coping skills – John Sapiro

coping: perspective

June 30, 2020June 30, 2020Posted in booksTagged anxiety, books, coping skills, depression, inspiration, James Joyce, life, literature, mental illness, philosophy, photography, psychiatry, reading, ThoughtsLeave a comment

Photograph by Ioannis Ioannidis via Pixabay

A few light taps upon the pane made him turn to the window. It had begun to snow again. He watched sleepily the flakes, silver and dark, falling obliquely against the lamplight. The time had come for him to set out on his journey westward. Yes, the newspapers were right: snow was general all over Ireland. It was falling on every part of the dark central plain, on the treeless hills, falling softly upon the Bog of Allen and, farther westward, softly falling into the dark mutinous Shannon waves…

— from Dubliners, James Joyce

The heroism we recite

October 13, 2018September 30, 2020Posted in poetryTagged coping, coping skills, determination, holding on, illness, inspiration, life, literature, music, perseverance, photography, poems, poetry, psychologyLeave a comment

photograph by Jon Asato via Unsplash

We never know how high we are
Till we are called to rise;
And then, if we are true to plan,
Our statures touch the skies…

— Emily Dickinson

Part of the Plan

When Smokey Sings

September 30, 2018October 1, 2020Posted in musicTagged animation, art, coping skills, inspiration, life, literature, memories, music, photoshop, poems, poetry, psychology, ThoughtsLeave a comment

Who, through long days of labor,
And nights devoid of ease,
Still heard in his soul the music
Of wonderful melodies.

Such songs have power to quiet
The restless pulse of care,
And come like the benediction
That follows after prayer.

— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Day is Done (excerpt)

inner strength

September 20, 2018September 20, 2018Posted in inspirationTagged art, coping skills, determination, illness, inspiration, life, meditation, music, perseverance, philosophy, psychologyLeave a comment

James Montgomery Flagg, “You” (Life Publishing Co., 1906)

Recovery…may take time and may require some big adjustments and perhaps a great deal of inner strength.

— Jon Kabat-Zinn, “World of Relaxation”

Coldcut Featuring Lisa Stansfield – “People Hold On” (Dj “S” Bootleg “Thank U” Remix by Dj “S”)

broken

September 10, 2018October 1, 2020Posted in booksTagged books, coping skills, depression, identity, illness, life, literature, music, perseverance, photography, psychology1 Comment

William James Mullins, “Children Fishing” (ca. 1900)

“…I worry about so many things, and everything is so hard for me. For instance, I cut my finger or hurt myself some way — and it’s a wound that heals for other people in a week, but it takes four weeks with me. It just won’t heal, it gets infected, gets really ghastly, and gives me all kinds of trouble. The other day Herr Brecht told me that my teeth look horrible, that they’re all deteriorating and wearing down, not to mention the ones he’s already pulled. That’s how things stand now. And what will I bite with when I’m thirty, or forty? I’ve lost all hope.”

“Come on,” Kai said and picked up the pace of their stroll. “And now tell me a little about your piano playing…are you going to play the piano this afternoon?”

Hanno was silent for a moment. A bleak, confused, feverish look came to his eyes. “Yes, I’ll probably improvise a while,” he said…

— Thomas Mann, Buddenbrooks

problem-solving

August 21, 2018June 16, 2019Posted in InspirationTagged books, coping skills, GIF, inspiration, life, literature, music, psychology, quotes, reading, writingLeave a comment

cf. video by Orpheline via Pixabay

Little Chandler remembered (and the remembrance brought a slight flush of pride to his cheek) one of Ignatius Gallaher’s sayings when he was in a tight corner:

“Half time now, boys,” he used to say light-heartedly. “Where’s my considering cap?”

— Joyce, A Little Cloud

Mindfulness

June 9, 2018October 4, 2020Posted in booksTagged books, coping skills, inspiration, life, literature, memories, music, philosophy, photography, psychiatry, psychology1 Comment

photograph by RyanMcGuire via Pixabay

Hold to the now, the here, through which all future plunges to the past.

— Joyce, Ulysses

“No Lookin’ Back” — Michael McDonald

Saving Grace

March 21, 2018October 4, 2020Posted in photographyTagged art, books, coping skills, creativity, distraction, empowerment, finding yourself, identity, inspiration, music, self-esteem, self-expression, writingLeave a comment

Dick Swanson, “Artist On Bank Of The Schuylkill River” (1973)

I think that if I can get into the habit of writing a little about what happens, or rather doesn’t happen, I may lose a little of the sense of loneliness and desolation which abides with me. My circumstances allowing of nothing but the ejaculation of one-syllabled reflections, a written monologue by that most interesting being, myself, may have its yet to be discovered consolations. I shall at least have it all my own way and it may bring relief as an outlet to that geyser of emotions, sensations, speculations and reflections…so here goes, my first Journal!

—Diary of Alice James, May 31, 1889

“Everything Else” – Jennifer Damiano

You got to have a little rock ‘n’ roll music to get you through the stormy weather

February 26, 2017January 15, 2018Posted in musicTagged 1960s, car, coping skills, driving, GIF, hope, inspiration, life, motivation, music, video, vintage, womanLeave a comment

“WJR: One of a Kind” (ca. 1966)

“A man so afflicted, Sir, must divert distressing thoughts, and not combat with them.”

February 7, 2017January 15, 2018Posted in booksTagged anxiety, art, biography, coping skills, depression, insomnia, inspiration, life, literature, mental illness, music, night, quotesLeave a comment

Talking of constitutional melancholy, he observed, “A man so afflicted, Sir, must divert distressing thoughts, and not combat with them.” BOSWELL: “May not he think them down, Sir?” JOHNSON: “No, Sir. To attempt to THINK THEM DOWN is madness. He should have a lamp constantly burning in his bed-chamber during the night, and if wakefully disturbed, take a book, and read, and compose himself to rest…”

—Boswell’s Life Of Johnson

James McNeill Whistler, Reading in Bed (The Slipper) (1858)

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