I’ll spare you the George Thorogood song. Like a lot of people, my early drinking was always with a group. Like a lot of people, a happy effect was feeling looser in socializing, and fitting more easily in with the group. Even when the drinking reached binge-status after hours of partying, no one was concerned… Continue reading I Drink Alone
One day in a meditation class, my teacher said at the end, “Feel your aliveness.” And I felt my blood pulsing in my fingers and toes and thighs and back and top of my head. I felt my breathing in my nose and my chest and my belly. Marvel at all the aliveness there is… Continue reading Re-post: Aliveness Meditation
Historically, mental health is a struggle for me, and for lots of the people I surround myself with. I don’t know if there are people out there whose circle of friends and family consists mostly of people whose mental health is rosy, but if they’re out there, I haven’t met them and I kind of… Continue reading Let’s Talk Therapy
The grazing lands of Great Britain used to be free for everyone to use. Shepherds would send out their flocks of sheep and cattle into the common space, and neighbors would watch over their flocks together. It worked pretty well. Then over time ideas rose that land belonged to specific people. Eventually, it all got… Continue reading COVID and the Fencing of the Commons
The first two weeks I quit drinking were terrible. I was obsessed with thoughts of alcohol. I wanted nothing more than to drink. I wasn’t a better person who didn’t need to drink any more. I wasn’t a more mature person who had learned better coping skills for her problems. I had sobriety in a… Continue reading The First Two Weeks
This is a repost of one of my favorite meditations. As I mentioned last week, I lost my best friend Fatberry after a long battle with cancer. I did this meditation every time we snuggled for years. Repost: “There are a hundred thousand species of love, separately invented, each more ingenious than the last, and… Continue reading Re-post: Petting the Pet Meditation
This blog started with Fatberry. He was my cat, a faithful and beautiful friend who brightened my days and surrounded me with love. In 2020, he was hospitalized two times – and miraculously survived both times. Following the second hospitalization, I was filled with a sense that there was meaning to be made from these… Continue reading Fatberry
