One of my strong memories of Marcy will stay, of this Halloween. She was tired after her day at school. She had gone back to college to get her nursing degree. She was tired, like a shirt that had been over washed in hot water. She was the kind of tired that looked like the […]
Tonight my husband cast this up on our monitor/TV. “This was my colleague.” A couple who worked in palliative care used social media to share their experiences after one of them received a terminal diagnosis. It was later featured on The NewYorker. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-documentary/what-is-it-like-to-be-dying Watching with him the face of dying threw me back to watching […]
There was an exhale. A ripple out, like dropping eyelids, a wave on a slow shore, turning a shoulder away and the head following; this was how her disclosure soundly rolled through the room. I failed. I don’t care how cocky you are, everyone fears. In the brain and body, sometimes, the parasympathetic is dominant […]
What is it like when people talk with you, a psychiatric patient? How do all the areas we are contending with in stigma affecting your interaction with others? – Demonic possession, shame, violent tendencies, weak character, and poor moral choices? We want to hear from you. Some stories please. One patient told me that her […]
Think of walking in a rainstorm. Your clothes and hair hang heavily. They provide no protection. They offer no remedy. You take a hand towel out of your bag and try to mop up your icy wet face. Wring it out and continue to wipe. This is like choosing to do all the psychosocial efforts […]
The True Self All around me I hear people talking about finding your “True Self.” I hear it in podcasts, coffee shops, in magazines and even books. What the hell was everyone talking about and if there is such thing, how does one find it? What is meant by “True Self?” First, apparently, it […]
Mr. Clark stopped talking and walked to the ringing rotary phone on the wall. We were experts, as 7th graders, in anticipating what phone calls would be about. I’m surprised we never got around to making bets. I missed my chance to be a bookie. When the phone rang, it could mean someone was in trouble […]
Hi. I was hoping I could ask you a couple questions about ECT for a research paper I am writing. How do you address the issue of cognitive and memory impairments? What are your top 3 reasons for being an advocate for ECT? What are the differences between ‘old’ ECT and ‘modern’ ECT? My thesis […]
Me-on-Me Crime! I was doing my speed walking thing on the Balboa Beach cottage lined shore. Gorgeous, it was. Fluffy thoughts were everywhere. I was purposely passing under the low hanging docks to upscale some lower body muscles. Some string bean teens with their fishing poles moved into the water’s leisurely lipping edge ahead of me. […]
Finished the CME talk I did last week and thought, you might find some use for it. I’ve received bad press many times for not being, in so many words, legit or academic enough. Check out the comments on my ECT book on Amazon.com for examples :). Maybe this one leaning into that bosom of greatness […]
Hank had to sing an Italian song for his tests. His music instructor did not believe that he had been practicing two hours a day. When Hank asked his voice teacher to sign off on those hours, his voice teacher still did not believe him. He had nothing to feel shame about. “Then why did I?” Hank wondered. […]
These topics that we take coffee breaks over; loneliness, selfishness, God, sleep, medical, these are common enough, no? The idea at, Friend to Yourself, is that these ideas are all common and in-common. They all start and end with Me. The irony of loneliness being common enough for books to sell on it! Laugh about […]
Did someone put a knife in my neck? Goodbye sex. Goodbye flirting. Goodbye self-esteem. It was a down-right turnoff for life, let alone sex. He could not think of one thing worth living for, but killing yourself turned out to be a lot harder than self-loathing. Sheez, pain was distracting. Unable to work out in […]
Hello friends. Please join us at Friend to Yourself in a three day, “Say it Out Loud,” challenge. Throughout the next three days, whenever you think of something you like & are grateful for about yourself, say it out loud to us. I’ll start! 😉 I like my body. Say It Out Loud.
Greg went to arrange his annual colonoscopy. Because he was having a chronic cough, his gastroenterologist (GI specialist) was wise enough to schedule him the “double dip” colonoscopy and endoscopy. Greg was not pleased. He was less pleased when Dr. GI found gastritis (inflammation) in his colon, an ulcer (inflammation) in his stomach, and esophogitis […]
Dear One, (You know who you are) Congratulations on this life-milestone. Congratulations on what you have come through and what toward. Congratulations on being connected. Although you walk, you do not walk away from your life journey. There are other crossings when we all step away from our life and look on at a safer […]
Mother’s-day, naturally full of shame unless we are able to be a friend to yourself, present with the bad in Me even if reluctantly. Question: What is a barrier to you becoming a friend to yourself? What role does shame play? Please tell me your story. Self-Care Tip: Get friendly with your shame.
The NAMI Western Riverside Peer Support Group will have a special guest speaker, Sana Quijada, M.D. Dr. Quijada will speak on the bio-psycho-social model in approaching self care. We are inviting all that want to come. Date: Thursday, May 30 Time: 6:00 P.M. Location: 4095 County Circle Drive, Riverside Besides speaking, Dr. Quijada is author […]
Do this. Hearing this phrase, command, suggestion can be, well, triggering. Please don’t run. This is just too good to miss. My girlfriend, and mentor, Jessica Adams, was recently awarded “Kaia Queen, Fall 2013.” She is a marvel. An inspiration. A success and to be watched. Eyes right, troopers. Jessica started exercising and eating healthy […]
Turned another year over. Forty one now. Sometimes I already feel like there is a toe tag on me. Other times I ride the consciousness of now and innocence, as if I have forever to do whatever it is I am living for. As if fear did not pulse around me, as if life held […]
Friend to Yourself 