Quiet Help From A Friend

March 24th, 2017
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Shhhh

Life sometimes reminds me of a science experiment.

Some days it’s a spontaneous experiment gone bad and then other days it can turn out to be an explosion of joy, as in a science experiment gone fabulous.

The science I am reminded of today has to do with the classic law of physics that we all learned in school and that is: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Conversations can sometimes fall into this law of physics, many of them revolving around that push-pull, turning into equal and opposite reactions of a dynamic conversation or they … Read More

A Listening Binge

February 12th, 2014
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For the past several weeks, I have been on a listening binge and it feels healing. There are a number of family members and friends who are going through various kinds of difficult personal situations and, in trying to be helpful, I have been listening to what they tell me they want to talk about, in particular what it feels like to be in their crisis, what they really wish they could do to solve it and how frustrating it is to have the situation go on and on. Listening may seem as though it is a passive activity but… Read More

Can You Hear Me Now?

October 29th, 2013
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It’s one thing to forget to turn your cell phone off and then have it ring while you are in church, in a job interview, at a funeral or in a theater, but it takes some major manipulation of a person’s ego to actually answer it while they are in those places. Right? Someone I didn’t know sat next to me during a play and her cell phone started ringing.  I immediately looked at her and she started searching her purse to find the phone.  I assumed that once she found it, she would just turn it off.  Wrong!! She… Read More

Pushing Those Emotional Buttons

September 30th, 2013
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I have three sisters and two brothers who are younger than me.  Yes, I am the oldest of six children and we are very close in age.  Growing up and living with such a cast of loved ones has made, and continues to make for many great stories and many great memories. I would say I talk to at least one of my sisters every day and sometimes I talk to all three of them during the coarse of one day.  That’s a lot of yakking, right?  Not really because we also email and text each other. In our own… Read More

Your Personal Path

May 30th, 2013
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Unlike many things in life, there is no right or wrong way to grieve. There’s really just your way. Whether it’s through talking, crying, or slowly processing your feelings privately, grief must be acknowledged.  If you try to suppress your grief feelings, they will only come back later on and sometimes they come back in unhealthy ways. Even though others will probably try to suggest that you should do certain things at certain points in your grief process, it really and truly is up to you and what you feel comfortable doing.  There is no schedule. Some people bury their… Read More

Male & Female Grief Talk

February 22nd, 2013
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As a woman, I have had many conversations with men about all different kinds of subjects.  After years of experience I can tell you that if you are not talking to men about sports, sex, food or them that after a certain amount of time, their eyes will start to glaze over and their ears will tune you out. Most women instinctively know that they like to talk a lot more than men do.  I know that I really enjoy verbally taking a situation apart and talking about it and then verbally trying to put it back together again in… Read More

Healing Therapy

February 1st, 2013
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Drawing By NYC Multiple Medium Artist Joe Mangrum One of my sisters has a shoulder that is frozen and she is going to a physical therapist who helps her work through the incredibly stiff shoulder muscles and joint.  If the physical therapy doesn’t work, then she may have to have surgery and she really doesn’t want that to happen. The other day we were talking about her physical therapy and she was telling me about how the therapist told her that to really get the exercises to unlock the muscles and joint that she would need to take the current… Read More

Sometimes A Decision Is Made For You

November 8th, 2012
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Maybe it’s a bit of an election “hangover” or perhaps a reflection of my personal life, but lately it seems as though I have been on a decision-making bender of sorts. Has this ever happened to you?  I’m not sure if it’s true for you or not, but when it’s happening to me it feels as though I am going from one decision to the next with no breaks.  These decisions vary in importance — from stuff around the house to personal issues — but still they seem to keep coming at me with no end in sight. Just when… Read More

Grounded To The Ground

October 9th, 2012
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Staying Grounded Have you seen that television commercial where the couple is test driving a new car in the desert and then later someone off camera asks them why they liked it? The man says something about wheel rims on the tires and the way the car felt when he was driving it and then the woman says more good stuff about the car and ends the commercial by saying it felt “grounded to the ground.”  The guy off camera can’t believe she has expressed herself this way and he repeats “grounded to the ground” as though it were a… Read More