The Body Keeps the Score Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
- Presenter: Bessel van der Kolk
- Presenter: Licia Sky
Work is excellent as I got approved to be able to give continuing professional education credits to other social workers for teaching them how to do what I do with caregivers of loved ones with dementia. I also received a very small merit raise. My private practice has grown through word of mouth and I am also working with couples as well as individuals. Madison went on Birthright to Israel and loved the experience and reported that it was better than she expected as it was different than when she went at 16- Actually, she is different and therefore the benefits were enormous for her.
I have taken to living alone quite well. ( I do have 2 cats) I do not feel lonely or sad about that. I am very busy and have many professional relationships that I enjoy and have been trying to cultivate some into personal friendships as well but it is tough at this age. Many of my professional colleagues, already have well established friendships and are quite busy themselves. I do most social activities by myself. Last night I went to a live podcast in Philadelphia at a club called Ruba.
Every week, Mark Gagliardi and Hal Lublin take the dumb issues
in life that people care strongly about and settle the argument once and
for all. No topic is too small or insignificant for them to dissect and
decide! Whatever minutiae you argue with friends and family, don’t
worry: We Got This.
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While at that podcast taping, I experienced that I live in small world when it comes to being weird, strange, unusual or different. There is a much bigger world out there that live on a edge that I could not imagine before hand. In comparison I am pretty mainstream. The experience allowed me to open my soul even wider to let go of judgments and assumptions about the "other". It got me wondering if I could allow myself to unleash my social conventions if I would become even stranger than I already am and am I who I am because I desired acceptance to fit in and belong or in fact I am completely true to myself. In other words, how much of who I am is truly me rather than who I decided I needed to be in order to belong. I do remember at a young age- wishing to be normal which of course meant- go to college, fall in love, get married, buy a house and raise a family, go on vacations, save money, take care of one another, do volunteer work and be a good citizen, neighbor and friend. etc. That was the script I thought was best and I wanted it. Of course it did not turn out that way and there have been times that I thought I failed. I worked hard to cope with that feeling and finally was able to let it go. Fortunately, I now live in a world where the scripts are many and some are far reaching. Nice and simply- truly, unless I am in prison for life, I have not failed.
Which brings me full circle to my dreams for retirement planning. Goal #1- Stay alive until I am 66.25 years old- (don't die before I retire). Goal #2- have zero balances on all my credit cards. Goal #3- sell everything I can and rent an seaside apartment in the Caribbean for one year. #4- Return to USA an buy a place in Ventnor, NJ and put it in Madison's name with a life estate to me. #5- See the USA in my Chevrolet and trailer.
While at that podcast taping, I experienced that I live in small world when it comes to being weird, strange, unusual or different. There is a much bigger world out there that live on a edge that I could not imagine before hand. In comparison I am pretty mainstream. The experience allowed me to open my soul even wider to let go of judgments and assumptions about the "other". It got me wondering if I could allow myself to unleash my social conventions if I would become even stranger than I already am and am I who I am because I desired acceptance to fit in and belong or in fact I am completely true to myself. In other words, how much of who I am is truly me rather than who I decided I needed to be in order to belong. I do remember at a young age- wishing to be normal which of course meant- go to college, fall in love, get married, buy a house and raise a family, go on vacations, save money, take care of one another, do volunteer work and be a good citizen, neighbor and friend. etc. That was the script I thought was best and I wanted it. Of course it did not turn out that way and there have been times that I thought I failed. I worked hard to cope with that feeling and finally was able to let it go. Fortunately, I now live in a world where the scripts are many and some are far reaching. Nice and simply- truly, unless I am in prison for life, I have not failed.
Which brings me full circle to my dreams for retirement planning. Goal #1- Stay alive until I am 66.25 years old- (don't die before I retire). Goal #2- have zero balances on all my credit cards. Goal #3- sell everything I can and rent an seaside apartment in the Caribbean for one year. #4- Return to USA an buy a place in Ventnor, NJ and put it in Madison's name with a life estate to me. #5- See the USA in my Chevrolet and trailer.
