Pizza Break

Such a messed-up way to respond to someone. To acknowledge someone said something, yet without even completing the sentence indicated by a period, a comma and a word thrown afterwards to discount thought, trump an opinion of another with your own. "But," typically the next phrase intending to discount or argue what the "yeah," recognized. "Well Tim, I think that we should put up Christmas lights for the Holidays." Says Jill very excited about her plan. "Yeah, but what about if we, um, don't." Responds Tim. "I just think that it will add to the holiday cheer and others will like it is all." Jill's response more subdued now. "Right, um, no." Says Tim as he continues to read his paper without looking up or even considering a change. "Yeah, but..." Isn't anything but. They occur all the time and can be done so, as Tim showed us, with different words. What to look for is when these things occur in...

When I first decided to get my foot in the door of a mental health profession, my years of nutrition and supplement sales didn’t provide much background. Well, as any resume building youngster knows, sometimes you take a position that isn’t exactly a dream job, but it gives that much-needed experience. My first job in the field was working with adolescents who struggled in life. The struggle could have been legal, family, even as insignificant as truancy. So, some legal entity decided that a “group home” would be the best place for them. Unfortunately, what happened was that a bunch of kids, ages 11-18 were put together in a house-like facility, and other inexperienced people like myself were placed in charge. During the day there were the clinical staff, the counselors, even a doctor, however after hours, the place was ran by 2-3 staff of similar capabilities.   One particular evening a young gentleman whom had lived there for a while, was being more “defian...

When one falls, they all fall. Besides the game, dominoes represent how things start and inevitably end, unless of course you interfere. Pain can be a catalyst, causing someone to lose hope, give up. Though it can also be a catalyst for good. One thing about dominoes is that when one falls, the impact on the last domino is unknown by the first. In human terms, it means that one occurrence can have a domino effect for change that no human could ever connect or the initial person ever know. The first affects the second and so on, until the change at the end. The most recent church shooting, or a suicide, or a loss of a small child, all things encountered over the last few days, all having meaning, somewhere. No, the meaning isn’t always directly connected with the initial act, such as gun control due to another “mass shooting,” but can come about by changes in individuals effected lives. From here on out, a catalyst to inspire change, a certain determination or grit which onl...

If you're like me, then you love a good argument. Anytime a title says something "I am doing wrong," or "shouldn't be doing," it sparks the debater in me, for which I am no master (lol) . So, put em up because this is a doozy. Kids these days are fragile. I know this because their parents are fragile. I know parents are fragile because of the arguments witnessed in real life and on social media. Imagine, grown people expecting something in return for doing nothing at all, or that people who work harder shouldn't have more than those who don't. Or a parent telling their child they don't have to listen to authority, including the police. All true stories. Now, parenting is a difficult task, one which I have just entered the realm of. The commercials tell me there is no "right" or "wrong" to parenting, only to be there. Yes. I love that. Just show up and I get credit. Awesome! Bullying isn't just a problem in paren...

The news, a presentation of recent, supposedly relevant, information. A biased perspective with an agenda to sell, for most. There isn't anything wrong with it, it's capitalism. If I want to influence people to buy a lifestyle then I need them to see their reliance on emotion to do so.  Fear is a primary emotion to feast on. Staying scared and "in your lane," maybe edging towards the dotted yellow line, at times crossing when no officer is present, guarantees a place in this world. For the most part, the mass portion of society stays where they know to be safe. We go to work, pay bills, do something for entertainment outside of work, and much of this is without question. We go to movies the commercials sell us on. We buy products we think we need. We buy upgrades on those products because the new version is better.  Even the people who are "different," are part of a crowd of also "different" people. Alternative can be the new mainstream in ...