fairy tale interpretation Archives

Othering, Projecting, Dehumanizing

by Lisa Marchiano

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In a recent speech, Donald Trump suggested obliquely that it might be appropriate for gun rights activists to take matters into their own hands if Clinton gets elected and is thereby empowered to appoint the tie breaking Supreme Court Justice. Such calls for violence can only occur in the context of dehumanizing those against whom we wish to perpetrate such…

Initiation by Desire

Posted on July 22, 2016

by Lisa Marchiano

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Michael Meade writes beautifully about initiation by desire, which I will explore here. Initiation is that which separates us from outmoded forms and opens us up to our unique story waiting to be told. It is the experience that reveals our place in the world and awakens us to what wants to come into the world through us. Initiation…

The Inner Life of Stuff

Posted on July 5, 2016

by Lisa Marchiano

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Like most Americans, I have too much stuff. I live amidst a certain amount of clutter. I have worked to become more thoughtfully conscious of how I acquire, use, and dispose of stuff. But like most of us, my relationship with stuff is actually pretty complicated. So when I heard about the blockbuster best-selling The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up,…

Fairy Tales in Therapy — How They Heal

Posted on June 30, 2016

by Lisa Marchiano

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This article in The New York Times introduced me to a new concept – “emotional granularity.” Emotional granularity refers to the ability to feel and differentiate finely tuned emotions. It is the ability to identify that you are feeling melancholy, irritable, or teary rather than simply knowing that you feel bad. According to the article, those who possess emotional granularity…

About Time… how being with kids shifts our perspective

Posted on February 9, 2016

by Lisa Marchiano

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It seems to me that both the time-bound and timeless perspectives are good and necessary ones. That they are sometimes at odds with each other is merely part of the fascinating tension of mothering.

What is Healthy Entitlement?

Posted on January 12, 2016

by Lisa Marchiano

3 Comments

When we feel a healthy sense of entitlement, we can ask for what we need and want in a comfortable, easy way. When, however, we have stuffed down our feelings of entitlement, they are under pressure, and will pop out with some violence when given the chance.