A Word on Wednesday: Bread

Walking into a kitchen with freshly baked bread offers one of the most soothing and comforting smells. It subtly invites gentleness and goodness. The aroma calls, "you are welcome here."  

Concretely, "bread" is a noun naming the food made of flour or meal mixed with milk or water, made into a dough or batter, with or without yeast or other leavening agents, and baked. 

World Communion Sunday is a celebration observed by several Christian denominations, taking place on the first Sunday of every October that promotes Christian unity and ecumenical cooperation. It focuses on an observance of the Eucharist. Across the world, Christians will gather on Oct. 7, uniting in Christ in fellowship with one another while being connected to an approximate billion partaking in the same ritual. 

However, the idiom "break bread" is indeed very secular as an expression to eat a meal in companionship with others. The fellowship of sharing a meal is common in business, in family, and in community. Working lunches. Team dinners. Birthday parties. Fundraising meals. Soup kitchens. 

A meal anchors us. The bread basket is passed, which we accept as a warming ritual of connecting. 

Abstractly, "bread" can be shorthand for food or sustenance or even livelihood and, in slang, money. Author Sue Monk Kidd offers this abstraction: "Our stories are the best 'bread' we can offer each other." 

Stories can comfort, welcome, and connect us. What can be said to one another to emote that same warm invitation as a lightly-browned loaf? 

A Word on Wednesday: Unburdening

There is work to be done, new ideas to be learned, and for that the problems of yesterday and the fears for tomorrow must be put out of the way.

By unburdening, we do now allow burdens to continue. Unburdening sighs out the heavy. 

It is freeing to relieve one's mind or body of a burden. Unburdening can take the form of revealing, confessing, casting off, getting rid of, or disclosing something.




In all instances, unburdening makes room, makes lighter. Unburdening, at its heart, is an active verb.

A Word on Wednesday: Humility

Humility is not the same as depravation.

I wish I had known.

Self depravation is the narrative looping to me, from me, in me, all me is that I am no good.
Too ugly, too dumb, too mean, too crazy, too lazy, too loud, too on and on unworthy.

Humility is the quality or state of being humble.
Humble not proud or haughty; not arrogant or assertive.

Depreciating, a verb, diminishing in value over a period of time; synonym, cheapen.

Now I know.

With humbleness, I whisper,
“Self, you are mighty.”

A Word on Wednesday: Caesura

Caesura is the main pause of a poem. The word originates from 16th Century Latin, literally translating to a cutting, from caedere to cut.  

The stop or pause in a metrical line, is often marked by punctuation or by a grammatical boundary, such as a phrase or clause. A medial caesura splits the line in equal parts. When the pause occurs toward the beginning or end of the line, it is termed, respectively, initial or terminal.  

Outside of poetry, caesura can be any interruption or a break, especially in a sense of pause.  

If life, one can caesura in most instances to one's benefit. The meter is to go on, to continue. It is a pause, not an end. 

A Word on Wednesday: Guilt

Shame: Who I am is not okay.

Guilt: What I do is not okay.

Growing up Catholic, I developed a misunderstanding of shame. The Catholic Church often gets blamed for this, and it is certainly not the only place one learns shame and shame is NOT central to Catholic teachings.

Guilt is. This is true of ALL Christian religions. (This is why the savior Jesus Christ is paramount to our salvation, but I'll save this exploration for the theologians and my private study on living the faith.)

Today, Ash Wednesday, we enter a dark period of reflecting on our guilt over our shortcomings, our human, inane falling short. Our "sin." My understanding of sin derives from its Hebrew root "to miss the mark." So as we all miss the mark, one must acknowledge guilt, ask for forgiveness --  from ourselves, from those we have wronged, and perhaps from a deity, a savior.

While it is easy to get suck in guilt, it is more important to seek forgiveness. For acknowledging wronging doing and making reconciliation is an active path. It moves toward peace.

A Word on Wednesday: Discovery

A discovery is an act or instance of discovering. Discovery also refers to the thing, which has been discovered. The discovery does not need to be something new in order to be discovered. Only new to the seeker.

I hope to routinely discover glimmers of real.

Daily Discovery
Flicker of light
Patterns esoteric
Truth in plain sight

A Word on Wednesday: Optimism

Optimism is something to celebrate.

