by Sarah Chauncey | Dec 22, 2018 | Being, Life
It’s been 18 months since I last posted, yet Living the Mess has been on my mind every day. While I haven’t been writing posts for this site, as a friend pointed out, I have been living the mess and so experiencing source material for future posts. It...
by Sarah Chauncey | Aug 26, 2017 | Life
When I moved into “Little House on the Big Island” in 2008, I was a chain-smoker who drank at least 2 litres of Diet Pepsi every day. I was on six different psychiatric medications. I could swallow a handful of pills dry (and often did, several times a day). I had...
by Sarah Chauncey | Jun 12, 2017 | Being, Life
Part I “Will you be around this afternoon?” My landlord texted me two weeks ago. “I’d like to come over and talk to you.” “Sure,” I responded. My mind began spinning. My landlord and I, who have become friends over the nine...
by Sarah Chauncey | Mar 6, 2017 | Life
In neuroscientist Jill Bolte-Taylor’s memoir, My Stroke of Insight, she notes that the physiological lifespan of an emotion in the body and brain is 90 seconds. The sensations—adrenalin, heat in the face, tightness in the throat, rapid heartbeat—arise, peak and...
by Sarah Chauncey | Mar 5, 2017 | Life
“The ability to observe without evaluating is the highest form of intelligence.” —Jiddu Krishnamurti Stories are how we make sense of events in our lives. We string together a narrative so that life doesn’t seem entirely random. In some situations, this is...
by Sarah Chauncey | Feb 9, 2017 | Life
The very first thing I did, on my path to healing, was to stop labeling my brain. This was a huge shift. Labels had been my crutch for years. I’d been an active and eager participant in finding external reasons why I was the way I was. I’d had 12...
