
Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down. Oprah Winfrey I have made a lot of mistakes over the years, but the biggest may have been to not build and foster long term friendships.… Continue reading
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A To-Do List for a Better Life
We don’t need a list of rights and wrongs, tables of dos and don’ts: we need books, time, and silence. “Thou shalt not” is soon forgotten, but “Once upon a time” lasts forever. Phillip Pullman A much younger me believed I was in control of my fate. I lived life with the notion that whatever I was and wherever… Continue reading
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Three Vignettes
I can barely conceive of a type of beauty in which there is no Melancholy. Charles Baudelaire Foster’s Creek Few mourned when Clarence Findley died. He did not live a life that endeared him to many people. Clarence Findley was a hard drinking, mean spirited cuss of a man, and you could count on one… Continue reading
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The Time for Prayer Has Passed
The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people. Martin Luther King Jr. Once more my news feed is filled with stories about another school shooting. Four people were killed, nine were injured, and the perpetrator appears to be 14-year-old boy with… Continue reading
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Richard Alexander Prokop
Death ends a life, not a relationship. Mitch Albom August 28, 2024 marks the eight-year anniversary of my brother Richard’s unexpected and not so unexpected death. I say “not so unexpected” since Richard had been neglecting his health for a long time. He was the type who either ignored a problem or minimized its significance. … Continue reading
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A Searching and Fearless Moral Inventory For The Masses
This is love: to fly toward a secret sky, to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment. First to let go of life. Finally, to take a step without feet. Rumi The original 12-Step program was developed in the 1930s as a way for alcoholics to stay sober. The steps begin by recognizing an… Continue reading
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The Stranger
I had crossed the line. I was free; but there was no one to welcome me to the land of freedom. I was a stranger in a strange land. Harriet Tubman July 8th was the 9th anniversary of my father’s death. He died at a memory care facility in Scottsdale, Arizona. I was at a… Continue reading
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Walk it Like You Stole It — The 2024 Tofte Trek
The climb might be tough and challenging, but the view is worth it. There is a purpose for that pain; you just can’t always see it right away. Victoria Arlen I did my 27th Tofte Trek this morning. The Tofte Trek is a grueling 10k wilderness run that takes you up a mountain, across a… Continue reading
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Where is Your Spot?
When you get to a place where you understand that love and belonging, your worthiness, is a birthright and not something you have to earn, anything is possible. Brene Brown Have you read Carlos Castaneda’s The Teachings of Don Juan? It is the story of the author’s spiritual journey as guided by the Yaqui Indian shaman,… Continue reading
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Cafe Unity
Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back. Those who wish to sing always find a song. At the touch of a lover, everyone becomes a poet. Plato A few weeks ago, I worked up enough courage to read some of my poetry at the 16th annual Unity Unitarian music, prose, and… Continue reading
Can You Hear Me Now 