“Should we lose each other in the shadows of the evening trees, Ill wait for you and should I fall behind, wait for me” Bruce Springsteen. Sometimes I don’t even notice. I just wake up, shower and brew my coffee alone, feeling steady. Then someone else arises and speaks and suddenly I am irritated, short …
“But store up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal.” Matt 6:20 Even as a child many of us implicitly defined success as having strength, power and influence. We seem to instinctively want others to be like us and to accept …
For someone who is isolating already by choice, Lockdown is not much trouble. It is basically ‘steady as she goes’. Similarly, if life has got you down and people grate on you like gravel, then being told to stay at home is almost a bonus. Lockdown however, is definitely an incredibly difficult time for many, …
Lockdown- A time to be psychologically flexible. Read More »
I’ll tell you what amuses me…the phrase lying dormant. To be honest, I don’t find the phraseamusing in all its guises, just the one where it is used to describe Depression or PTSD.It must be a phrase first used in that context by someone with little or no concept of mental illhealth. I’m sure they …
Depression is powerful. It has a voice that makes it difficult to ignore. It demands attention. My father was an old style Principal and he was good at his job. He had a strong control of tone that he could use to make you stand up and take notice. He had a presence that made …
It is hard to explain. It’s difficult to create an explanation of what Depression is like that will resonate because we all experience the world differently. We all have different skills and abilities that will make understanding easier for some and not for others. Still, isn’t part of the purpose of writing to put difficult experience into words that …
The depressed brain is a time machine. It moves constantly between the past and the future looking for salvation. Lost forever from the present, it dwells almost exclusively in failures and fears. The way out is the present moment. The time machine is Mindfulness meditation. If regret is the ‘time/ space continuum’ of mental health, …
The rather technical adjective maladaptive, when used to describe a person, is never a good thing. Essentially, maladaptive means that you don’t cope very well with your circumstances and so you maladapt to accommodate them. You can adapt to circumstances in unhealthy ways, but to be maladaptive is something special. I never considered myself a …
Occasionally, in but a second or two, thoughts can appear, trigger a downward spiral and disappear just as quickly. When you are ‘triggered’ by something, generally it means that the trigger takes you right back to the feelings and emotions of the original incident or problem, be they fear, anxiety or depression. The following short …
“A friend loves at all times and a brother is born for adversity.” Prov 17:17 Few would disagree that true friendship is a cornerstone of a healthy and well-balanced existence. Making friends is almost as natural as breathing when we are young, but surprisingly it seems we lose the ability to bond well with others …