An optimist will remember the promise of spring on a blustery, winter day, believe in what's possible rather than dwell on the impossible, and live with more hope than worry. This glass-half-full mindset is shorthand for optimism.     

The noun, optimism, is primarily defined as a disposition or tendency to look on the more favorable side of events or conditions and to expect the most favorable outcome. 

The word expect is key in looking at the definition. Optimists do not hope for or wish for, they expect. A true optimist will live without fear or doubt slowing them down. 

Further definitions of optimism are closer to its Latin and French Eighteenth Century roots. Optimism is a doctrine/teaching of a belief system:  

• that good ultimately predominates over evil in the world;

• that goodness pervades reality; or

• that the existing world is the best of all possible worlds.

In this way, optimism is faith. It is doctrine without contradiction, without hocus pocus, and without moral codes of conduct. Optimism also is a word without reference to a deity. It is simple, derived from Latin optimus best, superlative of bonus good. 

Optimism declares the world is good, a world where there is an ultimate triumph of good over evil. 

Optimists are not just looking to the bright side. Optimists are not just peering through rose-colored glasses. Optimists are more; they are believers. 

A Word on Wednesday: Passioneer

The noun passion is a strong emotion or feeling most often associated with lust and desire.
The suffix -eer originally occurred in loanwords from the French (buccaneer and pioneer) and productive in the formation of English nouns denoting persons who produce, handle, or are otherwise significantly associated with the referent of the base word (auctioneer; engineer.)

Passioneer is a word I concocted to describe people with an overzealous passion for seemingly innocuous objects.

Consider these hyperbole: 

- I am PASSIONATE about strawberries.

- I am PASSIONATE about breastfeeding.

- I am PASSIONATE about tennis.

- I am PASSIONATE about decorating.

Variations in career planning: 

- Helping people is my PASSION!

- Training horses are my PASSION!

- Food trucks are my PASSION! 

-Fitness is my PASSION!

I try to override my cynical side, but its familiar biting wit is hard to suppress. The word passioneer is my response to the overuse/misuse of the word passion. It's a joke I make with myself. 

The 1995 movie "French Kiss" was one of five VHS tapes I owned. My favorite line was stated by bad boy character "Luc" played by Kevin Kline, "People who say they are happy make my ass twitch." 

I find passioneers not quite ass-twitch worthy, but rather deserving of a smug eye roll. It makes more sense, for me, to find purpose over passion and to be tenacious rather than passionate. 

A Word on Wednesday: Stronger

Stronger is not second place in a race of three -- strong, stronger, strongest. Rather, it is a record of growth. Stronger is a superlative from the root word strong and can refer to physical and mental vigor.
 
When a comparative adjective is used, it requires one to consider, than what? One must supply the other side of the comparison. Consider the Nietzsche's observation, "what  doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

Does this, now common, aphorism mean stronger than dead or stronger than you were before you encountered the thing that almost killed you?

As a ranking adjective, stronger tempts one compete to become the strongest. However, the record of the strongest will be surpassed, just as best, fastest, and tallest. Stronger, then, is only for today. Stronger than yesterday, perhaps. Stronger than another, sometimes.

Stronger than thought possible is the attraction of trying to become so.

  

A Word on Wednesday: Recovery

I decided to wrap up my Mental Health series with the word recovery. The word recovery dates to the mid Fourteenth Century, from the Anglo-French recoverie; it speaks to a "return to health."  

Contemporary usage considers recovery as the act of recovering. This first definition acknowledges recovery is not a destination, but an act, indeed a continual act, of recovering. While it may not always remain conscious; recovery from illness is ongoing. This is true for mental and physical illness. 


Recovery can also refer to a restoration or return to health. Health, we must accept does not mean disease free or all clear. Health looks like living well in the context of the conditions present. 

We think about mental illness, from its symptoms, to its diagnosis, to its treatment, and we want to think of an end. We want to think cure. Symptoms come and go, flare up and subside, present and go dormant. Yet, the illness remains; the diagnosis remains true. 

We want recovery to mean cure. But it doesn't. Most mental illnesses are not curable. The hope lies in treatment and prevention. There is no sight of eradication, or even decline of occurrence.  However, one can make a commitment to act on recovering. This repeated action becomes a habit, and this healthy habit then becomes health. 

