Category: Writings

  Lorraine’s artistic medium is dried flowers, and she has a genius for making them more attractive than nature ever did. Her airy, spare creations have made her famous in this region and I have several in my own home. Though I’ve known and admired her work for years I just met her recently in my waiting room where she… Read more →

The character’s name is Cypher, and I see the actor (Joe Pantoliano) weekly on The Sopranos on HBO playing a vicious mobster with a wicked sense of humor. His portrayal of Cypher in the movie The Matrix is similar. This movie and its connection to my life in therapy has been going through my head a lot lately, and Cypher’s… Read more →

This morning my secretary told me that there was a man lying beneath the tree in our front yard. She thought that there could be something wrong with him but wasn’t sure. I looked out onto a beautiful summer day and then over toward an older man lying supine with his legs crossed at the ankle. I saw him idly… Read more →

While wandering through the library a few weeks ago I came across a book by science writer Mark Buchanan entitled Ubiquity: The Science of History…or Why the World is Simpler Than We Think (Crown 2000). After reading the first few paragraphs I had the sense that Buchanan’s prose would provide an explanation for a part of my practice that has… Read more →

If you were to watch me work all day you’d probably notice that I spend periods doing nothing. I mean I’m like this when I’m with patients. I wrote about this a bit in a review of K.C. Cole’s book The Hole in the Universe but feel that I’ve got more to say, so here it is. In 1799 the… Read more →

Down the street from my own home is a much older house on a generous corner lot. I would guess it was completed in the 20s and seems to have been carefully cared for. That is, until recently. For over twenty years I’ve walked past here and admired the perfectly kept lawn, the flowers and landscaping arranged just so. The… Read more →

Nearly ten years ago a patient of mine suggested I listen to a recording of a Welsh poet named David Whyte. I agreed to do so, and I haven’t really been the same since. After hearing this man recite poetry, explain it and bring it to life with his unique delivery, an entire world of literature opened up for me… Read more →

It seemed to me that a couple of days floating down a river in West Virginia would be different enough from my clinical work to qualify it as a vacation. I was wrong. There’s a recurring debate in physical therapy about whether we have been overwhelmed by technology or not. I distinctly recall it from school over 20 years ago.  Back… Read more →

I’ve been thinking lately about the nature of the historical details I acquire as I speak to my patients each day. As important as we’re taught this is and as much as I wish these details would answer the questions I have about the condition I’m trying to manage, I’ve concluded that history is often an incredibly unreliable indicator of… Read more →

E.O. Wilson’s latest book, Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge (Vintage Books 1998) presents many ideas perfectly relevant to any thorough discussion of the deep model of human functioning. I wanted to say a few things here about what this might mean to therapy’s search for a greater understanding of painful problems. Wilson defines Consilience in this way: “Consilience is the key to… Read more →