By Chandrama Anderson
E-mail Chandrama Anderson
About this blog: About this blog: I am a LMFT specializing in couples counseling and grief and have lived in Silicon Valley since 1969. I'm the president of Connect2 Marriage Counseling. I worked in high-tech at Apple, Stanford University, and in ...
(More)About this blog: About this blog: I am a LMFT specializing in couples counseling and grief and have lived in Silicon Valley since 1969. I'm the president of Connect2 Marriage Counseling. I worked in high-tech at Apple, Stanford University, and in Silicon Valley for 15 years before becoming a therapist. My background in high-tech is helpful in understanding local couples' dynamics and the pressures of living here. I am a wife, mom, sister, friend, author, and lifelong advocate for causes I believe in (such as marriage equality). My parents are both deceased. My son graduated culinary school and is heading toward a degree in Sociology. I enjoy reading, hiking, water fitness, movies, 49ers and Stanford football, Giants baseball, and riding a tandem bike with my husband. I love the beach and mountains; nature is my place of restoration. In my work with couples, and in this blog, I combine knowledge from many fields to bring you my best ideas, tips, tools and skills, plus book and movie reviews, and musings to help you be your genuine self, find your own voice, and have a happy and healthy relationship. Don't be surprised to hear about brain research and business skills, self-soothing techniques from all walks of life, suggestions and experiments, and anything that lights my passion for couples. (Author and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Calif. Lic # MFC 45204.)
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Joy Is the Medicine
My habitual seriousness
demands: Isn’t life
a problem to be solved
and full of pain and sorrow?
Don’t we find ourselves
in a world of greed, corruption,
war, and a dying planet,
teetering on all
the edges?
It is so hard to
crack the code.
It is so easy to
lose hope for cures.
But there is a medicine
given to us along with
the pains of our small lives.
Its name is Joy.
It will not heal
the ills that assail us,
but it will feed
our hungry souls
and salve
our aching hearts.
You will never obtain
a prescription for Joy
from the medical establishment.
Only a soul doctor
can provide it, and
that one is only found
inside yourself.
The inner healer says –
Yes, the world is falling,
But the earth will always
renew itself in the end.
You must grieve, but
there is also so much
to love.
So, here is your prescription –
Look at the sky every day.
Watch the birds, and the trees swaying in the wind.
Look at the faces of babies and children.
Hug someone.
Give gifts.
Plant a garden.
Love the land where you live.
Make your home beautiful.
The medicine called Joy
has another name -
Love.
Heal into a full life,
both in spite of
and because of
everything.
- Maya Spector
