We did an experiment in high school biology with a Petri dish. The instructions were to take our dishes to benign places in the school, leave them for 30 minutes, seal them and wait. Then we’d be able to view airborne microbial contaminants in our building. My teacher droned on, for a significant portion of the class, that if we walked down the hall with the dish open or left them next to the toilet—he would know. I was well past the point of believing things adults told me. By then, I’d discovered enough omission of truth to want to check for myself. So, I skipped down the hall with my dish opened, swirled through the bathroom and set it click to continue reading…
Category: Emotional Health
Sometimes emotional health is just knowing whether what you feel is congruent with your situation or not.
You can blame it all on someone
I guess it’s the season for annual checkups. We’ve been to the vet several times this month. The cat doctor said Opal gained a pound. I told her it was because of Covid. The cascading effects continue rolling in—so I’m sure I can keep blaming it. What’s the alternative to casting blame? Ownership. Wouldn’t it be nice to have free agency without responsibility? Makes me think of the teen years when you have more autonomy than ever before. You can sleep off bad living instead of paying for it physically, and most things don’t go on your permanent record. Your parents are trying to let you make your own decisions, but they still fund most, or all of your life. click to continue reading…
Sorry, not really really sorry
I remember in the early years of trying to merge our two fighting styles that my husband and I had an argument. I was quick-tempered but equally fast to see my error and apologize. (I sometimes still struggle with quick anger.) However, in that beginning argument, when I asked for forgiveness, he would not give it. He needed time. A day later, when he was ready to discuss and make up, I wasn’t interested. I wanted a turn with the power imbalance. I wanted him to hurt, or grovel, before I bestowed forgiveness. I realized, though, that withholding meant we might just take turns refusing to forgive. That’s the loading dock to the never speaking again express train. So, I click to continue reading…
Staying and Fixing Broken
Years ago I read Chasing the Dragon by Jackie Pullinger. I don’t remember why I picked it up, although I did think I’d someday go to a foreign mission field, so I read one or two books about those experiences. One of most impactful things I got from this book was that sometimes the drug addicted would come to her for help, pray to God and immediately be sober, clear minded, healed, and never crave drugs again. Other times the individual would pray, and then writhe in agony for days, crying out for relief from the pain of detox. And both would love Jesus… Only part of the story When people share their experience, we tend to think it’s formula. click to continue reading…
What choice gives you
I used to make myself finish a book before I started a new one. Somewhere during the last year or two, I picked up a second book and before a hot minute, it quickly spiraled. My currently-reading shelf is almost competing with my to-be-read shelf and I feel like I need to rein it in. It might have something to do with getting into books above my pay grade. I’m still picking through The God Shaped Brain by Timothy R. Jennings, M.D. He says in that video (link above/video below) they used to believe a placebo effect meant that pain was in your head, but modern brain science has shown that what you believe can create physiological responses. It’s not click to continue reading…