Photo credit: Nathan Vines Once upon a time, I tried explaining my ‘container belief’ theory to my therapist. For whatever reason, when I’m the client, I lose all capacity to make rational sense and instead ramble on in half-baked metaphors loosely beaten with full blown emotion. She’s somehow always understood me and for that I’ll…Read more Believe
mental health
Holes
Photo credit: Nathan Vines The ones you made in the wall Where we compressed unanswered questions Between skin and printed memories Incomplete stories Haunt the space that embraces What’s left Inside the holes made In your body A bloody cave Seeps into the empty tomb Feeling up Necrotic wombs Breeding generations of unhealed wounds Where…Read more Holes
Shavasana
For several years I was a mental health consultant and assessor on a multidisciplinary team addressing school and community threats made by kids; all of whom, we discovered, as absolutely no surprise to me, were suffering from untreated trauma. Trauma, as I define it, is anything that separates us from love. I will shout love…Read more Shavasana
H.A.L.T
According to folks in recovery, if we’re about to run straight into the arms of our next fix we should H.A.L.T.; as in stop and think about it for a second. Common sense, right? Instead of drinking, snorting, cutting, starving, shopping, smoking, sexting, eating, beating or getting into yet another disastrous relationship, we should ask…Read more H.A.L.T
Still
Journaling this morning I had a little epiphany about my general discomfort with ambiguity. ‘Where are we going? When will we get there? Why are we going? Who will be there? What will we do? What will or whose will, will be done to us? Beanie, t-shirt, jacket, snacks?’ I thought if I understood what…Read more Still
44
It’s amazing how quickly the memory of pain fades if we allow ourselves to be present before, during and after. I like the unconventional shape of my story, that I can make myself laugh during a panic attack, forgive things society calls unforgivable and be playfully sarcastic with god in the midst of an existential…Read more 44
Cherished
Cherish: 1. To hold or treat as dear; feel love for 2. To care for tenderly; nurture 3. To cling fondly or inveterately (deeply rooted) to God is Love- 1 John 4 I am my beloved and my beloved is mine- Song of Solomon We are his cherished, personal treasures.-Deuteronomy 14 Cherish your faith-Jude 1…Read more Cherished
Illuminatus
“Why are some of our lights off and others on, despite whatever a bunch of lab rats did when they were trapped alone in cages with piles of cocaine and Twinkies? The thing is, we’re not lab rats, and some of us won’t succumb to Twinkies or coke no matter how many times they try…Read more Illuminatus
Home
By the time I left for college, my family had moved nine times. I used to have a recurring nightmare of running down a street holding a cardboard box that was falling apart with each stride. Between college and the couch I’m currently sitting on, I’ve moved thirteen times, been briefly homeless and survived an…Read more Home
What Happened
Several years ago I got to hear Dr. Bruce Perry tell the story of a little boy named Jesse. I stood next to a potted tree in a crowded conference room as adrenaline perfunctorily coursed through my veins. That was my routine baseline back then. It was normal for my heart to beat like a…Read more What Happened
Born in Providence 