“I am two thousand years old, and I’ve never had the time for the luxury of outrage,” the Doctor recently told his young companion Bill.
Today, outrage dominates the world. It consumes us, exhausts us and provides us with a false sense of action. All the while, it distracts us from “saving the world”, internally and externally
The Clickable title takes you to my thoughts on the matter.

“Our chickens are welcome to stay and free to leave,” Karl Hammer said about his “working chickens”. It is indeed a high expression of chicken-hood.

Do humans “measure up”? How? Why not?
Oftentimes, patients come to therapy but hesitate to look into the core of their internal life. The psychic injury of the past seemed still a fresh wound in their mind’s eye. The courage in facing what is “there”, as Karl’s chickens, instead of imagining what one believes is “there”, like my patients do, is no...

Stuart McLean died. The world is a worse place without him.
A happy life is not necessarily a healthy one. For me, emotional/mental health means that one’s existence in the world makes it a better place.
Mr. McLean led a healthy life from this perspective. And much more….

Vatican priest Krzysztof Charamsa resigned, on the arm of his lover, and stepped in front of myriad of news cameras. He seemed to be expecting applause – of course he received aplenty.

Does this have to do with gay rights? Vatican’s recently published guidelines for the training of seminarians? Should he be forgiven? Is it understandable that one may negate one’s previous vocational choice as grave as becoming a Catholic priest? Or, does the real matter have to do with pride? Entitlement?

“I’m in pain, I can’t be helpful to others. A luxury I don’t have,” those were the words of my patient.
Understandable, perhaps.
Then there were the Star Whale and the Doctor, who were the last of their kind and who had experienced suffering like no other.
Yet they couldn’t bear to see our children cry….

“I don’t care if my neighbor lives or dies. She’s nothing to me. I only care about my mom and my brother,” once a 14-year-old patient declared.
Compassion derived from self interests and empathy based on universal empathy are planets apart.
Further more, if one has to choose, would one sink to the level of Donna, who saved her friends while endangering the whole world or would one take on Rose’s “hard lesson”…?

Rose told the fictional Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson in The Girl in the Fireplace, “…you weren’t suppose to have either (the Doctor nor the “monsters”) and immediately encountered a stern reply, “Supposed to happen? What does that mean? It happened…!”
Such emotional acceptance and clarity is the first step for us to spend our limited lifetime in healthy self creation, instead of being stuck in the labyrinth of bitterness, wistful for a “better lot in life”….

Maeve in Westworld is a complex being. She blames her creators. She is enraged. She seems to feel no internal remorse at killing….
However the most relevant for my patient is her unwillingness to commit to one world. “Straddling” on the edge and hesitant to make the decision plagues “my Maeve”….

Do we all have the inner makings of becoming murderers, given the “proper” trigger, in an unfortunate moment, perhaps? Can we stop ourselves, unlike other species, if we try hard enough? Do we do all our might to become more ponderous and less reactionary/impulsive? ....

A breeding female wolf was murdered by Banff National Park.
It was said that the Bow Valley Wolf Pack was getting “too familiar” to humans, after some tourists started feeding the wolves from their picnic coolers….
The death penalty sounds like it was conducted in haste.
Did they really think through the matter and try “hard enough” to find other options?
Did humans learn the “lessons”?

“It doesn’t matter what people think. You know what you did”, these words, uttered by Mr. Donovan, in Bridge of Spies, indicates a high level of internal conviction. Going against the current or “popular views” is no easy feat.

Through these two Doctor Who episodes, a young unwed mother literally saved the entire human race by admitting a difficult truth to her child.
Perhaps the effect of such an action isn’t as grand in everyday life.
But then again, maybe it is even grander than we can ever imagine for our emotional life and self creation.

What is the difference between euthanasia and murder?
A few years ago, I killed my wolfdog. Recently a dog called Malachy was killed.

“This Is Not a Day Care, It’s a University!” Dr. Piper’s article created a myriad of “love” or “hate” reactions, not just from university students but the whole world over. There is a similar misconception about psychotherapy as well. “Discomfort” may just be a necessary “devil”. If facing emotional truths is more important for us than “comfort”, that is.

With unexpected depth, Victor, the fictional character in Mr. Selfridge, did not let willful blindness get in his way of self awareness. He further took action based on this awareness. At least in this instance, he became his authentic self. In the reality of life, we often fail in both or either steps.

“Nothing in the world is the way it ought to be. It’s harsh, and cruel. But that’s why there is us – champions. Doesn’t matter where we come from, what we’ve done or suffered or even if we make a difference. We live as though the world were as it should be. To show it what it can be.” These are the words of Angel, a struggling vampire in Joss Whedon’s fictional creation.
It is my firm belief that deep down, perhaps for some of us VERY deep down, we all have the “seed” of becoming “champions”.

Albina lost her most important person. She was sad and lonely. She ran to the forest. She met a robin….
Her journey of self discovery and creation will undoubtedly connect to your own voyage to the interior.

Over the years, we’ve been through more diets than one can count. I’ve read Wheat Belly, Grain Brain and a myriad of other books. As I loved potatoes, I was never quite determined enough to commit to the strict non/low-starch/carb for the love of one stem tuber! However, as my Doberman got older and finally diagnosed with breast malignancy and degenerative myelopathy and gradually losing control of her hind legs, I put her on an all organic mostly fat, limited protein and extremely restricted...

Most of the time, it is much easier to see the “outer clothing” of the matter than perceiving the “deep truth”. The latter requires clear-sightedness, which may not be possible with our sophistry and neuroses in the way.
As a result, a lone chick may die of emotional deprivation….
The clickable title will take you to the subject matter.

Natto is traditionally made with soybeans.
Not a big fan of soybeans due to its estrogen mimicking effect, I experimented in making natto with black turtle beans.
For me, the end result was delightful – just like Marmite for me, except tons more health benefit.
The clickable title will take you to this experiment, and a fan story…