RECOGNIZING THE PROBLEM
What increases your risk and warrants your attention? It’s driving after you’ve had a few drinks. It can put you in serious danger. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 65 percent of people who died from alcohol-related accidents had a blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08 percent or higher. An equally worrisome statistic […]
DECISION-MAKING AND PERFORMANCE UNDER PRESSURE
In his article, “Boosting Decision Making and Performance under Pressure: How to Excel under Pressure Conditions,” Marc Schoen, Ph.D., discusses how, for the majority of us, performance in stressful situations can be adapted and improved. Schoen connects any present negative performance back to stressful childhood occurrences when our performance did not adequately meet expectations. Schoen […]
BALANCE WITHIN AND WITHOUT
I suspect you know the story of David and Goliath. Goliath, a massive Philistine warrior in full armor, spear in hand, is defeated in single combat by a mere boy (and future king), David. With one well-aimed stone flung from a sling…the dreaded giant collapsed. How awesome if we could toss magic rocks at our […]
Chaplain’s Notebook
Apart from my duties as a chaplain for LASD, I also serve as a hospital chaplain. There, I frequently see patients and their families dealing with tough times — often the toughest of their lives. Good times do not last. Hard times are inevitable. This is Job’s famous lament: “Where is God in tough times?” […]
AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER (ASD)
Autism affects one of 68 children. It is a lifelong developmental genetic condition that affects individuals of every race, socioeconomic status and faith. Symptoms are evident in some children as early as 18 months of age. Notably, the ratio of males to females diagnosed with autism is close to 4 to 1. Autism Spectrum Disorder […]
SOBER LIFE AHEAD
Many of the people I meet who are in recovery thank their lucky stars every day that they gained their sobriety when they did. Most of them wished they had sobered up sooner, although they almost unanimously subscribe to the idea that everyone quits drinking when they are ready. Not every alcoholic has to hit […]
Apart from my duties as a chaplain for LASD, I also serve as a hospital chaplain. There, I frequently see patients and their families dealing with tough times — often the toughest of their lives. Good times do not last. Hard times are inevitable. This is Job’s famous lament: “Where is God in tough times?” […]
CUMULATIVE TRAUMA
It’s like a slow drip into a bucket that never gets emptied, until the bucket overflows. Cumulative trauma has also been referred to as cumulative post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). John Marx, founder of Copsalive.com, calls it Blue Trauma Syndrome. It consists of having difficult experiences over a long period of time that simply add up. […]