The Beautiful Sandwich She could always makethe most beautiful sandwich.Laced swiss cheese: slicedcrossways, folded once.Ham in rolls like sleeping bags.Turkey piled like shirts.Tarragon. Oregano. Pepper.Herb dill mayonnaise the color ofskin. On top: the thin, wandering line ofmustardlike a contour on a mapin a thin, flat drawer.Or a single, lost vein.The poppyseeds hold on,for now. Placed… Read More Food Poem by Brad Ricca
The weeks leading up the U.S. election and following have been … uncomfortable. There is fear, distrust and hate all around. My readers know that I am a Muslim-immigrant South Asian woman married to a Caucasian man with two brown daughters and two white, working as a therapist in small community mental health facility in… Read More In Defense of Discomfort
Recently, the above uncertainty stirred things up in the therapy room a few times. As usual, I didn’t have the answer. How do I endure and balance the restlessness for more with a sense of innate worthiness and abundance? How do I know I’m doing enough? How do I know I am enough? Everything is… Read More Am I ambitious or never good enough?
The list below is meant to help social workers identify strategies to help clients overcome resistance to change. It could also be used as a way to self-check. Silence or minimal talking during sessions (Are you avoiding?) Engaging in intellectual talk by using technical terms/abstract concepts or asking questions of a social worker that are… Read More 7 Signs of Client Resistance to Change
I’m not sure how I started making these pancakes. My addiction to recipe, cooking shows, food writing makes sources difficult to trace. My daughter asked to learn how to make this when visiting on break from college. She made the pancakes pictured in this post. I’m a proud foodie mommy. We like the balance of… Read More Savory Corn Pancakes
As a therapist, I focus on presenting issues, the problems that compel a person to sit with me. Sure, I balance these functional impairments by looking for strengths and support. Still, the focus is on identifying and repairing damage, secondary and tertiary prevention. I came across a list of indicators for positive ego strength while… Read More Are you healthy (mentally)?
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
