Category: mental health
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Manna from Russia
In the summer of 1991, shortly after the fall of communism, I spent three weeks in Russia with the People-to-People Student Ambassador Program: promoting peace through understanding. We did the tourist things, but our main purpose was to get to know the people and to build relationships with kids our own age. Somewhere in the…
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Salt
Salt. I cannot stop thinking about salt. My mom tells a story about a cooking mishap early in her marriage with my father. As she cooked, the salt fell into the dish. She tried her best to scoop out the excess salt, but the meal still came out tasting way too salty. My dad was…
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I Want to Be the Face of Love
During one of my hospital visits yesterday, I met a man from Africa. He shared with me how peaceful he felt being in the hospital for new year’s rather than out amongst the American traditionalists celebrating with rowdiness and drunkenness. He shared how his family back home – seven hours ahead – were preparing to…
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Breakfast With Jesus
Yesterday, I gave the commencement speech for R.C. Freedom’s C.P.E. (clinical pastoral education) graduation. As a fellow graduate of the program and fellow chaplain, I elected to discuss the importance of self-care. I based the talk on John 21:12-13 – using a lesson I learned from this past summer’s PALCON (pastor’s and leader’s conference) speech…
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I Want My Mommy
A few weeks ago, I came down with a terrible case of the flu. After all I have done over the course of the pandemic, I never contracted COVID-19 (knock on wood). As soon as the mask mandate was relaxed, BAM! No surprise. We all saw the spike in post mask-mandate sickness coming. As horrible…
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10 Years Cancer-Free
On December 3, 2022, my oncologist told me that “for all practical purposes, “[I] am in remission.” I had to be “in remission” for five years before I could safely say I was cancer free. I left not feeling what I thought I should be feeling. I did not learn about survivor’s guilt until the…
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What’s With All the Drama?
Sometimes I really miss the old days when my life seemed so ordinary and boring. No emotional highs or lows. No drama. These days, it seems to be one Faris Wheel ride after another. Or, in the words of one of my all time favorite Bon Jovi songs, Rollercoaster: What goes up might take us…
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What’s With the Good Witch?
I have been asked why I specifically mentioned the Good Witch as one of my self-care techniques in a local article in Methodist Magazine. For whatever reason, some people do not consider this to be my kind of show, and pre-COVID they would have been correct. First of all, I have to say that the…
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The Body Keeps Score
There is a psychological concept about the body’s long-term response to stress and trauma. I first learned about it in the book, The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk M.D. Basically, our bodies remember trauma even when we forget. If we pause to…
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From Taking to Saving Lives
Some of my friends tease that I can both take a life and save a life – because of my former career as both a women’s self-defense instructor and CPR instructor – and because of the seemingly odd transition from quasi-law enforcement to Christian ministry. The connection, however, is not as puzzling as it may…
TRA.Perspective 