Category: Infant development

What are you doing right now…?

This column originally appeared in the Orange County Register.

In response to the queries of persistent readers who have been awaiting a new column since late June, I thank you for your notice and offer this little essay in response.  In case you’ve ever wondered, the English word essay comes from the French word essayer, meaning “to try.”  An essay represents an effort to formulate and communicate ideas.  An essay, therefore, is a writer’s attempt to use language to forge a connection with a reader. Continue reading “What are you doing right now…?”

Terribilities

This column originally appeared in the Orange County Register.

The very unstable economic surround in which we now find ourselves has unleashed an epidemic of anxiety-related complaints.  Stomach upsets, irritability, sleep disturbances, hives and rashes and unpleasantly intrusive thoughts or mental imagery have become increasingly common even among the usually serene and composed. Continue reading “Terribilities”

Empathy, Ethics and Morality

This column originally appeared in the Orange County Register.

Most of us would agree that balanced concern for self and others constitutes a measure of psychological maturity and health.  While other, mostly mammalian, species share our capacity to live cooperatively and care for one another, only human beings are able to reflect consciously upon this attribute, to develop it and direct it purposefully. Continue reading “Empathy, Ethics and Morality”

Greedy for Love

This column originally appeared in the Orange County Register.

Greed is not a word used frequently any more.  Tending to be associated with quaintly prim eras and Victorian novels, the sooty world of Charles Dickens comes to mind with its pickpockets and severe judgments. Continue reading “Greedy for Love”

Sadness and Mourning

This column originally appeared in the Orange County Register

A screenwriter friend gave me an article discussing the salutary aspects of sadness and the ways in which our contemporary culture tends to quickly erase it or prematurely foreclose upon its gritty psychological usefulness in a quest for perennial cheery happiness.  As if happiness were a concrete object one could hold instead of a transitory state of being, one of many, that links specific inner notations of experience with external ones. Continue reading “Sadness and Mourning”

Tumbling the locks

The other day I received a disquieting video email.  A clip from a local broadcast news segment illuminated, for any petty crook who might not have already known, the proper use of an interesting adaptable key that fits easily into almost any lock. Continue reading “Tumbling the locks”

The Importance of Mutuality in Relationships

A relationship, by design, is a two-person field.  Actually more if you consider all the people inhabiting your mind.  With mom, dad and your third grade teacher with the quivering upper arms, it’s a pretty crowded place.  You are the unique product of all your relationships.  This internal constellation of characters forming your identity is an entire world. Continue reading “The Importance of Mutuality in Relationships”

Another Tragic Shooting

Upon answering the phone early one morning last week, I heard a friend ask tentatively, “Did you hear about the school shooting yesterday?”  “Of course,” I responded, wondering why this particular shooting inspired a phone call.  “That was where I went to school,” she said sadly and paused.  “That was my college.” Continue reading “Another Tragic Shooting”

What’s the Big Secret?

Every couple of years, I notice that a new life-altering book or program appears on the pop-culture scene promising to solve all our problems effortlessly and magically.  I’m reminded of those late night infomercials promising astounding wealth with no personal investment, except the purchase of an expensive program that promises to teach you how to convert pennies to gold bricks over the weekend. Continue reading “What’s the Big Secret?”