Mental Health

I often find myself thinking inside the box of my personal experience and the ways of thinking and behaving I was taught. I think there is often a lot of good in these acquired and inherited thought patterns. We can learn plenty from our peers and siblings and from those with more miles on their odometers.

Some people I've worked with have been sheepish while telling me that they get their "batteries recharged" by being alone. Most often I have thought of such comments as a useful tidbit of information that might help me to better understand the people I'm trying to help.

If she were still alive today Rosa Parks would be celebrating her 100th birthday. She was, of course, the African-American woman who mustered the courage to say no to an Alabama bus driver who told her to move to the back of the bus and had her arrested. In doing so, she served as a spark for the civil rights movement.

Sometimes it makes sense to learn from our mistakes… maybe all the time. But sometimes bad things happen… and they aren't mistakes, just bad outcomes. Anytime we take some measure of risk, however modest, and mix it with a quantity of real life, we may encounter bad outcomes.