MSI Press Blog

   Excerpt from  100 Tips and Tools for Managing Chronic Illness  (Charnas) -- Tip #1. CALL ME DADDY   When I visit New York City, I usually stop by Levain Bakery on West 74 th street to buy their amazing chocolate chip cookies. The storefront is down a flight of steps and occupies a space the size of two coffins. Previously, this had never been an issue. But when visiting the city last October, every time I passed the bakery I saw people lined up for ten yards outside. On my last day of the trip, despite the cold weather and long lines, I decided to buy a couple of cookies. Several middle-aged women wearing transit uniforms stood in front of me in line. I asked them why the store suddenly had such long waits, and they explained that it now had a Facebook page.    The three transit workers and I chatted briefly as we tried to stay warm in the frigid air. One of the ladies, Darlene, had never eaten a cookie from the bakery before. Fed up with the wait, she declared to her friend,

  Whew, it is HEAVY out there! It feels like a hot, thick, dense fog of negative emotions in the collective right now, at least locally where I live in Texas. If you're going with the societal flow, you're probably being fired up and/or pulled down again and again. It takes a warrior's intent to stay centered in this dark time of human history. Even the phrase "stay" centered doesn't make much sense. "Return to center as often as you need to," is my more favored refrain. To be honest with you, I'm personally feeling strong in spirit lately, as I've recommitted to self-discipline around what nourishes me, like taking a sleep retreat last weekend and setting aside consistent solo time to deeply feel and express my own feelings. Being a person in the world and experiencing my own rough times, as well as listening to so many different experiences other people are having, keeps reminding me of that old Indigo Girls song line, "Darkness has a