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My Two Wolves
There’s an old story I’ve heard many times throughout my life. I encountered it again a few days ago at the Alternatives Partial Hospitalization program. It’s a story that’s sometimes called “The Two Wolves.” It goes something like this: An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,”…
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I Accept the World Around Me
Yesterday, I blogged about radical acceptance (a concept from dialectical behavioral therapy), the practice of choosing to accept reality as it is, rather than getting upset or angry about how things are. It doesn’t mean that we approve of this reality, or even that we choose to passively do nothing about it – it just…
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I Accept Myself
There are many things in my life that seem to cause me distress. But it’s not the things themselves that cause the distress – it’s my response to them that causes it. I think this is kind of like the Buddhist teaching that suffering is caused by our attachment to things. It’s not the thing…
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The Hardest Words to Say
I have noticed that I have a very difficult relationship with some words. For instance, the sentence, you’re welcome. When someone thanks me for something, I usually respond with, “No problem,” or, “Sure,” or just a nod. I can’t get myself to say the words, “You’re welcome.” I’m not entirely sure why, but I think…
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That’ll do, Self. That’ll do.
A long time ago, I read about the difference between maximizers and satisficers. As I understand it (which may be incomplete or just plain wrong, I’ll admit), a maximizer is someone who always needs to find the perfect answer for something, and a satisficer is someone who determines a level that is “good enough,” and…
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Pleading Guilty
Today was the second day of my ten-day program at Alternatives, the partial hospitalization program at Lehigh Valley Hospital. One of the things we learned about today was a type of therapy called “Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy,” or REBT. I found that this type of therapy really resonated with me. It was created by Albert…
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Untying the Gordian Knot
So today was my first day at “Alternatives,” a Partial Hospitalization program at Lehigh Valley Hospital. Partial Hospitalization is a program offered by many hospitals that provides intensive mental health care. It’s called “partial” because you spend a certain amount of time there each day, and then go home at night. At Alternatives, I will…
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Invited or Impostor?
I just received an invitation to attend the installation of the new bishop of the synod where I serve as a pastor. I feel very uncomfortable about this, and I’m really not sure what I’m going to do. Let me explain. The installation of a synod bishop is normally a huge occasion, a festive affair.…
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The Slow Telling of a Story 6: Downtime
I’ve been writing these occasional essays for a little over a year. In them, I’m sharing the story of turning my manuscript into a book. It’s been a long process, and every time I think it’s gotten as long as it could, another thing comes up to slow it down again. Read Slow Telling 1,…
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How do you do it?
Every time I read a book about being Black in the United States, I become sad at the horrible way that people of color have been treated, and continue to be treated, in what is so often called “the land of the free.” Every time I read an article this year about the 100th anniversary…
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