A special word for my US readers (+ 69-ish)

I just want to take a moment and speak to my readers in the United States and say that my respect and compassion go out to everyone who’s genuinely wrestling with how best to resist what’s coming in the wake of Monday’s presidential inauguration. As you know I now live in Portugal for nearly 3 years, so I’m not in the frying pan. But, regardless of where you are in the world, we are all to some degree going to be held hostage to the man’s cruel whims and tantrums. At this point, the U.S. is a wobbling behemoth – the real question is when it topples who will be left in the wreckage? 

“Mental Health”: A Dirty Word?

A long while back (before my current partner, Ron), I was in a committed relationship and my then-partner and I decided to get some couples counseling. He was a successful businessman and scared to death that somebody would find out that we were seeing a therapist.

Kundalini Awakening and Enlightenment 

I frequently hear from folks who tell me that they’re going through or have gone through what’s called a “kundalini awakening”. 

And they’re either really concerned about it or it’s a matter of fact as they share with me their experience and how it’s affecting their lives.

Are Kundalini and Cannabis compatible?

I often get letters from folks sharing their experiences and asking questions. This correspondence can offer spectacular insights and musings that answer questions that many others have on their mind. So I’m sharing this one with you today…

Taking care of yourself. Naval gazing works.

Just a quick note as I’m writing from Thailand (Chiang Mai specifically, in the north of the country). It was a long trip – between 4 flights and hefty layovers – 27 hours worth. I’m here physically but tired and discombobulated having landed late yesterday and flopping at a simple and clean little hotel near the airport. I tried everything to sleep (including breathing, counting backwards from 100 and even the podcast “Sleep with me.”

What lurks behind your stress?

“I am so stressed, I am stressed all the time!” Miguel lamented. 

“Can you tell me more about what that means?” I ask. “Would you say you’re anxious or fearful about something?” 

“I don’t know,” he says shaking his head, “I’m just really stressed!”

Miguel is typical in that he uses the word “stress” as a place holder for what he’s feeling – because he doesn’t have the language to apply to what he’s actually feeling.

If “Anxiety disorder” is a mental illness, then are most of us mentally ill? Enter Cannabis.

Back in the day, anxiety was the wallpaper and furnishings of my mind. I (somehow) soldiered through, but living in anxiety was a way of life for me. I’d panic in social situations, I’d worry about upcoming events (that paranoid feeling of suspicion and mistrust of people or their actions without evidence or justification), and I’d ruminate – focusing on repetitive thoughts of catastrophe.