Though the US has only 5% of the world’s population, it accounts for 80% of global opioid use. Over 11 million Americans abuse these drugs, and more than 130 die every day. Yet it’s not just the users who suffer damage. Many of those users are pregnant women. Once the...
Silence isn’t singular. There are lots of different kinds. There’s the positive silence you experience in mindful meditation, for instance, or defiant silence, where the withholding of information becomes a form of power. And then there’s the silence that comes from...
It’s easy to think that if something works for us, it will work for anyone. How could the action that brought us peace, say, or joy not bring that same good feeling to everyone who tries it? We come to each moment from our own history, our own tastes, our own habits,...
After trauma, it’s not just the brain that remembers. The body remembers, too. One thing that makes it even tougher on both is that trauma is often entwined with shame. We internalize the notion that we’re not supposed to talk about what happened to us. We believe...
As I sat down this morning to write, news came of yet another school shooting. Ten dead. At least a dozen injured. All in that small city outside of Houston traumatized in some way, directly or indirectly. Countless others of us may experience vicarious trauma to one...
