“Everything Is Going To Be Fine” In Part 1 of this series, I spoke to my once-in-a-great-while craving for a cigarette, and how my therapist helped me understand that smoking is simply another form of breath work. As in, our body wants and needs breath to help our functioning. But, is inhaling a nicotine cigarette…
Brave Space
MENtal Health Month Series, Part 3
Respective Demons The six of us men walk from the lobby down an unremarkable hall with offices on each side. We pass a small kitchenette/break area, then turn right to enter the meeting room. It’s your standard corner boardroom: long rectangular table surrounded by wheeled swivel chairs, a white board at the rear wall, an…
Good Vibrations?
MENtal Health Month Series, Part 2
Sound Medicine My godmother aunt was in town recently for her 80th birthday, and so we spent a morning visiting rock and crystal shops. That’s the kind of places we visit together—places where aspiring healers go to get their supplies. I usually buy copal and charcoal or palo santo. She loves the rocks and crystals.…
Invisible Cigarettes
MENtal Health Month Series, Part 1
Smoking Kills? I come from a long line of drinkers and smokers, not to mention potty mouths. What can I say, the old habits get passed down over the generations. I’m not so much into the drink as I once was, say, back in college. I’ll spare those details. I still swear quite a bit,…
April Affirmations, Part 5
Connection For Spring
Words To Inspire, Words To Soothe Somewhere between prayer and manifestation are affirmations, an often overlooked method to help right a wayward mind. Affirmations exist at the intersection between the logical and spiritual because they are typically attainable and real, yet they are filled with hope, aspiration, and a fair amount of surrender and mystery.…
April Affirmations, Part 4
Strength for Spring
Words To Inspire, Words To Soothe Somewhere between prayer and manifestation are affirmations, an often overlooked method to help right a wayward mind. Affirmations exist at the intersection between the logical and spiritual because they are typically attainable and real, yet they are filled with hope, aspiration, and a fair amount of surrender and mystery.…
April Affirmations, Part 3
Support for Spring
Words To Inspire, Words To Soothe Somewhere between prayer and manifestation are affirmations, an often overlooked method to help right a wayward mind. Affirmations exist at the intersection between the logical and spiritual because they are typically attainable and real, yet they are filled with hope, aspiration, and a fair amount of surrender and mystery.…
April Affirmations, Part 2
Faith for Spring
Words To Inspire, Words To Soothe Somewhere between prayer and manifestation are affirmations, an often overlooked method to help right a wayward mind. Affirmations exist at the intersection between the logical and spiritual because they are typically attainable and real, yet they are filled with hope, aspiration, and a fair amount of surrender and mystery.…
April Affirmations, Part 1
Hope For Spring
Words To Inspire, Words To Soothe Somewhere between prayer and manifestation are affirmations, an often overlooked method to help right a wayward mind. Affirmations exist at the intersection of the logical and spiritual because they typically attainable and real, yet they are filled with hope, aspiration, and a fair amount of surrender and mystery. Unlike…
The Pressure of Pressure
High Heat
Cooked Under Pressure One of my favorite holiday gifts was the Instant Pot. It’s a modern day pressure cooker, and it makes food prep a dream. What used to take hours to simmer on a stove top or in a slow cooker, now takes less than two. Pressure builds for about 30 minutes, then the…
Talk Tracks
Over Thinkers Anonymous
An Old Classic I’m guilty. I’m guilty of thinking too much. I get caught in my head and I stay there and then all the troubles start. I replay these “talk tracks” in my head like songs from my Favorites playlist in Spotify. It’s called rumination, and it makes my life miserable sometimes. So, what…
Sit With It
Healing In Real Time
I Will Sit With Me And Heal “Sit with it. Sit with it. Sit with it. Sit with it. Even though you want to run. Even when it’s heavy and difficult. Even though you’re not quite sure of the way through. Healing happens by feeling.” -Dr. Rebecca Ray This week, I am sitting with it.…
Playing Dead
A Bear In The Garden
The Threat Off My Chest The backdrop of this particular dream fragment was akin to a sprawling tiled garden with low white walls and Mexican tiles. Flower pots stood sentry throughout on tiered brick walkways and patios. A large white, pristine building behind this tranquil scene was reminiscent of a hotel or multi-family dwelling. It…
Was It Worth It?
How Will We Change The World?
Was It Worth It? Short answer: Yes. All of it was worth it. Every moment. That’s what I’m trying to remind myself every day. In a culture where we put a value on every experience, everything we consume, everything we see or do, we are constantly asking ourselves: Was it worth it? The reality is…
Dad vs. The Machine
Wonder Lost?
The Device Provides At a motel swimming pool in Albuquerque, summer 1980-something, my sister and I dove for pennies. Later, when we were bored with that, we searched for floating ice cubes. These were the games our father invented while sunbathing on the pool deck. He wasn’t much of swimmer, though he did enjoy tanning…
Promoted
A Moment Of Clarity
CEO of Me This column was going to be a recap of a job interview process gone awry. A mini-treatise about the pitfalls of pursuing upward mobility in Corporate America in which I was going to whine. But why? Why waste your time, and mine? Instead, I’m going to talk about the promotion I just…