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learning

Book ExcerptsBrain InjuryFood for thoughtLifeWhy the Hell Not?

Expect. Define. Permit. Do All…in That Order.

Expectations. Set 'em. When we are itsy bitsy (and adolescent) kids, our parents, teachers, coaches, etc. set expectations for us. The etymology of the word sets us up to fail with the word "expect" as the root of expectations. And damned if we don't adopt most, if not all, of those expectations as we get older. After all, what is expected of us is impressive, attainable, and achievable. Right? Note that for our purpose here, I see expectations as the same as ambitions, hopes, and goals. While that's not the literal definition, this is how the word tends to be used. It…
Kate Harvie
September 20, 2016
Book ExcerptsBrain InjuryFood for thoughtLife

Ghosts. Let Go. Release Their Power.

Ghosts. That's a word whose immediate (and most frequently applied) definition has certainly changed within the last year or so. When I was growing up, ghosts were mysterious and spooky apparitions that could both bring good (Marley, Ghosts of Past and Present in A Christmas Carol) and wreak havoc (title characters in Beloved, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Woman in Black). What I knew for sure was that they were not real. And figments of my imagination could only wreck my sleep, not my life. Fast forward to today. While wraiths and poltergeists are still (for the most part) fictitious, what is very real is the person…
Kate Harvie
May 23, 2016
Book ExcerptsBrain InjuryFood for thoughtInspiration

When it’s Not Ours, We Can’t Take it Personally.

Taking things personally is a tricky thing. While it may seem as though there are scads of things we should perceive to be criticisms and rejections, that list is actually very short. While I don't have the stats on this, I'm confident to say that at least 93% of the time, when people are talking around us they're not talking about us. It may feel like they are (and we all know what that is, right?). Trust me. They couldn't give a shit about you and me. When my life was on pause - post-hospital release, living at my parents' house, figuring out what on…
Kate Harvie
May 18, 2016
Book Excerpts

Rethink + Re-feel = Reframe

When I was - maybe, when we were - growing up, parents, teachers, coaches would say, "If you could go back and do it again, what would you do differently so the result is better?" Or they'd say something like that, and the articulation, added to the idea of going back in time, was powerful enough to move me (I can speak only for myself here) to regret what I had done and wish I could do it again. Because I would do it better...not that I always knew what better meant or was. Now this was surely not the hope of any…
Kate Harvie
May 7, 2016
Book ExcerptsBrain Injury

Sideways. It’s Only That Way While You’re IN It.

Sideways. Besides being the title of a disappointing Alexander Payne movie in 2004 (whose review of mine you can read here), it's a word in our current vernacular that defines several things. For our purposes here, it means undesirable, wrong, or straight messed up. Do you remember the first time something went sideways in your life? Share it in the replies, if you want. The first for me was when I failed the Ohio Bar Exam. That news came down on Halloween in 1999. Having spent three years of my life preparing (or so I thought) to become an attorney,…
Kate Harvie
April 25, 2016