April 2020 – Faith as Openness, Faith as Training

As the coronavirus keeps washing through the world, and many of us are paused in one way or another, the question of how to use this time keeps arising. There are many answers, of course, from topical to deep, and it’s to the latter that I address this month’s article. Depression often is phrased in terms of control or management of it, often as a medicalized condition, but it has a deep relationship to faith—the choice to remain open in the face of the unknown—that is not obvious on the surface.

So here, I’m suggesting a couple questions intended to help you parse out when depression is speaking in its “anti-faith,” and to expand your attention beyond the contracted and stifling confines that depression tries to impose.

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March 2020 – COVID-19 and Depression

I’ve been offline for a few months, in terms of putting out this newsletter, but it seems this is that time to get back in touch. For all of us. So, in this newsletter (and likely quite a few to come), I’ll be offering some initial thoughts on this COVID-19 period, as it relates to staying mentally healthy, and particularly with the challenge of managing depression.

May you be well, healthy, connected, and finding resilience during this difficult time.

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August 2019 – “Ands” Not “Buts”

This month’s TYM has a short description of “proper therapeutic grammar”, specifically, the deliberate use of “ands” instead of “buts”. With depression essentially eager to get us to split off from the world at large, the use of language is one of its tools to get us to peel away from what was, pre-depression, attractive and motivating. So, therefore, the use of language can also get us to reattach to the world and see it for what it is (but what depression has got us to forget), energized, rich, and full of potential.

May your summers or winters (depending on your hemisphere) be going well, and as always, may you be getting only the challenges you’re ready for, and take in all the supports that you have.

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