Humour is a Delivery System for Content

Saying that someone is humourless because they don’t laugh at your insulting sarcasm is like telling someone who is rejecting unwanted sexual advances that they’re frigid. Humour is form, and as such, it’s a delivery system for any content, be it intended to attack or to support, to divide or to connect, to establish one’s … Read more

Grumpy Dog Granddad

He is a tall, lean man in his seventies, walking a tiny brown short-haired dog. He walks leading with his head, his whole body looking like a moving question mark. The first time I saw him was a warm fall evening. Carmen, my Golden Retriever rescue girl went to greet the little dog, as she … Read more

Tribes and Belonging

The French Canadian word for girlfriend is “blonde”. Probably invented by a hair-dye company. The French Canadian word for boyfriend or life mate is “chum”. “Ca va bien ton chum?” How many French Canadians know that “chum” is an English word? I don’t know, I haven’t met many. The fight for cultural purity preservation seems … Read more

Law of Attraction or Personal Development?

law of attraction

Why I don’t think about what I want to attract, the law of attraction etc: When I want to attract something, I seek to attract an “it”, an object, and by placing my intention on a separate object I make myself ineffective because the world is filled with objects outside of my control. Very annoying, … Read more

100 Danish Kroner – a story from Behind the Iron Curtain

“Jeg kan ikke tale dansk” Early 1980’s Eforie Nord, a Black Sea shore resort The Europa restaurant is as spacious as a wedding hall, brimming with foreign tourists, the tables covered with white table cloth and boasting the colours, aromas and textures of the finest Romanian cuisine. I am a tourist guide for the summer, … Read more

Grandpa Mendel

“Where is your father from?” Gideon, an elderly man with a wide, open face, looks at my application form and reads my last name out loud. Then he fixes his gaze upon my eyes from across his desk and asks: “Where is your father from? Do you have relatives in Bacau?” If you only met … Read more

Lessons from a Bad Marriage

I had a “lesson-resourceful” marriage and this is what I learned: Trauma. We marry our unresolved issues. We marry our shadow. We must address and heal trauma so that we don’t repeat it. We must understand trauma so that we recognize it in ourselves and in others. What to look for. What is fixable. What … Read more

Anxiety and Dogs

I had the first full-blown panic attack when I was eighteen. I had no name for my experience. My mother, who had died a year before, used to describe episodes of what she said it felt as if she was going to die. Romania of the 1960’s had no psychotherapy, no understanding or mentioning of … Read more