The therapist Carl Rogers describes watching huge Pacific waves breaking on the rocks at the mouth of a cove, and he observes palm-like plants clinging to those rocks, taking the full force of the waves over and over again—and surviving. His observation of those plants symbolized for him “the tenacity of life, the forward thrust …
A Story for Valentine’s Day It is February, the month when St. Valentine most passionately plies his trade. You know: hearts and flowers, candy and love, dates in fancy restaurants, and marriage proposals. But in today’s world of 2023, when gender identity is more liberally expressed than ever before (at least in some places on …
I have decided that instead of “growing up” I am going to begin the process of “growing down.” But how am I going to do that? I am going to swing on more swings! For certainly as time marches on, it is not all about what the body tells us is reality: that we are …
PART TWO Place: Kimball Elementary School, Washington, D.C. Time: September, 1950 to June, 1957 I was a chunky and nervous kid with fallen arches, bad eyesight, a severe stutter, frequent earaches, excruciating toothaches, and a substantial overbite. I cried a lot, complained, constantly sweated, and talked in class when I shouldn’t. And at recess, I …
My mother always outdid the other mothers in our 1950’s Washington, D.C. middle-class neighborhood. Especially in preparing extravagant meals for the chosen ones invited to our house by my father, your great granddaddy, the criminal. Being the 1950’s housewife, your great-grandmamma agreed with his decision and did all the work. So the chosen ones enjoyed …
Getting Them Before They Get Us Addictions can kill you. I know. I almost died. It was not until a mid-life event happened to me that I finally began to grasp the fact that I was raised in an alcoholic family. It was as if a jack-in-the-box had suddenly popped up and said: “Surprise!” “Surprise!” …
Who can forget the advertising icon of the strong, viril cowboy who roped horses, and smoked Marlboro cigarettes? Billboards populated the country, and men emulated Marlboro men and took to smoking. Don remembers his father, and other men who died along with the advertising campaign. But they were victims of smoking, dying of cancer.
Don Beaudreau discusses the importance of trees, “The sacredness of trees is deeply rooted in religious conceptualization in early humanity. This concept is based on the fundamental idea of the unity of life in nature.”
