Life as Teacher

I am writing this at 35,000 feet. It’s dark out the window portal, not that I could tell where I am anyway. One farm blends into another. I imagine I am somewhere between Indiana and Iowa, as I cross the country to visit my son in boarding school. Two days of travel...

New You, Becoming a Better You

New Year, New You. I hate that phrase. Because I hate that idea. Makes it sound like something is wrong with me. Like I need some kind of “new me.” Screw that. I want to have – and appreciate – the old me. The one that climbed out of a difficult childhood and a more...

Go For It

A common dynamic I often experience in working with patients is the resistance to emotionally outgrow one’s parents. A patient often feels guilt and shame in reaching new psychological heights and thus, abandoning his or her parents by leaving them behind in their own...

If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Another

“If it’s not one thing, it’s another.” Sounds so cynical. But it’s true. Life is not meant to be problem-free. Somehow, we indoctrinated this idea that by solving all our problems, or even solving the one problem that we are focused on in this moment, then we will be...