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
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
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
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
“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
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
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
I grew up in a tiny one-bedroom apartment in Bucharest with my mother and father, two full-time professionals who hired a nanny to take care of me. We decorated our home as everyone else did, the kitchen table in the center of the living room, right underneath the lamp. A sofa, that doubled as bed … Read more
Day 68 Self-Love: Five Questions that have saved my soul, and could save yours as well. Asking yourself the right questions is key to your flourishing. Self inquiry is an art, and useful when based on useful presuppositions. Here are five examples from my experience: “What is possible?” presupposes that there are possibilities. When having … Read more
Health food stores are popping up like mushrooms after rain online and offline, thriving on people’s single-minded obsession with food. What began as useful awareness that what you put in your body affects the state of your body (and mind!) has turned into an almost religious fervour pursued by those of us seeking to heal … Read more
