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I read a lot. It’s an old habit which gives me pleasure and pain. Many things I read, like good detective mysteries, are engaging because they teach me about asking the right questions and listening carefully to the responses. People reveal a good deal by the way they answer a question. Their answers also speak

Hijacked: A Metaphor You’re on the high seas at the rudder. Suddenly, from nowhere, a pirate ship has come alongside.  Ropes are cast onto your vessel. You did not see it coming; there was no warning. The invaders are quickly boarding your ship. They have quickly replaced your crew, tossed some overboard and enslaved the

I have read many books celebrating life and viewed scores of natural wonders around the world; but watching children grow and learn, witnessing their insatiable thirst for first-hand experience, has proven to be the most fascinating discovery in my life’s journey. Their little hands stretch out for touch; fingers open and close before they understand

S.C. Linear time is a deception since many I love have not appeared in it for decades and longer;  instead, they live on as if we met for coffee yesterday.  Voices on the phone and in dreams deny the “facts” of time past. There are no distances between inhabiters of memory, no clock keeping its

Irish Shoes There was this Irishman, you see, who lied a bit; or you might say, slipped off the truth when relating a tale, as was his custom, particularly about his great skills as the lover of his wife; and how she waited anxiously each night as he undressed – and how he would sit

  At 8:30 the lake is dead flat. Not a ripple. The silence, which settled down on us as the canoe slid away from the dock, was complete. The eastern sun hit the western mountains along the shore straight on. They were illuminated as if from some inner light. The boat cut a smooth line

Many of my clients have said, in one form or another, “I don’t know who I am.” They have reported a lot about their lives to me. Some have been married for a good number of years and can’t imagine how they managed to choose the mates they find themselves in bed with. Several admit

In Conversations That Matter, a practice based on questioning and reflection, the subject of abandonment comes up often. My clients report a lack of early childhood bonding with primary caregivers. When questioned, similar characteristics persistently show up. Some common symptoms related to abandonment include: a lack of trust, a growing uncertainty regarding self-identification, an increasing

Triple Play A father might think, watching these rarest of actions on a sand lot field, that his boy had suddenly achieved hero status amongst his peers. He might grin the widest of grins watching the game ending play. There is some credit he might take; after all, he taught this boy how to throw

  The Past May Not Be Past Here’s the challenge in revisiting old poems and short stories. Life is, to state the obvious, always in flux. The day we wake to is one in which we appear, nearly unchanged from yesterday. But old photos reveal ruthlessly that the years have eroded and rearranged once familiar