We all have anxieties, regrets, fears – and often we blame ourselves for events we may not cause, or events in which we share responsibility, but are too quick to own it in entirety. We take comfort in telling ourselves that if we acted differently, things might have turned out differently. It’s difficult to accept […]
Hope Floats
It is a Sandra Bullock movie released in 1998 – Hope Floats – with a predictable plot, but not without its charms. A married mother of a young daughter finds out hubby is cheating and he wants out. As the divorce proceeds, she takes her child and heads home to a small Texas town, where […]
Emotional Stagnation: The Cost of Doing vs Not Doing
Fighting inertia… with an insistence on change.
That Sinking Feeling
You know that feeling when you have a long, detailed list of tasks to accomplish, and you haven’t checked off a single one? You know that feeling when every time you start to sort through a pile of papers and files, you encounter something that triggers a reverie, a malevolent memory, and subsequent disappearance into […]
Jennifer Lopez – “Feeling Good”
I couldn’t resist this headline: “Jennifer Lopez says she’s happy” – with a quick summary that took me to a longer article reporting that JLo says she “feels good.” Hey, I didn’t write it, and I don’t believe it. Do you? But I clicked on the article all the same, and then I read, and […]
One Picture’s Worth A Thousand Words (Maybe)
We all know the expression “a picture is worth a thousand words.” And we use it to mean that seeing is often far superior to any written or oral communication. But is it – really? Aren’t some people capable of hiding their emotions behind an otherwise calm exterior? And what about photographs? Do they genuinely […]
Are You Emotionally Needy?
Differences in relationship style may be perceived as “neediness.” Or, maybe they are neediness.
Do you have a storage challenge?
Best Laid Plans Spring Break. So many things that need to get done, and theoretically, I ought to be able to accomplish them. But the days are passing. Quickly. And plenty is left: Heaps of laundry Unpacked groceries Bill organizing Book organizing Healthy eating REAL SLEEP Reading and writing Serious cleaning. But here’s the rub. […]
Twinning (What Does it Take to Succeed?)
A Stolen Life In 1946, Bette Davis played a dual role in A Stolen Life, the story of identical twins with very different personalities. It’s a melodramatic film, predictable yet thoroughly enjoyable, and it’s one that has always stuck with me. I imagine it is a desire to call upon my own evil twin, to […]
Can We Ever “Set the Record Straight?”
Those who provide the comforting advice that “one day, your kids will know what you gave up for them” are well-intentioned, and even kind. What parent doesn’t want to believe that appreciation will come for all our efforts, at some point in the future? But I question the premise, the concept of eventual “justice” when […]