What Mindfulness Isn’t

It is hard to define exactly what mindfulness is…the more I start to delve more deeply into an understanding of what role mindfulness plays in my own life, the more difficult it is for me to put words to my experience.  Like carving an ice sculpture out of ice, I can start to visualize what

The Three Words Every Child Should Hear

I have been hearing whispers of the same emotion all around me these days.  A dear, dear friend, going through a terrible break up, speaks of how fundamentally awful and unlovable she really is.  A blind patient, struggling her way through vocational training, tells me how biased I am when I commend her determination.  If

Creating Safe Spaces

Recently I have been exploring the world of online writing groups.  My current group is run by a beautiful writer and coach, and consists of five other participants from all over the world.  Everyday for two weeks, we free write on a prompt, self critic and censor free, and share our work in a private

Starting Over

As a psychiatrist, I spend a great deal of time with my patients examining the past.  We reflect on our histories in order to better understand the path that brought us here, to this point in time and space.  We hope that making sense of our past allows us to be more conscious, more aware,