Aging: the coda to life’s mythic themes

This column originally appeared in the Orange County Register.

“He’s gotten completely paranoid and is speaking in vernacular I don’t recognize,” my friend explained slowly and evenly, though clearly in an anxious state.  “The psychiatrist put him on medication, and I don’t know why.  I think he’s having a bad reaction.” Continue reading “Aging: the coda to life’s mythic themes”

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”

Perchance to Dream: Part II

The uncanny content of dreams often makes them appear to be communications from afar.  However seductive it is to imagine mysterious and distant origins, the equally fascinating explanation is that dream images are your own mental products. Continue reading “Perchance to Dream: Part II”

Perchance to Dream: Part I

Since the dawn of human consciousness, we have been fascinated by our dreams, visitations from the depths of our psyches.  Nothing brings us into contact more intimately with our own mental mechanics than a profound dream.  Universally appealing, no other topic of mind is quite as compelling, confounding or captivating.  Almost everyone has an opinion about dream origins and function.  Why do I dream?  What do my dreams mean? Why don’t I remember my dreams? Continue reading “Perchance to Dream: Part I”

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?”