Sacred Disorder | Cliff Bostock's blog – 'Finally, I came to regard as sacred the disorder of my mind' (Rimbaud)
Broken-hearted, lost in a labyrinth, encountering angels
PSYCHOLOGICAL LIFE begins in the imagination. That’s one reason I have a sign in my office, dangling from the mantel, that asks clients if they have a dream to share or if something unusual happened since their last session. The latter — odd, sometimes surreal experiences — often communicate at great depth what is going […]
The Frantic Muse: Write a book in 30 days
A group of us are undertaking the rather scary project of writing (the rough draft of) a book in 30 days. The experiment’s “text book” is a PDF file that offers instruction for a novel in particular. But I think it’s pretty applicable to nonfiction too. We have a couple of spaces left. This is […]
CL cuts back ‘Grazing’ after 20+ years
I received bad news from Creative Loafing today. The new editor has decided to discontinue my “Grazing” column, which I’ve written over 20 years. The reason was financial, according to dining editor Besha Rodell, who was given the task of informing me. I may be writing a monthly version and will likely continue posting on […]
Charlie Sheen: cracking up with America
As I’ve explained many times, I don’t watch TV, so the Charlie Sheen brouhaha didn’t enter my awareness until a few days ago when I came across the above video. Then I Googled and found a zillion articles and video clips in which every mental health professional on the planet, like Dr. Drew, proffers an […]
When therapy is all about the money
Is talk therapy going silent? Not entirely, but the Saturday edition of the New York Times featured an article entitled “Talk Doesn’t Pay, So Psychiatry Turns Instead to Drug Therapy.” This is very old news to anyone in the mental health field — as a patient or practitioner. But it’s good to see that The […]
Is compassion a lost virtue?
There is a new, wonderful video by Krista Tippett for TED. She is host of the NPR show “On Being.” I especially like the way she compares tolerance and compassion. Many people inappropriately conflate the two. Followers of James Hillman’s work will be interested to hear that Krista associates compassion with beauty and notes that […]
Eat, eat, chew, chew, swallow
Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life from Harvard SPH on Vimeo. (UPDATED BELOW) If you have any contact with psychotherapy these days, you’ve heard about mindfulness training. Adapted from Buddhist psychology, it’s a method of staying fully conscious in the present moment. My own decision to study psychology for an MA and PhD was very much […]
Sleep, dreams and creativity
The New York Times has been publishing a blog, “All-Nighters,” which it describes as “an exploration of insomnia, sleep and the nocturnal life.” It’s of personal interest to me since I’ve suffered insomnia ever since my mother’s death four years ago. I found the March 19 entry, “Why We Need to Dream” by Jonah Lehrer, […]
Another birthday
Tuesday, June 16, is my birthday. It’s also Bloomsday, Dublin’s annual celebration of writer James Joyce and his world-changing novel, Ulysses, published in 1922. Bloomsday is named after Leopold Bloom, the protagonist of Ulysses, which describes a single day in his life, June 16, 1904. I’ve always enjoyed the coincidence of being born on the […]
A blast of synchronicity, courtesy of Shambhala
Okay, I need to let everyone know that I’m awaking to full enlightenment by 10 p.m. Sunday. This means that after tonight you cannot reasonably question anything I have to say. Of course, it also means that even if you do question me, I’ll respond with such equanimity that you’ll gladly believe the sky is […]