simcha's postings about love, connection, parenting & personal growth
In his recent article in the NYTimes (The New Science of Mind, 9.6.2013), Professor Eric Kandel, asks us to consider the biology of depression. It is his belief that growing understanding of the physical workings of brain disorders, whether psychiatric or neurological, will give us new insights into who we are as human beings.
As long as we are on the topic of overcoming diversity and dealing with failure (see my recent post on Spanx and Failure), I thought I’d share a different angle that resonated strongly with me.
Leon Wieseltier, literary editor of The New Republic, finds himself deeply uncomfortable with the many claims heard by the successful (such as that of Oprah Winfrey in her recent address to the graduating class at Harvard) that “there is no such thing as failure.” The success stories put forth, he suggests, reflect not a triumph of inner resources, but yet another example of the “triumph of outer resources — a common confusion [among people] at the top.”
In this video clip from her show, Oprah Winfrey shares an aha! moment when interviewing author Toni Morrison (author of The Bluest Eye, Sula, Song of Solomon and Beloved) in 2000.
Appreciation and validation build our sense of importance and security in the world. Does your face light up when you see your children? Here is one simple way to validate your child, to let him/her know s/he is loved and appreciated.
Wesleyan University student Sarah Koppelkam has wise words for parents on the topic of keeping our female children healthy. Her personal blog entry was picked up and reprinted last month in the Huffington Post. Although this refreshing reminder is aimed at mothers, it contains much that fathers will find helpful as well.
Entrepreneur Sara Blakely transformed $5,000 in savings into a $500 million dollar-a-year company called Spanx, and in so doing revolutionized women’s undergarments in the process. She had never taken a business class in her life, and had never worked in the fashion or retail industries.
In an article in Psychology Today (12.4.2009) entitled What Makes Tigers Jump?, Professor of Psychology Harvey Milkman* looks at the much-discussed phenomenon of “love addiction,” clinically labelled “hysteroid dysphoria” by the New York State Psychiatric Insitute in 1979. Clinicians at the Institute labelled as a disorder a chronic and intense form of lovesickness they were observing with surprising frequency in the course of their psychiatric practice; the disorder was characterized by depression, depletion of energy, and increased appetite in response to feelings of rejection.
The relationship of adult children to their abusive parents gets little attention in the psychiatric literature. In an article in The Slate (The Debt, 2.18.13), columnist Emily Yoffe asks what grown children owe terrible, abusive parents when the latter come crawling back, often elderly, feeble and needy; she offers her take on forgiveness. The following is a selection from her longer article.