Barn Life Blog
Body and Psyche: Healing the Divide
Well, we made it! Starting this week Barn Life programs are officially on campus! I thought it an interesting experiment as we connected through such physical distance. Our last theme, I believe, reflected our best efforts under the strain of social distancing....
Inner Alchemy Week 4: the Rubedo
Well, in our series of transformation, we have come to week 4, the rubedo. We have spent time exploring stages and experiences of suffering and healing with an alchemical eye. Growth is difficult. To shift the patterns of our relationships, our moods, and our deepest...
The Albedo, or the Whitening of the Black
We begin our 3rd week on inner transformation- a look into alchemy- with a short poem describing this stage known as the Albedo. The ash is washed away To reveal our original purity To every black, there must be a white. A heaven to every hell. And so Behind the mask...
Weekly Theme: The Crows That Ate My Bagel
This morning, while writing on the Nigredo, I ordered a bagel and coffee from a local favorite., As I checked the front porch I saw only coffee. Where was bagel? The writing continued as I sipped on my coffee and my gurgling stomach remarked of the injustice. I...
Inner Alchemy: An Introduction to Transformation
This week we begin our series on inner alchemy. I’d like to start with a brief explanation of the history of alchemy and why it is an important practice for mental health. We will be exploring certain stages of change from an alchemical perspective and offering...
Suicide and the Soul Part II: Writing Down the Soul
Is it a common occurrence for you to pay attention? How much of your day is spent in the here and now? When you add up the countless hours of television, mindless tasks, ruminating thoughts, and mind-filled wonderings, it can illuminate just how removed from reality...
A New Relationship With Fear
Here at Barn Life Recovery, we receive a lot of inquiries from folks dealing with anxiety. And a couple weeks ago, a blog of ours laid out some strategies for dealing with anxiety and we’d like to pick that thread back up. A recent piece in O, The Oprah Magazine...
Weekly Theme: Suicide and the Soul
Death is our friend precisely because it brings us into absolute and passionate presence with all that is here, that is natural, that is love… Life always says Yes and No simultaneously. Death (I implore you to believe) is the true Yea-sayer. It stands before eternity...
Weekly Theme: Giant Narcissus
Early in my depth-psychological studies, I was drawn to the artwork of John William Waterhouse. His paintings capture the great drama of many mythic and fairytale images. I’d sit in a sort of meditation looking at the orchestra of expression. This amplification...
National Mental Health Awareness Month
May is National Mental Health Awareness Month and it couldn’t come at a better time. In some parts of the country, shelter-in-place orders are being lifted and some folks aren’t happy about it. In other parts, the orders are being extended and people aren’t happy...
Borderline Personality Disorder and Mythology
You may never see it coming. The defenses can be aggressive, frigid, fiery, slithering, and destabilizing. Not too long ago I entered a women’s mental health inpatient to run a weekly group. Client rotation is common so meeting new faces is part of the job. I wore a...
The Three Marriages and Marriage to Others
What makes up a marriage? Is it an outdated construct that reflects religious themes and rejects the instinctual nature of our existence? Some may say yes, others no. Today, we enter the idea of marriage to others with a mixed bag of unconscious factors. These often...
Marriage to the Self
I wish I knew the beauty Of leaves Falling To whom are we beautiful As we go? A Parable There once lives a king, long before our histories. He sat at the center of a thriving united kingdom. His subjects were joyful. His lands were ripe, green and beautiful. One day...
Some Facts About Anxiety
As we’ve mentioned in a few recent blogs, anxiety is now a constant companion during the current pandemic. While those already suffering from mental health conditions are at particular risk, learning to cope with it has become a necessity for all of us. With this in...
The Connection Between the Soul and Work
An Early Memory When I no more than 6 or 7 years old, I often played the role of witness to the family. As the youngest of 4 and the only boy, I saw a household of mysterious beings with different thoughts, feelings, rituals and attitudes. I remember sitting outside...
The Common Threads of Life
Existential Angst During the Pandemic Dr. James Hillman once said that our modern culture worships two gods above the rest: economy and psychology. Today, individuals revolve like constellating planets around these two universal structures. Less common are the words...
Mental Health and the COVID-19 Pandemic
A New Set of Problems Social distancing is helping to slow the spread of COVID-19 and without an antidote or vaccine, it’s currently one of our only tools to combat the disease. However, it is also presenting a new set of problems. A recent article by PBS highlights...
Uncertainty, Impermanence, and Pema Chodron
Calming Words in a Time of Groundlessness Uncertainty continues to grow and expand and deepen around us, creating perhaps, its own virus, a virus in the heart. We hear the words today, “everything is so fluid and we don’t know what’s next”. My own levels of anxiety...