I mentioned in one of my posts last week that I was reading Brandt Myhres new memoir Pain Killer in preparation for interviewing him for an upcoming episode of the podcast. Late in the book, Myhres says comments on the importance of giving back when you’ve received a lot of support from others. He said: READ MORE
Category: Gratitude
That Purchase, or That Person Not as Exciting as In The Beginning?
I was taking an open course through Yale University (free) and the professor talked a lot about hedonic adaptation. Basically this is the reason why that exciting purchase doesn’t seem as exciting as it once did or one of the reasons why your spouse might not be as interesting as you once thought. Hedonic adaptation READ MORE
Where Were You? Where Are You? Where Are You Going?
At the end of every day I do a quick review. What did I accomplish? What were the best moments? How did I do on my daily habits? After that, I can think about what I want from tomorrow. I do the same thing every Sunday, but for the week, and I do it at READ MORE
Setting Goals With Self-Compassion
I think I’ve mentioned that my wife often listens to podcasts to help her fall asleep. I often hear more of those episodes than she does, some time several times as she listens to them for a few nights as if she’s going to hear more of them. Anyway, recently, while reading my book or READ MORE
That’s a Wrap on 2020
Wow, this has been quite a year, hasn’t it? 2020 included a pandemic, political chaos, fires, economic turmoil, blatant racism, sexism, transphobia, and a whole bunch of other problems. I think most people are looking forward to seeing 2020 growing distant in their rearview mirrors. Before we sign off on this year, though, I want READ MORE
Traditions
Tonight is the first night of Hanukkah. We’ll light the first of the candles and say the blessings, including one called The Shehecheyanu, which expresses thanks for letting us reach this season. This is a tradition in our home. Our daughter is currently preparing for her Bat Mitzvah. It’s tentatively scheduled for next summer, but READ MORE
Is This a Big Thing or Not?
Recently I had a conversation with my therapist about a particular item on the list that makes up my Manifesto. It reads: “Let go of the things from the past or present that I can’t change, and stop worrying about things that don’t really matter.” I asked her, “How do I know what really matters?” READ MORE
Static Electricity
Yesterday I was leaving the spare bedroom that has become my home office and got a small shock when I turned off the light switch. As the weather gets cold and dry in Saskatchewan, static electricity because an annoyance, even without having carpeted floors. Sometimes it can be quite painful, but it’s a fact of READ MORE
Something Good Needs to Come From This
About two years ago I sat in my supervisor’s office, speaking with her just after we’d gotten off a call with one of the many case managers from a third party organization who got to make decisions about how much I should work while struggling with depression. Those calls were always frustrating, as were the READ MORE
What Do I Want to Keep Doing?
I think I’ve mentioned that my team at the university has a weekly meeting virtual where we share something about ourselves based on a question that that week’s facilitator poses to us. Last week the question was “What have you started doing during the pandemic that you want to keep doing even when we get ‘back READ MORE
