*Results May Vary

(Men)tal Health Needs To Be Addressed

“Through pride we are ever deceiving ourselves. But deep down below the surface of the average conscience a still, small voice says to us, something is out of tune.”

– Carl Jung

  Please allow me to get this possible controversial bit of opinion out of the way: most men, especially latino men, are a ridiculously stubborn bunch.

  Goodnight folks, thank you for coming! *walks off stage while being…

Love Thyself, And The Rest Will Follow

“Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

  So I’m scrolling through my Instagram feed today, and I noticed a few key words and hashtags yelling out at me through…

The Wheels On The Bus….

“Then we got into a labyrinth, and, when we thought we were at the end, came out again at the beginning, having still to see as much as ever.” ― Plato

  A comedian once quipped, “The good die young, but pricks live forever!”

So do daily habits.

Case in point? Smoking, for example.

I smoked menthols like a Victorian chimney for nearly two decades; my lungs may look like they were mined out of a…

1 Bipolar, 2 Bipolar, 3 Bipolar, 4 Bipolar, MWAH HA HA HA HA HAAAA!!

“You know how most illnesses have symptoms you can recognize? Like fever, upset stomach, chills, whatever. Well, with manic depression, it’s sexual promiscuity, excessive spending, and substance abuse—and that just sounds like a fantastic weekend in Vegas to me!” – Carrie Fisher

  My legs couldn’t stop shaking, sitting in the inner sanctum of the psychiatrist’s office – no 14 year old wishes to…

“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” ― Kurt Vonnegut, Mother Night

  

“If it’s on the Internet, it must be true, right?”

  That used to be a running joke – now, it’s a terrifying reality because we have become so intertwined and desperately co-dependent on maintaining these subjective realities we wish to convey upon our adoring public audience,…

Not All Bruises Are Visible

“There’a a phrase, “the elephant in the living room”, which purports to describe what it’s like to live with a drug addict, an alcoholic, an abuser. People outside such relationships will sometimes ask, “How could you let such a business go on for so many years? Didn’t you see the elephant in the living room?” And it’s so hard for anyone living in a more normal situation to understand the answer…

“He might have been encased in a thick glass bubble, so separate did he feel from his three dining companions. It was a sensation with which he was only too familiar, that of walking in a giant sphere of worry, enclosed by it, watching his own terrors roll by, obscuring the outside world.” 

― J.K. Rowling, The Casual Vacancy

  The restaurant was a blustering mess of humanity; babies crying,…

What’s IQ Got To Do With It?

“Experience is not what happens to you – it’s how you interpret what happens to you.” -Aldous Huxley

  Fireworks lit the sky with thundering colors, bright and loud tributes to the celebration of the new year.

  It was beautiful, full of electricity and exhiliration, hope, and promise.

  I assume that’s how most people felt when the clock struck 12am on December 31st, 2018 – unfortunately, I did…

Out With The Old, In With The New

“We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us. The old skin has to be shed before the new one can come.” – Joseph Campbell

  So I’m sitting here in front of my laptop, thinking, pondering, wondering how to not sound like a cliche – to be honest, there is no way to convey certain messages without sounding like a broken record imitating…

They Can’t All Be Winners

“I’ve had the sort of day that would make St. Francis of Assisi kick babies.” ― Douglas Adams, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

  #Trigger Warning: This post contains literary imagery that may be unsuitable for sensitive readers.  Reader discretion is advised. 

  Yesterday was a very, very bad day.

  I woke up groggy, irritable, impatient, intolerable. I wasn’t even able to finish my sacred…

Id, Egos, and Superheroes

Batman/Bruce Wayne: “What have I done, Alfred? Everything my family, my father, built.” Alfred Pennyworth: “The Wayne legacy is more than bricks and mortar, sir.” Batman/Bruce Wayne: “I wanted to save Gotham. I failed.” Alfred Pennyworth: “Why do we fall, sir? So that we can learn to pick ourselves up.” – Batman Begins, 2005

    Anyone that knows me even in the slightest realizes that I…

“Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.” – Mark Twain

  Oh, it’s that wonderful time of year once again!

  No, I’m not talking about Consumer-Is-Mass, not Don’t-Krampus-My-Style; I’m talking about whipping out that notepad and pencil, laptop, desktop keyboard, and social-media-ize the hell out of your good…

Ob-Noxious Behavior, Pt. II

“He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts.” – Samuel Johnson

  So here we were, holding hands, walking along the middle of the proverbial train tracks, when the drama train was gunning for us full speed ahead, remember?

  There were three crucial questions I asked before heading for…

Ob-Noxious Behavior, Pt. I

“To put the world right in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must first cultivate our personal life; we must first set our hearts right.” – Confucius

  Today while I was browsing social media as I normally do when I look for inspiration (also known as extreme procrastination), I happened…

Depression And Other Fairy Tales

“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living. It’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life’s realities.” – Dr. Seuss

I had so many ideas about what to write about this week. My head was full of ideas; I bought notebooks, downloaded e-books, and wrote down a few ideas. I…

Timing (And Clarity) Is Everything

“Logic: The art of thinking and reasoning in strict accordance with the limitations and incapacities of the human misunderstanding.” – Ambrose Bierce

  #WARNING: This post contains language and imagery some may find offensive; if that is the case, tough titty said the kitty.

  Human communication is a funny thing.

  We speak, we inform, therefore creating bonds, relating, sharing; words…

The Law Of Conservation Of What Matters

“No man ever followed his genius till it misled him. Though the result were bodily weakness, yet perhaps no one can say that the consequences were to be regretted, for these were a life in conformity to higher principles. If the day and the night are such that you greet them with joy, and life emits a fragrance like flowers and sweet-scented herbs, is more elastic, more starry, more…