Today marks the last day of May. While, it seems every month is national something or other month. I do feel compelled each year to consider "Mental Health" during "Mental Health Month" in May. I wish there was no need for months of awareness. So this May, I devoted my words to relate to mental health. You can catch up here: Awareness, Patient, Stigma, and Diagnosis. 

A Word on Wednesday: Diagnosis

Don't let them LABEL you! 

Don't let them LABEL your child!

Don't believe the LABELS!

The word diagnosis is not synonymous with "label." 

The medical term, diagnosis, is simple and straightforward. The noun's primary definition is twofold (a) the process of determining by examination the nature and circumstances of a diseased condition and (b) the decision reached from such an examination.

From a point of proper diagnosis, proper treatment can begin. Therefore, a diagnosis isn't something to fear or avoid. It isn't a mark or a stain. It is an opportunity. It is a classification. It is an identification. 

The medical sciences of psychology and psychiatry are far from sacred and just. Still, I choose to distinguish a diagnosis from a label. A diagnosis offers hope and inspires action. A label seems harsher and static.

I think people are hesitant to accept a mental health diagnosis for a variety of reasons.

(Some of which I talked about earlier this month here here and here)

I found this article about the value of a proper diagnosis in this Psychology Today 2014 article. You can read it here.  

A Word on Wednesday: Stigma

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, 

"No one can make you feel inferior without your permission." 

When we think about Mental Health Awareness, we often hear pleas to stop the stigma. Stop the stain, the blot, the tarnish that is mental illness. 

By definition: The noun, stigma, refers to a mark of disgrace; a stain or reproach as on one's reputation. Medically, this is a mental or physical mark that is characteristic of a defect or disease. 

Mental health care advocates work tirelessly to rid societal-level conditions, cultural norms, and institutional practices that breed stigma. 

It is my experience the most damaging stigma is the internalized stigma. It is our own voice beating us down. We do this, because we believe the lie that having a mental illness is disgraceful. By living that lie, health is denied, and we damage ourselves farther. 

The internalized stigma is often far worse than the actual discrimination or consequences of accepting a mental illness as part of one's overall health condition. 

We don't have to feel this way. We don't have to feel less than. 

  

A Word on Wednesday: Bliss

American mythologist Joseph Cambell (1904-1987) has this to say about bliss: 

"When you follow your bliss  ... doors will open where you would not have thought there would be doors and where there wouldn't be a door for anyone else." 

The cynic will dismiss bliss, mocking the pursuit of such lavish joy. Yet, one should be careful to not confuse the word bliss with over-the-top false happiness. Bliss is not found in drunkenness or loudness or mockery. 

Rather bliss is found in sincerity and authenticity. Bliss is the freedom from hypocrisy and deceit. Bliss is found in the commitment to genuineness. 

Its definition of supreme happiness or utter joy or contentment has ties to theology's joy of heaven and a bliss eternal. 

In the secular use of the word, I dare to remain courageously, selfishly in pursuit of bliss. 

A Word on Wednesday: Heliotropic

Heliotropic: 

Turning or growing toward the light. Heliotropism can be easily seen in sunflowers, which slowly turn their large flowers so that they continually face the sun. However, the adjective heliotropic can describe any noun and any light source.

A heliotropic student turns toward 

the light of knowledge.

A heliotropic flower turns toward 

the light of the sun.

Plants classified as heliotropes have flowers and leaves, which turn toward the sun. Marigolds, poppies, sunflowers, and daisies are examples of heliotropes.

Daisies are commonplace both as a wildflower and in the beds of intentional gardeners. The daisy’s hardy character survives perennially. Many a season of indecision has been soothed by pulling petal by petal — loves me, loves me not. I consider the daisy to be my favorite flower. Despite it’s simple, common presence, it stands out to me.  Perhaps, it was the daisy that really picked me to guide me in moving to the light.

There is grace when one can turn to face the light and absorb its radiance. Like the daisy, I long to move toward the lights of inspiration, the lights of my life, and the light offered each dawn.

Turning to the light, and thereby from darkness or shadows is not a new bright idea. The phenomenon of heliotropism was known by the Ancient Greeks, demonstrated with the word heliotropium, meaning sun turn.  

As spring builds momentum, I am again reminded to turn to light, to chart with optimism, to navigate with intention to the moving source of good. 

A Word on Wednesday: Will

Today's post is about the word will when used as an auxiliary verb. An auxiliary verb is used in forming tenses, moods, and voices of other verbs. Will moves an action to the future.

