practice Humility, Non-Resistance, Accountability 
be Responsible, Reflective, Remorseful, Honest, Authentic, Willing 
choose times to be Unhurried, Silent, Open
again and again and again​

restraint
​apology
​forgiveness
humility
charity
chasten
gratitude
temperance
patience
diligence
love
kindness
faith
modesty
self control
mildness
goodness
receptivity
benevolence
​harmony
order
​resolution
tranquility
​moderation
sincerity
sobriety
​amity
faith
courage
strength
endurance
​rest
​mercy

---

2013

The aging of a therapist
​I do roughly 1600 sessions a year

2023

Being a therapist is not for the faint of heart, as we also have personal lives

Boston Marathon bombing; Tea Party Movement; More than 4000 mass shootings; marriage equality became law = ); Paris attacks; the murders of Walter Scott, Freddie Gray; Syrian Refugee Crisis; death of a family member; 2016 election; seven straight years of American political discord; got married; 'Unite the Right,' Charlottesville rally; Woolsey Fire; Puerto Rico Hurricanes; Montecito Mudslide; Griffith Park wildfire one mile west of my office while I was in session, two weeks later, the Trader Joe's shooting and hostage incident one mile south of my office while I was in session; Covid 19 global pandemic, Southern California 2020 wildfires, murder of George Floyd, BLM protests; the death of RBG and the reshaping of the Supreme Court; the death of multiple clients of mine; two presidential impeachments; 2020 election; MAGA 'Stop the Steal' movement; January 6th; AAPI hate wave; several buildings and bridges bizarrely collapse; revival of lynchings; my divorce; dove off the wagon for 23 months (after 27 years sober)- got back up and stayed back on the wagon; death of family pet; got into trauma training; stock market tanked; more wildfires; lost 'paid for' but unused office to LA real estate poachers as pandemic lifted; suicide bomber attacks; got into trauma supervision group; rise of domestic terrorism in the US; withdrawal from Afghanistan; banking crisis/multiple banks permanently closed; droughts, tornadoes, flooding, more mudslides, more earthquakes; the deaths of dozens of American heroes in government, sports, music, film, theatre, literature; Roe v Wade overturned; smash and grab robberies; I got back into therapy myself; Britney Griner detained; Paul Pelosi attack; catastrophic snow storms California; book bans; Lahaina Fire; suicide wave; American Labor Movement and double strike in LA; world at war in Ukraine, Middle East, and the Nagorno-Karabakh clashes; Ardamata massacre, American violence with guns, vehicles, knives, fists; housing crisis; Libya's devastatingly catastrophic 'Storm Daniel'; Hurricane Hilary hitting Southern California; 91 felony counts against a former president; no house speaker for 21 days; the right now eating the right and the left now eating the left; arson attack 10 freeway; November 2023 student absenteeism rate is 67%, reading proficiency is at 33% in American schools and hate crimes are up 388% and there is likely a rematch of the 2020 election?

​So my eyes have lost their sparkle, my face fallen, and my hair is turning white.
It seems this occupation holds a costly bargain.
​☉
​​but
You too, have gone through these news cycles with your own crucibles
and
We Shall Overcome.
March on, goddamnit, just march on
It's one foot in front of the other.
​One foot, then the other
🁢
​​​it won't always be this way
it won't always be this way