Tag: psychology
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Everything I Am, I Was Once Afraid Of
Times Are Changing, paper collage, 2021 Everything I am, I was once afraid of or vehemently disliked or found to be boring, uninspiring, or otherwise not worthy of my own time and attention. It’s true. When I was a child, I was terrified of water. And I mean terrified. Screaming, wailing, panic-stricken terrified. So, my […]
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The Road I Know
Life of Objects No. 3, paper collage, 2022 I’ve been sprinkling food on the ground beneath my bird feeders for the past year. The squirrels very much appreciate it, of course, as do the doves and sparrows, who often show up in large numbers during cold weather. Although, the reason I do it, really, is […]
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On Possibility
Going Places, paper collage, 2021 Of the various subjective experiences of creativity that I’ve attempted to describe over the years, the one that probably fascinates me most (next to the role of novelty in creativity) is the feeling, or sense, of possibility that seems inherent in creative work. An example: I flip through a 1953 […]
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Trust in Everyday Life
Stuck in the Middle, paper collage, 2022 The ego is not master in its own house. Sigmund Freud I made a trip to my favorite used bookstore on Saturday. They have the largest and most eclectic psychology section of any local bookstore I know, and since I began Freud’s New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis a […]
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Sensitivity Is a Virtue
Sensitivity Is a Virtue, collage on book cover, 2022 We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are. Anaïs Nin I sometimes think I’ve grown more sensitive as I’ve gotten older. Indeed, I seem to have reached that age at which a great deal of popular culture now offends my sensibilities, […]
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Eye, Heart, and Mind
Simplicity, paper collage, 2022 Every human being must have a point at which he stands against the culture, where he says, this is me and the damned world can go to hell. Rollo May When I first started The Used Life in April 2017, I wanted to create a space in which to not only […]
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Part of the Silence
Mourning Dove In order to see birds, it is necessary to become a part of the silence. Robert Lynd I was recently told that my birdwatching hobby is “quaint”. Whether this particular comment was intended to be complimentary or not (I think not), I chose to take it that way. I have, it seems, reached […]
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House of Cards
House of Cards, mixed media collage, 2021 I’ve spent time over the past several days working with Victorian cabinet cards and found photographs. What I like most about this particular medium (aside from the fact that it’s inherently playful and fun) is the challenge. If you’re familiar with cabinet cards, you know they are Victorian-era […]
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On Killer Instincts
You’re a Dream, mixed media collage, 2021 In Women Who Run With the Wolves, Clarissa Pinkola Estés discusses the “life-death-life” aspects of our nature—the idea that life, in its fullest form (and woman, in her fullest form) is a series of deaths and rebirths. It is this concept of “life-death-life” that got me thinking about […]
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On Gratitude
It seems popular these days to speak of gratitude as an almost magical inner experience. As if feeling thankful is, quite literally, some sort of magnet, a means of attracting the good life and all it affords. That is, love, abundance, freedom, and general life satisfaction. I emphatically disagree with this viewpoint. Of course, I’ve […]
The Used Life 