After we collectively counted down the last minutes of 2016, we embarked on 2017 with its promise of 365 unwritten days.

With articulated resolutions told with varying conviction, we believed in the power of positive change. Resolutions are by definition set in the future: will lose weight, will quit smoking, will go back to school, will ask for a promotion, will pay down my debt, will attend more concerts, will make a new friend, will read twelve books, or will finish writing that novel.


A friend, who died last month at the age of 39, often repeated this common sentiment:
"There are only two days that nothing can be done. One is yesterday. The other is tomorrow."

I have come to loath the word will  in both my writing and my thoughts. No longer do I have the luxury of ignorance of immortality. There is no time to will. There is no value in saying "I will write tomorrow." or "I will hug my loved ones tomorrow."


The helping verb will is dependent on assumptions. The assumption of a future. The assumption of a second chance. The assumption of endless mortal days.

I challenge myself to learn from literature. I challenge myself to avoid wishful thinking. I challenge myself to avoid will my action verbs to an uncertain future.

I act today with purpose. I postpone only the least important items. Laundry may never be complete. My floors may never be those to eat upon.

Yet, I promise to eradicate the helping verb will from my vernacular. I promise to live today.

I also vow to avoid the helping verb will in my poetry and prose. Few novels are written in future tense. (If you can think of one, please let me know.)

*Note: I know not why this friend was called early and I was given more days on earth. I miss her. Her mantra was "Loving Living Life 2Day."

Live well my friends. Live well.

A Word on Wednesday: Hope

 The abstract hope cannot be illustrated beyond the four letters it contains.

Hope, when used as a verb, is seemingly without action. We cannot see someone hoping. Hope doesn't sound like much more than "wishful thinking," which cannot be measured or observed.

The expression, "all we can do now is hope," marks this action as one of last resort. When all efforts to control a situation fail, only hope remains, until even that is sometimes lost.

What if we started with hope?

As a noun hope is confidence in the future. The word's actual synonyms include courage, optimism, expectation. Its opposite is despair.

In contrast, a wish is more of request or a bid, and dreams are imaginings or visions. Likewise, to want is to yearn. Hope, though, steadfastly remains a reasonable assurance, just as it was at its origin in Old English, c.1200.

Hope, then, becomes the action of the strong and resilient. In silent elegance, one can hope with just a breath.

I close with these words from John Lennon, "Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end." 

A Word on Wednesday: Restore

Today, I celebrate the word restore. 

Photo Credit

The verb restore is one to use in prose, poetry, and conversation. It is precise in its promise of righting wrongs. The practice of restoring requires faith in bringing back the authenticity of the original. Restoring provides the opportunity to make whole again.

Restore's intended use with an object has resonating applications for both concrete and abstract nouns.

Photo Restoration 

Concretely, one can restore furniture, paintings, photographs, jewelry, buildings, vehicles, musical instruments, clothing, statues, or documents. This is not to be confused with replicating or replacing.






The action word restore is also one to practice in living.

And here, I refer to abstract objects -- the ideas, the man made constructs:

Photo Credit

• Self
• Faith
• Trust
• Friendship
• Health
• Hope
• Vigor
• Confidence
• Strength
• Love
• Peace
• Order

This abstract restoration offers the best chance at sustaining our most authentic self. Listen to your genuine cravings for well being to restore what becomes lost in the busyness of living.

A Word on Wednesday: Suffer

Using the verb suffer with an object is one of my word choice pet peeves. The culprit is the acceptable definition  No. 5: "to undergo, be subjected to, or endure (pain, distress, injury, or anything unpleasantness).

Consider when the object of the sentence is an illness:

She suffers from diabetes.

He suffers from cancer. 

I suffer from bipolar disorder.

Now consider the same idea told with a different action verb. The subject of the sentence sounds stronger in every instance.

She manages her diabetes. 

He lives with cancer.

I treat my bipolar disorder. 

I blame well-meaning writing coaches for campaigning against the use of passive language. We are taught the following statements are weak.

She has diabetes.

He has cancer.

I have bipolar disorder. 

So rather than clearly and objectively stating a condition, writers are supposed to replace the passive "has" with an active verb. Suffer, then, does the trick; it is dramatic.  

