A Guide To Anger And Conflict Resolution
Welcome to From Insults To Respect. Today, I present a brief story that asks the question, How would someone people respect handle the challenging situation of being insulted? The story is an abbreviated section from my novel, Fights In The Streets, Tears In The Sand. The story’s setting, 1965, Brooklyn’s lower middle class section of Brighton Beach. Jeff Star, one of the two major character’s of…
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Welcome to From Insults To Respect. Today, I present a brief story that asks the question, How would someone people respect handle the challenging situation of racial discrimination? The story is an abbreviated section from my novel, Fights In The Streets, Tears In The Sand. The story’s setting, 1965, Brooklyn’s lower middle class section of Brighton Beach. Jeff Star, one of the two major character’s of…
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Welcome to From Insults to Respect. This week I happened to watch on TV the play Next to Normal. It dramatically and musically brought forth a wealth of thoughtful and emotional reactions. I can’t, in a single post, express all of these, so here, I’m going to focus on just one–the issue of blaming those given a mental disorder label and their parents for how they are…
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Welcome to From Insults to Respect. Recently, upon turning 75, I was reflecting upon how my remaining days have become fewer and fewer. Accompanying these thoughts were some pretty bluesy feelings. Suddenly, the Spotify music streaming I was listening to, Bob Dylan’s “Planet Waves” album began to play, “Forever Young.” “Oh, to be young again,” I thought. The first few lyrics of the song go: …
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Welcome to From Insults to Respect. One insult we often hear is someone being called conceited. On Oh Mercy, Bob Dylan’s 1989 album, he has a song titled “Disease of Conceit” that powerfully, poetically, and musically captures the emotions that can come about from this behavior. Emphasizing each of his major visceral reactions related to conceit are crashing piano chords, and as the song drifts…
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Welcome to From Insults To Respect. Recently, I came across an article by Hanna Wallace that presents in a Q&A format a discussion with Mónica Guzmán, author of the book, I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times. The article appears in Reasons to be Cheerful, a nonprofit publication founded by artist and musician David Byrne, who…
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Welcome to From Insults to Respect. In a recent post titled, “Is Depression Really So Bad?” I presented the theory that conceptualizing depression as an awful mental disorder too often discourages active coping beyond taking a pill. In contrast, if we frame depression as potentially a healthy functional signal, it may lead to less self-stigma and greater self-efficacy in making healthy life-style improvements. Quite a…
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Welcome to From Insults to Respect. Today we shall look at a theory that is certain to fire up some mighty strong emotions. Most advocates within the medical profession say their prescriptions for psychiatric drugs, which they refer to as “medications,” improve the health outcomes for their patients. There are some within the profession that fervently object to this claim and provide extensive research evidence for their…
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by Jeffrey Rubin, PhD Welcome to From Insults to Respect. Recently, I began to think about forgiveness. It started while writing my previous post, “Saying Goodbye at Life’s End: A Meditation on Bob Dylan’s Song, ‘When the Deal Goes Down.’ In the song, Bob has a line that says, We learn to live and then we forgive O’er the road we’re bound to go Where is…
Read More by Jeffrey Rubin, PhD Welcome to From Insults to Respect. Today I’ve decided to discuss a sad topic. It came about as I listened to music while gazing out my window at the pleasant green garden of my neighbor’s backyard, reflecting upon what I might discuss in my next blog post. At one point it occurred to me that when my next birthday comes around I’ll…
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