Disorderly Content

Getting Better at Becoming

There is a particular kind of exhaustion that comes from watching yourself participate in your own diminishment while remaining intelligent enough to narrate it in real time.Most people know this feeling, though they describe it differently. In Buddhist philosophy, the “hungry ghost” represents a state of perpetual craving: a being with an enormous appetite and no capacity to feel full. Neuroscience frames the same phenomenon less spiritually and more mechanically. The brain, in its efficiency,...

Disorderly Content

God Was Flirting Today

My friend attends weekly Bible study and comes to my house for a tarot reading. She doesn't flinch at the contradiction and neither do I. I shuffle. I lay her spread. Tonight, I told her what I saw, which was a woman pressed up against her own bank account like it was a door she’d forgotten wasn’t locked. Scarcity—the kind single mothers know by first name.I told her praying and casting spells are the same damn thing. You speak into the dark and ask it to move. The dark doesn’t care what you cal...

Disorderly Content

Drop In

The first time we tried skating, Wendell was four. His father and I—hopelessly optimistic, briefly solvent thanks to a 2020 stimulus check—spent $300 on a custom setup. Deck, trucks, bearings, wheels. We bought the identity before he had the body for it.There was no skatepark. Just a steep hill outside our house and two adults performing confidence. His…

The first time we tried skating, Wendell was four. His father and I—hopelessly optimistic, briefly solvent thanks to a 2020 stimulus check—spe...

Disorderly Content

The Bible of the Powerless

The first parent I met at my son’s elementary school, who didn’t make me feel like an interloper, once worked as a correctional officer in a South Carolina jail.The school sits in a neighborhood that didn’t always signal upward mobility. Her father bought property there more than fifty years ago—before rising values and zoning patterns turned certain ad…

The first parent I met at my son’s elementary school, who didn’t make me feel like an interloper, once worked as a correctional officer in a S...

Disorderly Content

We're All David Lynch, We're Just Too Afraid to Say So

David Lynch's death doesn't matter, and that's what makes it worth remembering.We always post about people when they die—mostly celebrities we didn't know, often our friends—and it always says something like "he was such a good person, would've given you the shirt off his back, would've given you his last dollar." But he's dead and you didn't know him a…

David Lynch's death doesn't matter, and that's what makes it worth remembering.

We always post about people when they die—mostly celebrities...

Disorderly Content

The Last Animal Standing

Humans are the only species self-congratulatory enough to crown themselves the “fittest,” while behaving like the least prepared organism in the ecosystem. We have abstract thought, symbolic language, self-awareness, internal narration, mythic imag…

Humans are the only species self-congratulatory enough to crown themselves the “fittest,” while behaving like the least prepared organism in the ecosystem.

We have abstract thought, symbolic language, self-awareness, internal narration, mythic imag...

Disorderly Content

The Art of Letting God

“The eye with which I see God is the same eye with which God sees me.” There’s a point in every seeker’s evolution where devotion starts to look a little like micromanagement. You meditate harder, breathe deeper, manifest louder—then wonder why …

“The eye with which I see God is the same eye with which God sees me.”

“The eye with which I see God is the same eye with which God sees me.”

There’s a point in every seeker’s evolution where devotion starts to look a little like micromanagement.

Yo...

Disorderly Content

Sliding the Grid of Reality

I used to love that old show Quantum Leap.A scientist flung through spacetime, waking up in other people’s bodies, each week a new mission to “put right what once went wrong.” It was campy, moral, strangely moving. What always got me wasn’t the premise of time travel—it was the feeling that he was sliding across something…

I used to love that old show Quantum Leap.

A scientist flung through spacetime, waking up in other people’s bodies, each week a new mission to “put right what once went wron...

Truth, Contradiction, and the Human Design

I sometimes joke that humanity lost its power when technology caught up with free will. But in truth, we surrendered that power—willingly—in pursuit of more: more progress, more control, more dominion. The paradox is that our precious free will, that hallmark of humanness, exists in tension with an older law, an ancient order embedded in our biology. Most people don’t reflect on the cellular intelligence woven into our being. Yet, like all life forms dependent on homeostasis—from trees to clouds to insects—we are walking toward extinction. And if that sounds dramatic, consider this: we are all, undeniably, living to die.

Dailystar.co.uk

Drug addict mum who went to first AA meeting aged 9 looks so different sober

A recovering addict who went to her first AA meeting aged nine says she tried every drug on the market by the time she was 13.

Ashley Carter Cash, 38, had a mum who was dependent on crack cocaine and an alcoholic dad.

Her parents divorced when she was 12 and afterwards she lived with her mum.

READ MORE: Mum whose booze addiction turned eyes yellow unrecognisable after going sober

A young Ashley hoped to save her “from the demons that drove her to drugs” but unfortunately she “fell into the t

#parentingSLACKS

Vol. 22: Is Acceptance the Anxiety Antidote?

“Very often, our suffering can be directly related to the degree to which we resist the truth. In other words, instead of getting hung up on how you ended up wherever you are, you can find peace in accepting the present and working from that point to create a better future.”

