psychology dector

Joan of Arc by Jules Bastien-Lepage (French, 1848–1884) Oil on Canvas, 1879 I begin this essay with two stories: A teacher I knew at a Catholic elementary school became pregnant with twins, and due to the inadequacy of her paycheck and her husband’s self-employment in construction, she had no health insurance.   When the time came for her to deliver, she went to the emergency department at LAC + USC Medical Center.   Once she had been signed in, she waited on a gurney in the hallway with a number of other similarly struggling mothers to await full dilation and crowning of the child’s head before being wheeled into the delivery room.   Many of these women were screaming in agony, but were virtually ignored by the staff.   The teacher, herself, wanted an epidural, but the nurse informed her it was too late and she would have to go naturally.   She was worried about the fact that she would be birthing two babies, but was powerless to fight back and demand immediat...

Jazz trumpeter Miles Davis, one of the greatest musicians to ever walk the planet, once said that “In music, silence is more important than sound.” I’d broaden that advice out a bit:   in life, silence is more important than the sound and fury of constant chatter in this age of instant communication.   Lately, I’ve lost the ability to hear that silence.   This is, at least in part, due to the obsessive roar of my own engines churning up that vacant space in the universe.   I need to send a message to the battlefield of everyday life:   shut up and listen! A while back, I wrote up a list of thirteen theses statements about how to live.   My hope was that the statements would offer me the opportunity to reflect on how I comport myself each day.   The list was written somewhere in the past and dutifully filed away only to be buried by more pressing matters, more words, words, words cascading and falling through my life.   Number one on this list was...

Albert Ellis’ work with Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) struck a chord with me as I was reading his work this week.   In his view, people disturb themselves by their own rigid and extreme beliefs about events in their lives.   I could relate to this in a way, because I often set unrealistic standards for myself or refuse to back down when facing a task that is clearly beyond my capability.   Since I’ve been recently diagnosed with a heart valve problem, it is crucial that I be careful with stress and anxiety to control my blood pressure.   Heat and other external factors can also cause complications if I am not careful.   My diabetes and kidney issues must be carefully monitored and kept under control so that I avoid any other problems.   I am often tempted to overdue my activities which leads to stress on my heart and low blood sugar.   It is hard to accept that I cannot do what I used to as a younger man. In a search for balance in my life...

All this week, I’ve been thinking about how we bear witness to our lives.   To me, it takes mindfulness:   live every moment in that moment.   Or, slow down every moment.   To bear witness to another’s life also requires mindfulness.   It is not awareness of breathing or of a particular piece of music or a specific activity like walking, one foot in front of the other.   It’s deep listening both to what is spoken in our lives, by nature, by others, and also what is not said with words but communicated through posture, expression, non-verbal sounds—in short, body language, something deeper than spoken words. All during the past, stress-filled week—the weeks never get easier no matter what the schedule says—I tried to find an island of calm, a meditative moment where I could summon up my focus, my mindfulness.   I failed.   All I managed was to sit for a few minutes until the panic set in, moments where I did not know how I would ever let go and ju...