feelings
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The Best of Times. The Worst of Times
This is a quote from the first page of Charles Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities, and it represents a profound statement of a good portion of life, namely that there is always a combination of good and bad to every experience we have in life. Dickens was speaking, now 200 years ago, about the good…
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The Go-To’s of Life
We all have them. I call them “go-to” places. These are the places we go to when…well, when we want to for some reason. But let’s start with the idea that this “go-to” place is a good place, a safe place, a good thing for people, a place where people find solace, and maybe even…
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Temperament IV: Lovers
This is the fourth in a series about “temperament” in which we are discussing the idea of temperament as a way of understanding personality and the behavior that results from one’s personality. Acknowledging that there are many ways of understanding personality, we propose that there are four primary temperaments that give us a general orientation…
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Seeing Unicorns
There was once a small village in a mountainous region of the world. There lived in this village a wise man. He had seemingly always been both old and wise as no one could remember him being anything else. The people in village went about their normal responsibilities taking care of their property, persons, and…
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The Cure for Anxiety
Sadness. That is the cure for anxiety. But let me explain. Or you can read our book that devotes a whole chapter to the “cure for anxiety.” In this brief blog I will attempt to do several things: Explain what anxiety is along with its cousins: worry, fretting, fear, and outright terror Explain why anxiety…
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Guilt and Shame
Guilt is good for you. Shame is bad for you. Guilt makes you a better person. Shame makes you a scared person. Guilt is good. Shame is bad. Period. Allow me to explain. I intend to describe these two very important experiences, which are quite different but are often conflated together. Guilt and shame “feelings”.…
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One taxi, two taxi, three taxi then four. Taxi (Life) Lessons in Portugal
Taxis: the good, the bad, and the ugly When Ron and I travel in a foreign country, we rarely use taxis, so the whole experience of using them is a bit “foreign” to me. We’re usually driving, riding the train, or just walking. But when I recently went to Portugal by myself, I had planned…
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Life of Ryan IV: Work
(This is the fourth in a series of blogs by “Ryan,” a person in my clientele who has MS.) I don’t know what I want to do when I grow up. Now that might sound a bit strange because I am grown up, at least by age, since I’m 72. But somehow “I don’t know…
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Life of Ryan III: Family
(This is the third in a series of “Ryan,” a patient of mine who has MS. I serve as his amanuensis.) I love my family. That is for sure. There is nothing that is more important to me than my family. I think of them daily, if not hourly. I think of my wife. I…