Bronwyn Schweigerdt, LMFT

Years ago I read an autobiography I found in a free library by Maureen McCormick, the famous child actress who played Marsha in the Brady Bunch sitcom of the early 70’s. One of the most surprising things to me was Maureen’s somatic response to the death of her mother. She’d always been thin and fit, but when her mom died, she suddenly couldn’t stop eating and she gained an incredible amount of weight. She admitted to feeling like there was a void inside her that she was trying to fill with...

The best way out is always through. We live in a culture that does not place any value on pain. If we feel pain, we rush to numb it with painkillers or antidepressants but not ask why it’s there and what it’s attempting to communicate. We see the dangerous consequences of this most in people who have neuropathy, such as many diabetics, who no longer have feeling in their feet.

I recently watched a reel in which Native American spirituality is contrasted with conventional Christianity. The speaker showed how modern Christianity begets dependence on others, such as a Messiah and people of the cloth, while Native spirituality teaches taking responsibility for yourself, the earth, and relationships with those around you.