Recovery. Sobriety. Living Wise.
Are you familiar with the sound of silence? The pain associated with mental anguish in all its forms often feels unspeakable. I’ve come to think of mental health and mental illness as two ends of a continuum on which we all find ourselves. Our place on the continuum may shift throughout the course of our lives, and hopefully, we can become better at nurturing … Continue reading A Sober Thought on Mental Health
Suffering. What’s the Point? I have been thinking lately about suffering and why we suffer. It’s not a new question. It’s one humans have wrestled with for eons. I’ve had fibromyalgia and painful knee and back injuries for 35 years, stemming from an auto accident. I feel pain every day. But it is minor in comparison to the emotional and physical pain some of my friends endure, such as the loss of … Continue reading Suffering (by Eileen)
[This is an edited version of the post, “A Thoughtful Heart,” originally published February 27, 2016.] L “A heart weary of hate cannot learn to love.” I came upon this quote, credited to a Russian poet, in a New York Times article written by Mikhail Shishkin, “How Russians Lost the War.” He was decrying the manner in which the Russian authorities were ratcheting up … Continue reading Seeing the World with Clear Eyes
Yet again, death has struck a member of my family — my cousin Amy, at 46. Death has visited our family all too frequently and all too early. My father died at 45, brother Steve at 59, brother Kevin at 62. We are a family of unfinished stories. Death leaves its mark when it comes unexpected and early. So many unspoken words So many unsung … Continue reading Passings and Epilogues
My stumbling block in early life was that I didn’t like living with questions. Not at all. In my world answers were the thing. Whether they were right or not was, to me, not the most important thing. What counted was that I had an answer to every question. All that changed one night in 1985 while sharing a bowl of kung pao … Continue reading A Path to Serenity