Narrative Responsibility

What MBTI Type Should I Date?

Part One. Because there is just too much that goes into the question of why you should date any particular person than their MBTI type, and also because there is more that goes into how you view someone's MBTI type than your own type. Today we dig into the two most common dating strategies, "opposites attract" and "like calls to like," and how each of them might look at Jungian cognitive types. 

The Frogs, the Poets, and the Fools: A Meditation on Mindfulness

A somewhat pedantic ramble about what is meant by "thoughts" and "thinking" and "emptying the mind" in the context of mindfulness practices. Bonus content: the actual point of mindfulness, why equating mindfulness with discipline supports the patriarchy, and a side quest into the nature of conscious awareness. TL;DL? Go stand by a field and listen to the frogs. 

The Answer Is 42

We all know the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything, is 42. And we know the best approximation of this canonically unknowable question is "How many roads must a hu/man walk down?" What does that really mean in practice? What does it mean to be a human who has walked those 42 roads? What might those 42 roads be? And does it matter HOW we walk them or simply THAT we walk them? 

The ADHD (Dis)Connection

ADHD and disconnection from the body amplify and reinforce each other. Disruptive ADHD symptoms make the body less comfortable for the conscious mind to inhabit, but being disconnected from the subtle signals of the body makes managing ADHD symptoms harder. What's an ADHDer to do? 

The Female Body As Object

CW: language, eating disorders, body dysmorphia, and unwanted sexual attention. Western culture has a terrible history of treating the female body as an object that exists for the pleasure - or displeasure - of everyone except the girl or woman who inhabits it. Her body is a safe place for her to inhabit only so far as it earns her safety and approval from the people and society around her. So splitting her sense of self off from her body makes sense. Her body becomes an object to her, too, and not one she is incentivized to treat as inherently worthwhile or precious. 

Subjugating the Body

We do not exist as islands unto ourselves. We are plugged into cultural systems of belief and behavior, and those systems deeply impact our relationship to ourselves and what we internalize as normal or ideal. Moreover, those systems are often inherited from times that have little or no relevance to our modern perspective, yet the echoes of their beliefs linger in our institutions and language. This episode explores the link between the time that built our modern institutions and how we relate to our bodies in the present time.

Movement, Not Exercise

Geting more movement getting more into your body is often pushed as a panacea to many health and mental health issues. But exercising in a way that makes your body uncomfortable or even distressed has the opposite effect from what is intended, and drives you further OUT of your body and out of alignment with your inner truth. Luckily, you can change your underlying philosophy around movement and activity to get a better result - at least in terms of integration between your two selves!

Your Discomfort Zone

Ever heard the phrase "get out of your comfort zone" and just felt something in you just tense up with rejection at the thought of doing even more than you already are? Maybe your discomfort zone isn't about doing more, but rather about doing less. Let's examine what conditions inside the environment of your own body that you've normalized, and see if they are, in fact, optimal conditions for growth. 

Our Two Selves

If we're gonna talk about letting go of copes, we gotta talk about why we were doing them in the first place. Which means looking at the schism between our "self that acts" - our conscious, egoic self - and our "self that is," the gentle body self that has to come along for the ride with whatever our action-self chooses. The body: your original ride or die. Who knew?

Sober Curious

When was the last time you critically examined your relationship with alcohol - or any other substance - and considered sobriety? Pull up a chair for storytime as I walk you through my journey of being sober-curious for most of the past two years. I share what I've observed in myself and American culture, what I've learned helps to reinforce the decision to abstain, and what I've decided about alcohol's place in my toolbox of coping mechanisms.