Hope Is Real!

One Friday a month, I attend a "Dreams" group.  We're a group of women who each have some kind of big goal and we meet to share what we've accomplished and to receive feedback about what else we could do.  We meet at L'Madeleine restaurant.  I went a few weeks ago and even though I had already eaten, I purchased two cute, little pastries. To tell you the truth, they were a little bland, but at least they're pretty!  (Sorry about the picture quality...) So what is the dream that I'm working on with this group?  It's to get on disability.  No, it's not a trip to Paris or a course at a prestigious college, but to simply receive disability benefits.  Only it's not so simple.  To get disability, you have to prove you have a disability, which means filling out long, complicated, governmental forms, going on interviews, and collecting paperwork.  This would be hard and stressful for anyone, but put on top of everything that a person with a disabilit

"God calls us to some things we cannot do alone." This is from the Regional Council of Churches of Atlanta Church Action eNewsletter  ( RCCAtl.org )  All of these events have to do with social justice, feminism, spirituality, world healing, or World AIDS day, which is on Thursday, December first. 1. Unity North Atlanta is hosting the Tibetan Buddhist Monks Nov 27-Dec 4. They will create the Medicine Buddha Mandala Sand Painting for world healing. You read about the interfaith meditation service coming up on November 30 in last week’s eNewsletter. On December 3, the famed multiphonic singers of Tibet ’s Drepung Loseling Monastery, whose sellout performances in Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center received national acclaim, will perform Sacred Music Sacred Dance for World Healing, ancient temple dances and music. We are fortunate to again have the mystical, colorful, peaceful monks at Unity. 2. Faiths Act at MedShare is hosting the first Sweet Talk of the year on Novem

I Hate You-Don’t Leave Me: Understanding the Borderline Personality by Jerome J. Kreisman and Hal Straus – I recently underwent psychological testing and while it did NOT say I have BorderlinePersonality Disorder (BPD) , it did say that I have a lot of BPD traits.  And I mean a lot, so I decided to read up on it.  This book is considered the leading reference for helping people understand BPD.  Although full of much useful information, it is very easy to read.  While reading it, I resonated with much that was said about being Borderline, especially this line: A borderline suffers from a kind of ‘emotional hemophilia’; she lacks the clotting mechanism needed to moderate her spurts of feeling.  Prick the delicate ‘skin’ of a borderline, and she will emotionally bleed to death. (p. 12) I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who wants to know more about the diagnosis of BPD either from the viewpoint of the patient, a family member or friend, or a clinician.  And I would give thi