#parentingSLACKS

Vol. 7: Letting Go of Ego

“Ego-based mind can dominate us; who we are as parents, friends, sons, daughters, and community members. It represents that part of ourselves that identifies with our personality, self-esteem, accomplishments, skill, and perceived weaknesses; everything that encompasses false self.”

#parentingSLACKS

Vol. 8: Emotional Sobriety

"Although coined by Bill W., co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, the term "emotional sobriety" applies to anyone with a sympathetic nervous system, regardless of whether you're afflicted with addiction. Emotional sobriety is a body/mind phenomenon. It encompasses the ability to experience and talk about feelings alongside learning to live life in balanced ways so that both the mind and the body can live in harmony. As we sober up emotionally, we expand our ability to tolerate what we're feeling, to live through fierce emotions without acting out or self-medicating."

Disorderly Content

That Time I Was a Child Bride…

“Twice, I was a wife. Well, one of the two was legally binding, anyway. Ironically enough, the first was both illicit and the most ceremonious and expensive. The time I married my brother's step-kid after roommates turned bedmates, there was no requirement for signed parental permission when applying for the official marriage license. Although, there ought to been; let's be honest! No guests were in attendance for that one, and there was no dress; just him and me, my seven-month-pregnant belly…”

#parentingSLACKS

Vol. 13: Healthy Humility

“For some, the topic of humility can conjure up images of restriction and bondage, but the invitation to humility is incredibly freeing.
It's one of those simple but not easy principles and, not surprisingly, has much to do with our stress and anxiety levels.”

#parentingSLACKS

Vol. 14: Gratitude

“Implementing gratitude has helped tremendously with my mental ailments, such as anxiety. A few moments of self-reflection on something I am thankful for is enough to slice through my toxic thoughts. That's because gratitude activates the limbic nervous system in a way that regulates emotions and puts a damper on the worrisome chatter of the mind.”

Love What Matters

‘The most unlikely teacher.’: How our dog taught me to love my mother unconditionally

“I answered my mother’s phone call that night nearly twelve years ago because I was drunk––the only time I liked to talk on the phone, despite hardly ever remembering any details of the conversations the next day. This time was different. I remember it well, all thanks to the hysteria in her voice that immediately killed my buzz..."

#parentingSLACKS

Vol 17: 5 Ways to Level Up as a Parent in Recovery

“We avoid death traps and jump headfirst into things on the promise of reward. Sometimes we stand tall; other times, we shrink under pressure. And, inevitably, the moment comes to level up, but only after facing a terrifying beast and kicking his sorry ass.”

Disorderly Content

The Walk of Audacity

"The walk of shame is never pleasant. But you do get used to it. A New York City walk of shame isn't half-bad, save for when you inevitably wake up next to a bike messenger somewhere out in Red Hook, asking yourself why the hell you wore the Chloe slingbacks with the five-inch platform out for a night of doing rails off the lid of a dive bar toilet tank again. And don't think for a second you're taking a hot shower before wandering the concrete jungle in search of your own bed..."

#parentingSLACKS

Vol. 27: Imposter Syndrome & Self-Sabotage

"We know that Imposter Syndrome is a direct route to Self-Sabotage, but what causes us to doubt our worth so madly in the first place?

Perfectionism is the leading indicator of Imposter Syndrome; typically, people who experience one also experience the other."

#parentingSLACKS

Vol. 26: The Introvert's Guide to Friendship

"Friendship is one of the most critical relationships in our lives; buddy bonds provide an essential source of social support. In addition, a strong network of friends can help cushion stress, loneliness, anxiety, and other potential mental health problems.
Research shows that people with close friendships are more likely to experience positive emotions and live with greater satisfaction. So even one solid homie can do wonders for your mental health!"

#parentingSLACKS

Vol. 25: Mental Health & 7 Ways to Improve It

"We often try to do 5,000 things daily to keep our mental load balanced and our inner peace in check, but this can lead to adverse outcomes. Instead, we're more likely to see long-term, sustainable success by laying a solid foundation of actions and mindsets — cornerstones that offer daily support and provide a sturdy base to build upon over time."

Disorderly Content

Where's Bruce?

Last Monday, I heard the sound of an incoming call through Instagram, and it lit me right up. Thank fuck, I thought; just the person I needed seventy-two hours after my boyfriend walked out on me a la oneway flight to NYC—of course, Bruce intuitively knew and was calling on me to give bitchfest. He is the only one who could understand the trapped and lonely feeling of a vagabond birdy with clipped wings—even though he has no kid keeping him from his old one-way plane ticket ways. He'd understand...

#parentingSLACKS

Vol. 20: Guilt, Remorse & The Shame Spiral

“Suppose we don't address our issues with shame. In that case, we allow our emotions to fester—silently, secretly, begrudgingly—and eventually, we begin projecting and shaming others, which can get ugly quickly when we are the primary caregivers of small children.”