The late Lebanese-American poet Kahlil Gibran once wrote in a piece titled, “On Children”:

“You may give them your love but not your thoughts,

For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,

which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them,

but seek not to make them like you.

For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.”

Children brought into this world are expected by their parents to adopt family values, world views, and traditions. Parents…

Winter seasons inspire a variety of scenes in the mind’s eye, from snowy landscapes to hot cocoa by a warm fire. Some people can’t wait to hibernate as the colder seasons hit, while many others feel they have no choice — they’re included in the six percent of the US population who are affected by Seasonal Affective Disorder.

While S.A.D. is one of the many causes for a mid-year slump, other reasons include burn-out from holiday drama with family, recovery from break-ups, periods of unemployment, and/or an uninspiring daily rut of a routine.

Whichever the reason, the result is the…

To you, to me, to us all.

I was five years old when I was first introduced to the ill feelings brought about by comparison. My mother and I had just immigrated to America to live with my father and his side of the family. At the arrivals gate, stood my father and his sister who was holding a little girl about the same age as me. She and I would grow close, like sisters. For the first three years together, I saw us as twins; we loved the same dolls, games, movies, and sweets. Then, something changed. …

I’ve come to talk with you again.

The last time you visited, we spent days in my room, with the doors locked and shades down, listening to melancholic music that validated my depression. You whispered all the memories and played them in my head until I lost my grip on reality, till you had me convinced that this was the way things would always be… you and me. We didn’t sleep, didn’t eat, didn’t see a reason why we should keep trying to heal, if all this effort was going to put us back in the same place again — together.

Looking back, I can’t recall the…

The word “vacation” typically inspires relaxing visuals and a sense of eager anticipation for the average person. For some, insert the word “family” in front of the former, and a dash of anxiety with a pinch of dread is added to the mix.

Flashback a few weeks prior to my most recent trip, I was feeling on top of the world. Not due to any external confirmation of achievement, but more so to a deeply internal knowing that I was making major strides on my healing journey. …