“Awareness allows us to get outside of our mind and observe it in action.” Dan Brule Sometimes, we don’t know what we don’t know…we just do stuff. We don’t know why we do stuff, much of the time. Things just kind of happen. Maybe we understand after it happens, Read more…
“Of all the virtues we can learn no trait is more useful, more essential for survival, and more likely to improve the quality of life than the ability to transform adversity into an enjoyable challenge.” ― Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Have you ever been so engaged in an activity that you lost Read more…
There are no constraints to the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect – Ronald Regan I am easily inspired by ideas. Whenever I hear something interesting, exciting, motivating, it’s like a seed is planted in the fertile soil Read more…
I had a conversation with Sebastian Junger recently. He and I were recording an upcoming episode of the Head Space and Timing podcast. We were talking about the difficulty of transitioning from the military to post-military life. One of his points: we’re currently at point of affluence in our society Read more…
When a service member returns from combat, or leaves the military, they take their experiences with them. In a recent episode of the Head Space and Timing podcast, Dr. Larry Decker said, “The lessons learned in combat are never forgotten.” It’s true; I know this both as a clinician and Read more…
Veterans face many challenges in post-military life. It’s not that these challenges can’t be overcome, or that veterans are somehow deficient because they experience these challenges. It’s what happens when we move from one culture to another. One of the challenges that frustrate many of the veterans I see is Read more…
I was getting ready for the day recently, and I felt on edge. Ready. Anticipating. I had a lot of stuff to do that day, and I was ready to get cracking. It was exactly the same feeling I had before the platoon went outside the wire as a security Read more…
You don’t climb a mountain by saying you wish you could. One of the challenges that I see with the veterans I work with as a mental health counselor is an experience of being stuck. Regardless of how things were when they were in the military, they seem to feel Read more…
A colleague once told me a story of frustration that I’ve heard from many veterans in therapy. The colleague talked about a veteran he was working with; the veteran said, “People want to go to the movies and see the combat stuff…American Sniper and all that. But if I talk Read more…
People forget that I’m a human being, just because I play a sport that everybody loves. We’re human. We’re not invincible. We share the same feelings and emotions that people on the outside feel. I don’t think people really understand that – Terrell Owens There is no such thing as Read more…