Faced with having to let her boy leave the nest before she’s ready, Hilary Lauren explores the healing power of intention for herself and the world. — By Hilary Lauren Jastram Intention, a word loosely woven into sentences and statements. A word we don’t often think about, yet burgeoning with great power. Intention possesses a trickle down effect, seeping into every decision and interaction we make, it is there when we forget the meaning behind the gesture…

A Christian man shares his perspective on the value of prayer while living with mental illness. — By Chris Morris The cursor won’t stop blinking. Even when I don’t look at it, I know it’s there. Mocking me for the empty page in front of me. I know every page starts empty, but I feel the mockery nonetheless. The lack of words proves the whispers in my…

Just in the telling of the abuse, you are honoring the child who still remembers the pain. The confusion. The dread. The fear. And you are connecting with that child within you. Soothing him or her. — By Dr. Margaret Rutherford There are some stories I hear as a therapist I would never repeat. Not only because of confidentiality. Because I don’t want someone else, who has not been listening and learning for 20 years, to have to cope with the horror of how parents can abuse…

“To be released from prison, then survive a serious accident and sustain a severe brain injury, is difficult to fathom.” — By Ed Roth Jesse Sandy wasn’t having a good night. He and his girlfriend were fighting and he thought that going to a bar would ease some tension. She didn’t want to join him, but his sister did. …

If you have a child who has been diagnosed with a chronic condition, make sure that you and other family members — have a safe place to express your own feelings. — By Gary McClain When a child has a chronic condition, the whole family has a chronic condition. Other family members are often faced with making their own lifestyle adjustments — diet restrictions, limits on family vacations and other cost-cutting, and coping with looks and insensitive comments from others. …

A run in with a former student who believes schools fail youth. — By Gint Aras The most dangerous word in education is success. I know some readers will be shocked: shouldn’t the whole purpose of education be a student’s success? I want to tell a story about a former student I ran into while waiting for a flight; it was a “small…

The time is overdue to delve into the mystery of why a man’s identity is so closely connected to what he does for a living…especially a disabled man. — By Hilary Lauren Jastram Men scrambled out of the woodwork when I announced to my transverse myelitis support group that I was conducting interviews with male members only, those willing to share how their diagnosis and disability had affected their identity. …

The search for self-worth is not a skin phenomenon; a healthy self-esteem begins by finding what is indestructible inside, and then letting it be. — By Gbenga Adebambo “We are so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others that in the end we become disguised to ourselves.”-Francois de La Rochefoucauld Leo Tolstoy once said, “Nothing is so necessary for a young man as the company of intelligent women”. Intelligence is sexy! It is sympathetic to know…

If you are healthy, you still have time to complete this chronically-ill bucket list. — By Hilary Lauren Jastram Since the onset of my illness, I have doled out advice to strangers. Middle-agers who are seemingly healthy, the banker, the drugstore cashier, people standing in line. “Buy disability insurance,” I announce as if onlookers are interested. I have lived the hell of transverse myelitis for…