Is Your Mother a Magician in the Kitchen? When Food is Love
An Ode for Mother’s Who Cook from the Heart Every memory of my mother leads back to my childhood kitchen. Before the cooking channel, before The Joy of Cooking, before celebrity chefs battled like samurai or gladiators, there was my mom, the original culinary warrior, standing over a vat of her latest creation, hollering: “Come […]
Do You Resent Happy People?
Once upon a time there was a bird that lived in a cage in dark shadowy room; then one day his cage was moved outside. For the first time he see birds flying free. He watches them dive through the air, sing and play; he sees small birds wrestling in trees, large birds cooing and […]
What’s in Your Basket of Troubles?
By Sean Grover, LCSW A Parable… Once upon a time, there was a lost man who carried around a basket of troubles and wandered the land calling out,“Who will help me with my basket of troubles?” Many pitied him, some laughed at him, but no one helped him. Then one day a king passing by […]
Where Do You Store Tension in Your Body?
That tension you feel in your neck? It has more meaning that you think, It was a moment that changed my life. It was about twenty years ago, and I was a patient in a therapy group led by Dr. Louis Ormont, a pioneer of American group therapy. I was discussing the devastating death of […]
Are You Attuned to Emotions?
The Secret World of Emotions & Attunement When your radio’s tuned properly to your favorite station, the broadcast comes in loud and clear. Without any static or overlap of frequencies, you relax and enjoy the music or the program. When your favorite love song is played on a well-tuned instrument, you’re delighted. You listen without […]
How to Pull a Volcano Out of a Tree
The Volcano in Our Backyard In the 1970’s my parents fell in love with throwing big outdoor theme parties for friends and family. The aftermath of their parties filled our backyard with oddities which included a twenty foot tall fiberglass Cleopatra (harvested from the 1964 World’s Fair – don’t ask), a collection of enormous rubber […]
The Loneliness of the People Pleaser
When someone asks you a favor, do you readily agree and later regret it? Perhaps you say yes when you really wanted to say no? Afterward, do you feel victimized, lament your decision, or bemoan your fate? If you answered yes to the questions above, congratulations—you’re a people pleaser. You go out of your way […]