Commenting on my “Slump-A-Dump” poem in the last post, Bob Sanchez praised my quasi-rap rhyming and characterized the piece as “healthy venting.” He got me thinking – how healthy is using your writing as a way of venting negative thoughts? Can it be counterproductive? I’m afraid that sometimes the answer is yes. This morning I… [Read More]
Depression – forecast cloudy, cool and drizzly?
Weather report from the dreary Northeast: cloudy, cool and gray with intermittent drizzles – a lot like the weather inside my head the past few days. Outside, they’re predicting a positive change, and tomorrow’s forecast promises a perfect spring day, sunny with temps in the seventies. I wish my mental state would brighten too, but… [Read More]
Time to jettison my paperwork past
“You’ll probably inherit this house someday,” I told my daughter a couple of years ago. Her first response: “I hope you clean out all the paper first.” Since then, she’s bought a house of her own, and she doesn’t need mine. Nor does she need all my papers, and neither do I. Or so I’m… [Read More]
When you’re feeling creative, how crazy is too crazy?
Since early adolescence, I’ve been fascinated by the fine line between creativity and madness, and the life stories of artists and writers who suffered from mental illness. At 13, when I took up painting and jazz piano, I was intrigued to learn the great bebop pianist Bud Powell was schizophrenic. I barely knew what the… [Read More]
Happiness is the right drug – or so I said in church yesterday
I was Sunday service leader for our Unitarian Universalist congregation yesterday. The sermon topic was “Psychology of Happiness,” and since I’ve lived relatively happily with bipolar disorder for many years now, it’s a subject on which I consider myself an expert. Here was the Reverend Sam Trumbore’s preview of the service as it appeared in… [Read More]
Are all writers introverts? Are you? Take the Jung typology test and find out!
Attention all introvert writers: Can you find success by tapping into your inner extrovert? That’s the question I’m posing today in my guest post on Jane Kennedy Sutton’s excellent blog, Jane’s Ride. I provide a link to a site where you can take the Jung Typology Test. Answer 60 yes/no questions, and the site will… [Read More]