Tag: psychology
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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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This is how things really are.
This is how things really are., paper collage, 2022 He holds before his soul his image of perfection and unconsciously tells himself, ‘Forget about the disgraceful creature you actually are; this is how you should be; and to be this idealized self is all that matters. You should be able to endure everything, to understand […]
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On Creative Power
Petite Fleur, paper collage, 2022 There is no good reason why we should not develop and change until the last day we live. Karen Horney I always enjoy reading classic psychology books. They give me a sense of being transported to another time, of experiencing the genesis of ideas that shape how we think even […]
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When You Don’t Know, Then You Know
The Impostor, paper collage, 2021 It isn’t normal to know what we want. It is a rare and difficult psychological achievement. A. H. Maslow How easy is it to answer the question, what do you want? My answer: not easy. If I’m being asked what I want for dinner or what I’d like to do […]
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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 […]
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Of Sacred Seasons
This is time of year, my creativity seems to transform. Becomes almost corporeal—that is, more hands-on, more nurturing, more intensely connected to the rhythms of nature. Instead of spending my days in the writing room tinkering with poetry or experiments in collage, I find myself outdoors tending to the garden, to the wildlife that lives […]
The Used Life 