Author Archives: MHC Musings

It is a time of great change. Starting in August I began the process of divorcing my ex-wife. This involved me moving back to my childhood home. At the start of this I was unemployed following work as a temporary therapist. In October I began a new job, giddy with the excitement of finally landingContinue reading “Impermanence”

I was raised in the stilted, unpassionate environment of Catholicism. It brought me together with peers for Sunday school over lifeless preaching and formal instruction. The environment was not at all conducive to fostering connection, real spiritual connection. The formal services were even worse. The closest thing to tapping into the tribal urge to worship,Continue reading “Rapturous Hearts”

Klesha is a Buddhist term for “afflictive emotion,” or a state of being when one is under the grips of intense feelings, as if no longer grounded by rationality. Kleshas are believed to take the form of passion or attachment, aggression, ignorance or prejudice, pride and jealousy. The parallels between these and the seven deadlyContinue reading “Lost in Emotion, or Klesha”

The movie Joker and the show Haunting of Hill House both exist within a world other than realism, yet there are very real elements throughout. There are not many times when it is necessary to suspend disbelief when watching either, which is why they’re both haunting. What they do so effectively is show how theContinue reading “Joker, Hill House and Empathy”

I am high as I write this yet my relationship with pot is a conflicted one. I am by no means one of those stoners who hail it as an unmitigated good. I do not think the plant a physical manifestation of God, or the spirit of the universe. Rather, I think it’s a damnContinue reading “The Siren Bowl”

Dr. Christopher Ryan, in a book he co-wrote with his wife, Cacilda Jetha, Sex at Dawn, advances that humans, at their uncorrupted core, are nonmonogamous. Or rather, that monogamy is really fucking tough. He uses comparative primatology research into Bonobos to bolster his case, along with research on past and present hunter gatherer tribes thatContinue reading “Nonmonogamous Bonobos”

The lion, in Shambhala Buddhism, and the Tibetan tradition more broadly, represents one’s path to mindfulness and a present awareness of one’s immediate environment. The lion must be ever aware, to avoid predation and to vanquish prey. But I am out of the predation cycle in the traditional sense. My current predators are ethanol andContinue reading “The Lion and the Hyena”

Putting in our headphones, it was as if Allison and I began an ongoing secret in the midst of bustling Rome. We had each other, but we also had Rick Steve’s calming voice pumping into our ears, infusing the city with another layer of wonder, that of history. I am prone to feeling like IContinue reading “Rick Steves”

I’m a mental health counselor who has a lot to say. As our role requires us to have a sort of anonymity with our clients, with therapeutic judiciousness in self-disclosures, I have found that I have needed outlets elsewhere. Further, I’ve noticed that counselors tend to be free spirits, and if anyone is like me,Continue reading “A Mental Health Counselor”