I don’t remember many details of my early childhood, before I turned five. Just a sense of sadness about those years–a sadness that I didn’t want. A sad childhood My biological father was a gambler and many times our furniture or our car were lost in a bet. When I was three- my brother only [...]

Story told by Cissy, written by XiaoWa Someone like me may be described as “damaged”.  Yet I prefer to call myself, “wounded”.  Damages may not be able to be fully restored, but wounds can be healed. Childhood pains My father was never an alcoholic but his explosive temper could be compared to one. In the [...]

Why Isn’t Fame Enough?

When Mandy walked through the Alexander McQueen exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art she was struck by his brilliance but also by the sadness and despair that she saw in his collections. She says, “For someone who had so much fame and greatness in his art, I wonder why he decided to end his [...]

Men, if you want to have a great relationship here is my advice to you: Stop trying to cheer up your girlfriend or wife.  I know this might not make sense to you right now, but trust me, it’ll be one of the best things you can do for your relationship. As a brand new [...]

I have a friend. I haven’t seen her for a while now. She tends to come and go as she pleases. Every so often, she will drop in, stay a while and leave when she thinks she’s kept me company for long enough. Whenever she’s around, my days need to be re-organized. Hers is a [...]

It hurt today as I said goodbye to Max. Our little dog would have turned 13 in a few days but he never made it. He was getting weaker and on Monday he was so sick that I stayed home from work with him and held him most of the day. I had to carry [...]

Whether our sexuality was stolen from us or we gave it away, we experience a loss. But unfortunately many of us don’t allow ourselves to grieve those losses. Psychologists tell us that there are five stages of grieving; denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Writing out our life map begins to move us beyond denial to [...]

I’m the only girl in our family; I have four older brothers. When I was six, my father left our family because of marriage problems. That was the last time I saw him. He died three years later and I resented my mother–I felt it was her fault I had never seen my father. I [...]

I feel emotionally abused by my husband who can be very loving, fun and attentive one day and because of “something I’ve done” he can suddenly shut down, not talk to me or touch me the next day. This happens more and more often and it is like being on a yo-yo. I have felt [...]

My son is fifteen years old turning sixteen. He has always been an easy-going, easily adaptable, pleasant child. The last two weeks I noticed, especially on weekends, that he seems a little agitated. When I questioned him, he said that he is feeling frustrated and just feels like breaking something or just putting his fist [...]