Healthcanc

Just because we own that we contribute to dysfunctional interactions (in our own special ways), doesn't mean we can stop. Codependency is like that. Not shown, the blood. This one could be a scene from a Woody Allen movie. A therapist gets a text to learn that her grandchildren, toddlers, are at the park. "Want to stop by and see us? You pass right by going to work." Well, it is on my way. But something hangs her up and by the time her bicycle sidles up to the swingset, the grandkids are gone. Too bad, but it is the type of day a person just continues on her way and hums,  Ain't nothin' gonna break'a my stride. Nobody's gonna' slow me down. . . The path she didn't take It is that rare season that Chicagoans call  Indian Summer . Not only are the leaves every shade of red, green, and yellow, but the thermometer has punched a balmy 75 degrees and it is only 11:30 a.m. Rather than detour west to the paved bike route along the river (read that safe ),...

Warning: Do not read if you have issues with insect deaths at the hands of bullying humans. Asian Japanese Lady Beetle suvivors   Also, apologies in advance if this post offends any religion, be it mine or yours, I'm really sorry. It is all intended in good fun. The story goes* that I graduated high school a semester early, but the University of Illinois didn't accept early admissions. My parents made higher education sound more appealing than a K-Mart job, so taking six introductory liberal arts classes at Roosevelt University managed to kill the time. I took public transportation downtown. One day a young man with frizzy sideburns and bluejeans sat down next to me on the train. Within seconds he started to mumble, or maybe chant. He did this for awhile, then seemingly satisfied, stopped. As he fished inside his backpack for a book, I asked what that was about.  He told me that he learned a mantra from a Zen master, and chanting the mantra made him calm and happy. "Wo...

We talk about this one all the time.

If it had only been one patient, I would have thought it idiosyncratic. But people are finding out on Facebook that their ex's are married, or engaged to be married, sometimes only months after they broke up. It can be a more than a moment of reckoning. Marshall and Lily Got Married Not judging the announcements, especially the videos. Who wouldn't post an incredible engagement/proposal video on Facebook? Isn't that the purpose of the video? These are works of art. A sixty to ninety minute montage entirely composed of five or six How I Asked ___ to Marry Me 's couldn't be dull. After all, she might say no if it is. Hearing that someone you know recently changed relationship status to become engaged or married , can be upsetting, no matter how we find out. Marshall and Lily, the token couple to take the plunge in How I Met Your Mother illustrate that marriage can be intimate and passionate, if you do it right. And it need not herald the end of relationships with si...

With so many horrible things in the news, I say we take a vacation from it all. (1)  With Feeling Dunkin Donuts, Kosher in Chicago on Devon A grandson has a 10:30 orthodontist appointment on a school day, and I have the honors. The rain is coming down hard and he holds the umbrella over me while I unlock the car. Once inside, the fellow shoots me a sideways glance. I turn my head, raise an eyebrow, speak our first words since leaving school.   “I’m starving.” “Me, too!” he exclaims. We work out the details of taking out from Dunkin Donuts . He will sit and get his braces tightened, change hues, and I'll run in. There isn’t a minute to lose because office hours begin in the early afternoon and I can’t be late.  Our timing executed perfectly, he is at the curb, ready for me after the procedure. Overjoyed with the egg-and-cheese croissant (with fake bacon bits), hash browns, and a blue berry muffin, he eats faster than my Airedale. He can’t thank me enough. Three years ago, ...