Abigail Carter: the Alchemy of Loss: A Young Widow’s Transformation

A Huffington Post article posted today discussed the idea of grief being medically classified as a mental illness, treatable with medications much the way depression is handled by the medical community. The article was based on an article that was published in The New York Times on Jan 25th. While...

I went to a reading on Sunday at Elliot Bay Books in Seattle (great independent bookstore) for a book called 1000 Mitzvahs. Linda Cohen began writing by blogging about her daily random acts of kindness – Mitzvahs – a mission she set about completing as a way of overcoming...

I’m having a Joseph Campbell-y sort of week. It started on Monday with a viewing of the documentaryFinding Joe, a reiteration of Joseph Campbell’s writings in Power of Myth and that whole “Hero’s Journey” thing. The movie (and the book) tells the story of an ancient Buddhist village that was about to...

Missing the moment with my iPhone The bird found himself in my room despite no doors or windows being open anywhere in the house. He flapped around the far window trying desperately to find his way out. I whispered to him. “It’s OK. Stay calm,” as I moved slowly toward...

A shorter version of this piece ran on September 1st, 2011 in The NY Daily News. This same long version also ran in Hello Grief and Mindbodyspiritodyssey.com Arron, Carter and my grandfather on the new dock, Ste. Lucie, August 2001 On that sunny September morning as I was stuffing our daughter...

Richard's Rwanda girls meet FAWE girls Yesterday was the 17th anniversary of the beginning of the Genocide in Rwanda. Olivia has been involved in Richard’s Rwanda IMPUHWE since she was 11 years old and last summer visited Rwanda to meet the girls that they have been helping, an incredibly powerful...

I’ve been slogging away on my chapter about Love Addiction. I keep writing and every time I finish a sentence, it feels like the next sentence should be “I guess I really need to attend a Love Addicts Anonymous meeting.” I will admit that I am curious, but something...

fire-spirits-dancing-free When I got an email from psychic Lisa telling me that she had moved to Vashon Island permanently, I couldn’t help but write her back with a crazy idea I had for the novel that I have been working on, written from the perspective of a guy in...

I’ve been reading this awesome book called “Awakening Joy: 10 Steps That Will Put You On The Road to Real Happiness” and this seemed like a good day to write about the main idea that this books talks about, which has to do with taking the time to notice...

Despite all that chatter about staying stuck in widowhood, or perhaps because of it, I have been attempting to write about Arron for the new book I hope to write. Oddly, I am finding this infinitely difficult to do and keep finding ways of distracting myself, so I don’t...