When life is filled with pain, betrayal, and heartache, it takes great courage to allow joy. When anger and fear are the feelings primarily modeled for us, they become the essential building blocks of our emotional DNA. We understand pain and shame. They are expected. We know how to behave and what to anticipate when unenjoyable […]
Why We Like Likes: Choosing Moments Over Memories
I recently read an article about a couple whose gender reveal party didn’t go as planned. The balloon store made an error. They used bright, mixed balloons instead of pink or blue. The mother-to-be ends up in tears and the father-to-be begins cursing. They rectify the situation, and re-enact the scene with the correct color […]
Sight Without Vision: What We Don’t See
The Dr. asked me to close my eyes as he slid my first pair of glasses past my 5th grade ears and onto my nose. He requested I look out the window as I open my eyes. Blinking repeatedly, I looked out across Lincoln Avenue onto the bricks of the old Union Bank across the street. Individual […]
Inside the Mind of Suicide: Death and Other Options
Questions about suicide fly around my office more often than ever before. Big, round, bumble bee questions that have nowhere to land. They buzz and hum without resolution. Why? Why? Why? Since April of last year, there have been seven student suicides at one high school in Colorado Springs. Seven. It’s horrific and heartbreaking. The […]
Is It Time For A Relational Upgrade?
The appliances in my kitchen are 24 years old. I’ve decided new appliances now ensures a reasonable price rather than buying in a melting emergency when the refrigerator eventually and inevitably buys the farm. The sales guy shows me dishwashers that scrub stemware in billowy diamond suds and a refrigerator that lands the space shuttle […]