I sometimes introduce myself as YodaNinja. "Yoda on the outside, Ninja on the inside." Outside, I seem calm and composed. When I speak (or write), what I say can be profound, perplexing... or both. But my inner world is another story. Deep inside of me is a Ninja battleground where thoughts, emotions, ideas, and utter randomness all fight for my attention. Every once in a while, they actually cooperate and I have to say, I'm deadly. But then they go at it again... and "Everybody is Kung Fu fighting." I'm a dad, a husband and a guy whose mind has a mind of it's own. My recovery from my addiction to numbing myself (with pretty much anything I can get my hands on) is a lifelong journey. I live with depression, anxiety and adhd... and sometimes they don't get along very well with my family, or with the rest of my life. Professionaly, I make my living as a Counselling Therapist in Edmonton, Canada. I teach on addiction and psychopathology at City University, and I have a small counselling practice where I use superheroes and other geeky stuff to help people make peace with their own personal YodaNinja. This blog is part of my healing and writing keeps me grounded. I hope that something I have written may add a little bit to your journey. Keep it Real
Life is hard. It just is. But waking up is more fun than dreaming. ___ Being a person is difficult. It is a triumph of engineering that we can become as mature and put together as we appear most days. True, most of us are a combination of flesh and bone, cloth, hair gel, make … More The 8 Stages of Becoming a Human Being
Love is open like a storefront, honest like recovery and messy like art. ___ This poem was the impetus for my article, The Six Loves that Create Lasting Love. I welcome you to enjoy both pieces and I hope they provide you with some inspiration and encouragement in your relationships. ◊♦◊ What is Love? Love … More Love is an e-Motion
Depression is like living in a room that was so loud that all I could do was just deal with the loudness of the room. Then I found a door out of the room… and the loudness of the room was not oppressing me anymore. Wil Wheaton on Depression Wil Wheaton is an actor, writer and … More Depression is Like a Window With a Disappearing Crack
Technology is great when it works well, which is as often as my teenagers listen to me. ___ My Windows just upgraded itself. I found out as I stared at a blue screen with one word on it: “Hello.” At first I thought it was from Adele. Then I realized that my computer had upgraded. … More 9 Things I Hate to Hear From the IT Department
We are in need of a healthy dose of what I call Blame Retardant. ___ I find blame fascinating. One of the earliest human stories we know of involves a classic blame triangle. The story is familiar and goes something like this: Garden of Eden, don’t eat from the tree, they liked the apple, they … More Donald Trump and the Politics of Blame
Never be afraid when your love changes, because changing love is healthy love. ___ Writing about love is hard for me, damned hard. I mostly stumble around the topic and make a mess of things. It’s not that I don’t need love. I need my family and my close friends to love me, I just find it difficult … More The Six Loves that Create Lasting Love
The Outside sucks for a lot of really good reasons. Save yourself and stay inside! ___ My wife and I went to the mountains for the weekend. Our trip took us to spectacular Jasper, Alberta. Don’t get me wrong, it’s beautiful, but being Outside sucks. It sucks for a lot of really good reasons. The next … More 21 Reasons Why Being Outside Sucks
Writer Ann Lamott’s sobriety began with cake, coffee and a conversation. How about yours? ___ For Ann Lamott to become clean it took cake, coffee and a conversation. After a lifetime of drinking and drugs, she got tired of it. She was sick, ashamed and confused and found herself ready to change. When she reached that point, she called … More Ann Lamott: My Recovery Began With a Cake
Sean Swaby asks, “Is your life worth waiting for?” ___ Life is lived in between waiting for life to happen. ◊♦◊ In between the downloads, The apps that refuse to open. Fighting for freedom, The computer makes us wait, One more Time. ◊♦◊ Being in Recovery is about Time. If you could recover your time, you would be … More Life Happens While You Are Waiting for Life to Happen
As a leader, power can make you lonely. And loneliness can cost you. ___ Be cautious with the Ring of Power For most of his life, my father wanted to be either a Farmer or a Manager. We lived in the city for most of our lives, so dream #1 was out of the question. I can … More Power Will Change Your Mind
Getting High on Recovery 