I attended a dinner party recently where one of the guests had just read my book. Partway through my first glass of wine she asked me if I still suffered from depression and anxiety. It was refreshing for me to experience this topic as part of our dinner conversation, but still I paused, wanting to…
If depression is a symptom of being stuck in the pain of the past, and anxiety a fear of the future, the obvious answer is to align oneself in present time. Your physical body is the vehicle by which you enter present time, but in order to do so you must also have mastery over…
Meanwhile in the Galaxy Gaia turned to her lover Sol Beseeching him for help With her current condition Such was Sol’s love for her That he gave her a fever Of Biblical Proportions Comparable to the Great Flood But instead of cleansing the planet with a deluge Threatened to sear every vestige of life from…
The telephone rang In the middle of the night It was God Thanking me for taking part In an experiment called insanity. “Your willingness to descend Into the depths of darkness Has been much appreciated. May we call you for future follow-ups?”
By my mid twenties I had recognized the pattern: every time I resurfaced from a depression it was accompanied by the same emotion: anger. I realized that if depression could be characterized as repressed anger, which is a form of powerlessness, then it only made sense that getting in touch with my fundamental power would…
Six years after I resurfaced from my journey through addiction and depression, my sister sent me a revolutionary work by Dr. Gabor Mate. His book, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, validates from a medical perspective what I lived through experientially. Dr. Mate is one of those rare breeds of people who go where the…
A few days ago I received an envelope of letters from a group of young people in recovery I’d taken out and introduced to the sport that literally saved my life. It’s always been my intention to share my love of ice so that it may help others. I think I might be on track……
I don’t have heroes; most of the people put up before us for admiration simply don’t impress me. They may be rich, beautiful, or exhibit a superb level of athletic prowess. But they cannot command my attention for possessing such superfluous traits. And so it came as a surprise to me yesterday when I met…
“If you are dependent on something outside yourself to feel good, you are addicted.” When I was offered the choice of trading in my cocaine habit for a lithium habit, I knew the only difference was a legal one. I knew in my bones that I needed to face the uncomfortable feelings I had been…
It has occurred to me on more than one occasion that insanity could be the antidote to culture. Perhaps people with a mental illness are tapping into something that the rest of us don’t and can’t see, not because we’re not capable of it, but because we are too programmed by the belief system of…