The word itself is pronounced with a softness, a weakness, a helplessness: [suhf-er]. It does not sound tough. When one defines her reality as suffering, it reinforces a victim mentality. Perhaps a person faces disease, compensates for disability, accepts illness, embraces challenge. Perhaps the pain associated with the disease is manageable.





Recently, I read "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running," by Haruki Murakami and the following line gave me pause. I tossed it back and forth in my mind.

"Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional."

I find Murakami's observation logical and true. I also find it comforting. It encourages one to accept the pain and face it.

When we talk about having an illness "suffering is optional."

The word I would use instead of suffer is one of graceful strength.

Endure.

One can endure the pain, weather the storm, and carry on.

 

May is Mental Health Awareness Month

Mental Health Awareness month begins today. 

 When I think of stigma, I don't really think that the world needs to be better educated in order to accept me, or anyone else, with a mental illness diagnosis. It just took ME to accept bipolar is real, to move past popular opinion that the disease is personal weakness. I had to stop believing the diagnosis was bogus and embarrassing in order to reach health for myself. By accepting the condition and identifying it, proper treatment can follow, and or about 80 percent of people with bipolar, health can be achieved through treatment. Those are pretty good odds that treatment could be worth effort. 

Live Well! 

I will be at some events in Northeast Wisconsin to honor the month. Thank you for your interest in sharing stories about mental health, and thank you to the non-profit and government agencies who make platforms available for this subject. 

Wednesday, May 6 (11:30 - 7 p.m.) "Stigma: You're WISE if You Lose It" Health Fair with presentations at noon and 6 p.m.  Free Community Event featuring Pat Smith, Cecilia Broussard, and Tracy Rogers at UW-Manitowoc Campus. Signed copies of "Stress Fracture: A Memoir of Psychosis" will be available for purchase at a discounted rate of $10 all day. I will be at the fair from 11:30 a.m. until about 2:30 p.m. This event is presented by Healthiest Manitowoc County Mental Wellness Coalition.

** WISE (Wisconsin Initiative for Stigma Elimination) is a statewide organization promoting inclusion and support for all affected by mental illness by advancing evidence-based practices for stigma reduction efforts.  

Thursday, May 7 (2 p.m.) Book Discussion at the Door County Library, Sturgeon Bay. Join Library Director Becca Berger and Dr. Dennis White (psychologist) for a discussion on the memoir. Copies of the book are available for borrowing at the library. Request a copy via the library's online catalog: InfoSoup.org. For more information, contact Cheryl at the library, (920) 746-2383. This discussion is sponsored by Door County Public Health Department Mental Health Focus Group and Door County Library. 

Friday, May. 8 - Saturday, May 9 (two-day event) Lakefly Literary Conference. I will be leading a memoir writing workshop Saturday morning. Come for Keynote Speaker Michael Perry, stay for the breakouts and connect with like-minded souls. Lakefly

Monday, May 11 (6 - 7:30 p.m.) Free Community Presentation, Resource Fair, and Q&A with the author brought to you by Door County Public Health Department Mental Health Focus Group.

Location: Prince of Peach Lutheran Church, 1756 Michigan St., Sturgeon Bay.  

Monday, May 11 (12:15 -1:15 p.m.) Education Program Sponsored by Door County Public Health Department Mental Health Focus Group. 

• Location: Ministry Door County Medical Center, Conference Rooms One and Two. 
• Intended Audience: Primary Care Physicians and All Other Clinic Providers. 
• Program Objectives: 

1. To learn to encourage voluntary treatment even when the person does not meet the commitment standard criteria of being a danger to himself or others; to understand that health is achievable despite a mental illness diagnosis.
2. To empathize with people experiencing symptoms of mental illness and respect them as human beings; to set aside prejudices and stereotypes.
3. To accept mental illness as a legitimate health problem and struggle that is outside of a person's control, while still holding him accountable for his actions.  

• Lunch Included
• RSVP: Medical Staff Services, Laurel Wise (920) 746-3741, ext. 3741 or Laurel.Wise@ministryhealth.org. 

Saturday, May 30  Private Book Club. (Invite me to your book club via Sykpe or in person. Free autographed copy for the host.)

A novel walk

I snapped the following pictures on the Ice Age Trail in Manitowoc, Wis. around 9 a.m. this morning. The scenery is inspiration for a fictional setting in my novel in progress. Enjoy the view, my friends. And, forgive my amateur photography skills.