Insights

Writing on therapy, relationships, and the mind.

Reflections, essays, and resources from the practice — on mindfulness, couples, men’s mental health, parenting, and the patterns that shape our lives.

  • Commitment

    Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation) there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one

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  • Brains of Buddhist monks scanned in meditation study

    By Matt Danzico BBC News, New York In a laboratory tucked away off a noisy New York City street, a soft-spoken neuroscientist has been placing Tibetan Buddhist monks into a car-sized brain scanner to better understand the ancient practice of meditation. But could this unusual research not only unravel the secrets of leading a harmonious

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  • The Journey

    The Journey One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice– though the whole house began to tremble and you felt the old tug at your ankles. “Mend my life!” each voice cried. But you didn’t stop. You knew what you had

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  • Hazardous passage for at risk youth

    “Foster children should be allowed to stay at home until they are 21” says Virginia Rowden, director, social policy, and mentor for the YouthCAN program, Ontario Association of Children’s Aid  Societies. According to the May 21, 2010 report in the Toronto Star, youth in care do not do as well as other young people. Fewer

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  • The Teen Brain: Its just not grown up yet

    Research now supports what parents have long suspected—that the teenager’s brain is different than the adult brain. The teenage brain – Its just not grown up yet. Recent research by scientists at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has found that the teen brain is not a finished product,

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  • Paranoia: Is There An Antidote?

    Glory in the Highest Thousands of things go right for you every day, beginning the moment you wake up. Through some magic you don’t fully understand, you’re still breathing and your heart is beating, even though you’ve been unconscious for many hours. The air is a mix of gases that’s just right for your body’s

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  • Don’t Worry About Being Happy

    My friend and colleague Martin Vera, who is a speech pathologist, sent me an interesting article on Being Happy. It really questions the discourse around what this pursuit has come to mean in Western society and whether or not this is a worth while goal to strive for. How do you define your happiness? French

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  • Maybe so, Maybe not. We’ll see.

    There is a Chinese Proverb that goes something like this… A farmer and his son had a beloved stallion who helped the family earn a living. One day, the horse ran away and their neighbors exclaimed, “Your horse ran away, what terrible luck!” The farmer replied, “Maybe so, maybe not. We’ll see.” A few days

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  • INCLUSION OF SOCIAL WORK SERVICES IN PRIVATE HEALTH PLANS

    There has been a heated discussion amongst social workers this past week concerning the limited coverage of social worker services under some group plans insured by Great West Life. According to Joan Mackenzie Davies, the Executive Director of the Ontario Association of Social Workers, there are a number of possible explanations for why employees with

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  • The Guest House

    This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all! Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture, still, treat each guest honorably. He may be

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