A little over a year ago I wrote about grief and the intertwining of words, talking of May Sarton’s explanation that the gothic word Kara, means “lament” and is the root word for care. This intertwining of words means that lament, or rather grief, is built into the word care underscoring that we as humans live in more than one … More PROEMNESIS: Folding with One’s Life
This article contains some spoilers for the Foundation series on AppleTV. I like to think that psychotherapy is in part, about trying to understand the narrative of one’s life. This is not such a simple thing because our narrative, as we explore it in psychotherapy, involves following the many threads that are woven into the fabric of our life. … More Mural of Souls
This article on the Hulu/Fx Series The Bear will have spoilers, it is not meant to be a review of The Bear, but an examination of why the Bear is good writing, and what it offers as it mirrors human relationships and experiences back to us. In particular, I will examine The Bear from a Jungian standpoint of … More The Bear: A Modern Fairy Tale
TRIGGER WARNING: Although I write at times about grief and sometimes pair my writing with a film or series that surrounds this subject, this series is different from a series like Lost Ollie on Netflix for instance. I am NOT recommending The Third Day as a series for those who may be treading the rough waters … More GRIEF: EXILED TO AN ISLAND
In my last article on grief, I wrote about living below our baseline, and talked about how even our dopamine level may be very low when we are grieving the loss of a loved one. That article can be viewed in the link below. AMPLIFIERS AND ROGUE WAVES I want to talk about how trauma and … More GRIEF: TRAUMA AS AN AMPLIFIER
As a psychotherapist, I sometimes talk to people about how grief and trauma may appear in their lives. Most of the time therapists speak of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross who wrote about the five stages of grief, but this is not something I feel the need to explore today. In part because people may feel lost trying to figure … More Grief: Living beneath our Baseline
The fairy tale Rapunzel has been told and retold for a long time and given different morals or what I call the takeaway from various writers. The story was retold again recently, in the Victor LaValle’s Changeling in episode 4 which appeared on Apple Tv. In this episode it is Cal who is telling Apollo this fairy … More Rapunzel & The Changeling
There is a particular children’s book that I read to my sons when they were little, that still resonates with me now that my oldest is grown, and my youngest is nearly grown up. Wolves in the Walls, by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Dave McKean may fall under the umbrella of what I might … More FAIRY TALES: Neil Gaiman’s WOLVES in the WALLS
I have seen a fair number of magic shows in recent years, as my youngest son Asher has a keen interest in and talent for magic since he was around seven. This year he attended Tannen’s magic camp in person for the first time. If you don’t know what that is, it is the oldest … More Psyche, Magic & Self Identity
An audio version of this article is below, if you would like to listen instead. When I was in grad school I was watching the film, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi late one night as I was finishing up papers that were due. While listening to the film, I heard them quote Joseph Campbell. I … More ALL THE GODS ALL THE HEAVENS ALL THE HELLS ARE WITHIN YOU
THE MYTHICAL JOURNEY The film Ad Astra (2019) with Brad Pitt and Tommy Lee Jones begins with Roy McBride (Pitt), an astronaut who is doing work outside of the International Space Antennae. It is an umbilical cord that extends from Mother Earth into what looks like very low Earth orbit, much like an envisioned space elevator. While working outside the … More AD ASTRA: A Father Son Film
An audio version of this article is below, if you would like to listen instead. As we are approaching Father’s Day, I wanted to write another series of articles about fathers and in particular father-son relationships. This article will explore the film Field of Dreams, (1989) with Kevin Costner as Ray,James Earl Jones as Terence Mann, Ray … More Field of Dreams: A Father-Son Film
American writer Louise DeSalvo writes about the connection between caring and grief in her book, Writing as a Way of Healing where she explores the origin of the word care, writing: When we think of the transitional time for our children who may be passing that threshold into adulthood I think of this connection between grief and caring and additionally how it’s entwined with the … More Individuation: Entanglement of Grief & Caring
In my last article I wrote about how Pamela Anderson in her Netflix documentary, Pamela, A Love Story, discussed Jungian analyst Robert A. Johnson who she quoted as saying, “romantic love is not sustainable.” I discuss why the gist is right, but not fully accurate. Importantly, I question whether this idea that romantic love is unsustainable, may be overshadowed by … More MYTHS OF ROMANTIC LOVE: The Fairy Tale Happy Ending
My interest as a Depth psychotherapist is studying where myth and fairy tale imagery bubbles up to the surface touching our waking world, and exerting its influence on our individual and collective psyches. At least two expressions of this I came across recently declared that romantic love is dead, never existed, or is unsustainable. In this article, I … More MYTHS OF ROMANTIC LOVE: The Fairy Tale of Pamela and Tommy
The stigma of psychotherapy is something many still struggle with (admittedly women too), but I want to explore a little why it may be difficult for men to be vulnerable and admit they could use some help in this life. I wonder why it is that men would rather wait until the ship is sinking, and their … More Why are men ashamed of psychotherapy?
STARTING OVER IN MY FIFTIES The Ouroboros dream I had some years ago that led me back to study psychology in my fifties was a touchstone all through my master’s program at Pacifica Graduate Institute where I studied Depth and Jungian psychology. Today I’m going to explore what happens when crisis comes calling, and how the unconscious may respond to that … More Ouroboros Dream of my Death
There is a theme in films and streaming series that I am drawn to, and this is around the subject of grief. I recommend some of these films and series for people to help with processing, and understanding the grief that they may be experiencing in their lives. … More Grief in Films: Lost Ollie
There is a particular film that I love starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan from many years back, John Patrick Shanley’s Joe Versus the Volcano. It is a fairy tale and begins, “Once upon a time there was a guy named Joe who had a very lousy job…” … More Exploring Father/Son relationships through Joe Versus the Volcano
Follow Your Myth 