I often hear versions of this confession from my clients. When a child has trouble answering, “How do you feel when you’re happy?” it poses an additional challenge. In a recent attempt to explain, this is what I did: Can you feel the chair underneath you? (Focusing on sensations) What does it feel like? Can… Read More Don’t know what happiness feels like?
Long ago as an architecture student, I would dream about walking through the designs I was working on (this often turned into nightmares!). Even today, I often dream of being lost in interior spaces both familiar and unfamiliar. It is no surprise that architectural metaphors, thinking and space infuse my understanding of philosophy and therapy.… Read More Architect of my soul
How can I move on and grow when I’m back at home with my parents? …I’ve been asked various versions of this question as a counselor. At best the question exposes the uncomfortable struggle between needing support and wanting autonomy. At worst it hides destructive shame and self-doubt. Yes, I answer.. this is your question,… Read More Pausing or Stuck?
This post reports on a 2012 lecture delivered at BRAC University in Dhaka, Bangladesh about “Strawberry Shortcake and Raymond Loewy’s Sears Cold Spot Super Six Refrigerator.” The invitation, content and response to the lecture practice a form of global design history that mediates cultural criteria of taste. In order to articulate design possibilities inherent in… Read More Shortcake in Dhaka: Raymond Loewy and Culinary Metaphors in Design
“What does the opposite of a seizure feel like for you? What are you doing when you are comfortable?” “I am sipping coffee in the morning. The kids are off to school and it’s quiet.” “Do you have a favorite coffee cup? Tomorrow morning try holding your coffee cup in your lap, feel the weight… Read More After filling your cup
The restlessness to get back to “normal” was so vivid for me yesterday as we past a local water park teeming with children and families. No masks, no 6 feet distance, no indication of a pandemic. It was an almost nostalgic surreal vision. Addressing our level of comfort with safety and health is now personal… Read More Cooking in the time of Corona
ROOM! room! make room for the bouncing Belly,First father of sauce and deviser of jelly;Prime master of arts and the giver of wit,That found out the excellent engine, the spit,The plough and the flail, the mill and the hopper,The hutch and the boulter, the furnace and copper,The oven, the bavin, the mawkin, the peel,The hearth… Read More Food Poem- Hymn to the Belly
Two steps back, is still progress right? At least movement. In the therapy process we are looking for movement, doesn’t matter which direction. Movement shows struggle, shows vitality, shows emotional effort, even if in the seemingly negative direction. Aristotle defines life as movement between contraries. If we are all composed of many parts, many contradictions,… Read More Three steps forward…
I have the privilege of staying safe at home during this pandemic. Comfortable, well-fed and loved, I’m basking in the simplicity of making meals for my daughters. I can’t complain. As a nerdy introvert lost in my own thoughts, my social scene has not altered much except for lunches with my trusted tiny circle of… Read More Scorched Paella and the Pandemic
If self-awareness is a journey, insights are the “aha” moments along the way. They’re the fuel powering the souped-up sports car on the highway of self-awareness: with them, we can step on the gas pedal; without them, we’re stranded on the side of the road. Eurich, Tasha. Insight . Crown. Kindle Edition. According to Tasha… Read More Inside/Out Self-awareness
