Remembering Mom

Submitted by Terrence Delaney on Sun, 2018/05/13 - 19:54

Grandma with baby.Today I finally return to my blog after an absence of more than two years. I never quite got back on track with my writing since I wrote about missing my meds (see Of Pills and Chips) . The reasons why I haven’t been writing are difficult for me to understand and write about right now but I will get to that another time. Back to this entry...

I write this on Mother’s Day with some sadness and grief because my Mother died in March of this year. This is the first Mother’s Day without her so I feel that it is fitting for me to pay tribute to her. I could say much, but I’ve decided to include my eulogy from her funeral instead. Read on...

Of Pills and Chips

Submitted by Terrence Delaney on Mon, 2016/03/21 - 17:26

I just had a miserable experience this past weekend. I had forgotten to take my medications for a day and a half before I realized why I was feeling so awful. It’s never a good idea to go cold turkey with these psychiatric meds. By the time I took them, I was hurting all over, really suffering with anxiety, and had a solid fear of going insane. By that time I was sure I couldn’t exist like this and would rather die. I’ve spent too much time with suicidal thinking and I wasn’t going there, so I really had no choice other than to wait until the meds took effect.

Music In My Brain

Submitted by Terrence Delaney on Wed, 2016/03/09 - 05:58

I've got music in my brain – something deeper than having music on my mind. I'm told that having a regular music practice is literally changing the structure and the operation of my brain. My experience tells me that it's true. I've been changed by music since I joined the band, Soulful Noize.

In my second blog post, “Getting Back Up”, I had mentioned the importance of music to my ongoing recovery from the fallout of my last manic episode and the crash into depression that came after the mania. Now I want to tell you more about the role that music has played.

Confusion

Submitted by Terrence Delaney on Wed, 2016/03/02 - 05:28

Confusion and anxiety feel like predators circling around a campfire, waiting to close in on me. I try to keep the fire of my creative urge going but I've been struggling. I can't seem to think straight or write clearly without endless editing. I have to choose which of my swirling thoughts to grab onto. Then I need to hold it long enough to work through the process of expressing in words that which flies through my mind in an instant. Then more and more editing...

Practising Presence

Submitted by Terrence Delaney on Mon, 2016/02/22 - 06:40

Small waterfall.There it is again: a blank page. Just like last time. There is something intimidating about an empty page. I started my last post talking about that too – that I could fill the space with anything I choose to write. Yet sometimes having too many decisions to make, or too broad a task to do, or too many choices available can be overwhelming. I expect that others find the same thing, but I seem to hit that point more quickly than most.

What Next?

Submitted by Terrence Delaney on Thu, 2016/02/18 - 08:04

Shady lane.A blank page
An open mind
A child at play
In the field of possibilities.

But something lurks
Behind the bushes
Just inside the shadow
And the play stops.

Getting Back Up

Submitted by Terrence Delaney on Thu, 2016/02/11 - 18:57

Woman on bicycle.It was a nice day for early October and I was riding my bicycle on the way home when suddenly my head was bouncing off the hood of a truck that drove into me. I hit the ground and lay there, unable to think or do anything but yell out in pain. The next thing I knew there were voices above me asking if was okay. I opened my eyes and realized where I was and what had happened. (Hmm... brain seems to work... good sign!)

Hello World

Submitted by Terrence Delaney on Sun, 2016/02/07 - 10:49

I was born at an early age and I found it to be a bewildering experience. Now, 58 years later, I'm still working at getting over the confusion. I suppose that's part of what I'm up to in this blog. Sometimes I'm not sure what I think until I write it out. Sometimes I feel the need to sort out and resolve incomplete processes from the past. Sometimes I just want to have fun though.

There's all kinds of reasons to write, but why make the process public?