Category Archives: Uncategorized

How is it that one can love so much?  How is it that while still being ill three weeks after first testing positive for COVID, while putting up with a contradictory housemate, while struggling in an uncomfortable living situation, while reading a book on trauma (& thus addressing my own traumas), while facing frustration andContinue reading “How can one love so much?”

 […] In a statement released in June 2011, the British Psychological Society complained to the American Psychological Association that the sources of psychological suffering in the DSM-V were identified “as located within individuals” and overlooked the “undeniable social causation of many such problems”. […] ‘  ‘ Mental illness is not at all like cancer: HumansContinue reading “Humans, the “social animals””

Two more quotes from the book “The body keeps the score” by Bessel a. van der Kolk, M.D.: these two snippets in particular, although from different chapters, for me go together somehow and are particularly important as they relate, among other things, to some recent experiences, conflicts, and needs that I have felt and thatContinue reading “Tugs-of-war”

[Trigger warning: trauma somatization] ‘ […]  Don’t you ever tame your demons But always keep ’em on a leash ‘ {from the song “Arsonist Lullabye” by Hozier} Lately, my demons have been getting totally unleashed at night. To the point of waking me up in the wee hours every morning, usually around four, and keepingContinue reading “Demons?”

‘ Truth, like love and sleep, resents  Approaches that are too intense. ‘ [Poet W. H. Auden, “The Double Man”]

Thank you, Universe,  that I’m feeling better than a week ago  and that I don’t have to spend my first Thanksgiving here in Colorado all alone.  Thanks that there are actually people — friends — who’ll welcome me into their homes here,  as there were in California and have been so many other times, inContinue reading “Thanksgiving”

‘Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves… Live the questions now. Perhaps you will gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.’  [from “Letters to a Young Poet” by Rainer Maria Rilke] 

[Trigger warning: somatization of trauma] From Chapter 6 of the book “The body keeps the score” by Bessel a. van der Kolk, M.D.: ‘ […] Over the yers our research team has repeatedly found that chronic emotional abuse and neglect can be just as devastating as physical abuse and sexual molestation. […] Not being seen, notContinue reading ““Losing Your Body, Losing Your Self”“

From the song “Pillar of Truth” by Lucy Dacus: “ […]  I am weak looking at you A pillar of truth Turning to dust I am weak looking at you A pillar of truth Turning to dust Lord, prepare me For the shadows For the sparrows At my window Lord, have mercy On my descendantsContinue reading ““Pillar of Truth””

[Trigger warning: Trauma] ‘[…] If an organism is stuck in survival mode, its energies are focused on fighting off unseen enemies, which leaves no room for nurture, care, and love. For us humans, it means that as long as the mind is defending itself against invisible assaults, our closest bonds are threatened, along with ourContinue reading ““The body keeps the score” — 3“