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Beyond Blue

Jim McDermott, associate editor at “America” magazine, recently invited me and others (lawyers, artists, peace activists, academics, religious leaders) to contribute a piece of advice for college graduates that he published in a special education issue. This is what I wrote (and it definitely applies to living with depression): Love the Questions In college I…

Speaking of advice for graduates, here are a few passages from recent commencement addresses that I found especially meaningful. From them I gleaned many insights on how to live more gracefully with depression and anxiety. Toni Morrison at Wellesley College, 2004: You are your own stories and therefore free to imagine and experience what it…

“Enough about me. What do you think about me?” Does that sound familiar? You know the type of self-absorbed person I’m talking about. And I really try not to be her. That’s precisely why I didn’t write about myself for a very long time–I was afraid of being self-indulgent. So instead I published compilations of…

I thought reader Becky made an excellent point with regard to self-indulgence and depression in her comment on the “Unrealistic Expectations: Perfection’s Trophy Wife” post: I’m having a very hard time seeing what in this post would prompt criticisms of “selfish” or “self-indulgence.” So, I talked to my husband, who does not suffer from his…

In “Being Perfect,” bestselling author Anna Quindlen advises high school and college graduates to work from a clean slate … to give up on being perfect. I keep the gift book beside my computer (with Miguel Ruiz’s “The Four Agreements” and many other books, information hoarder that I am) as a constant reminder to be…

From Ruiz’s “The Four Agreements“: Whatever happens around you, don’t take it personally…. If I see you on the street and I say, “Hey, you are so stupid,” without knowing you, it’s not about you; it’s about me. If you take it personally, then perhaps you believe you are stupid. Maybe you think to yourself,…

I’m pretty sure that I won’t get too many more opportunities to sing the “Mourner’s Kaddish Prayer” (Yit-gadal v’yit-kadash sh’mey raba…) right before the lyrics of “Moon River” (“Moon River, wider than a smile…”) and say the prayer of “Hinei Ma Tov” (“Hinei ma tov uma na-im…”) after the singing the refrain of “Lean On…

Yesterday I popped in on Bill to see how he was doing. I suspect the week after the funeral is the hardest, when all the company has left, and you’re there among her dresses and jewelry and paintings and books, and you have to decide what to do with it all. And how to begin…

I will be discussing my post from last Friday, “Depression: It’s Spiritually Incorrect” on Sirius radio, on the Catholic Channel, Wednesday morning at 6:40 a.m. If you’re up, tune in!

I learned a very important lesson about jealousy driving back from J. C. Penny’s last night. David and Katherine had just picked out 15 new pairs of underwear (I’m on day three of potty training Katherine, if you hadn’t already picked up on the tension in my recent posts), and a pair of summer flip-flops.…
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