Author: Dovid Kohn

March 23rd, 2015

I don't want to write this. I feel like I don't have enough strength to convey these thoughts adequately. Nor the fortitude to face what may be some people's reactions or responses. But I've never read the words that I want to express. And I think they need to be written and spoken. I hope my words will be self-evident to all who read them. I pray they serve as they are intended - to help people with their healing needs. To help us all heal. We …
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Author: Dovid Kohn

March 20th, 2015

Hi! It's good to be back. Last post was preparing for a snowy Purim and today once again snow is comin'...preparing for what BETTER be the last snow of this year... All my training and clinical experience keeps on leading me to the same conclusion. Over and over. Symptom after symptom. Patient after patient. Complex trauma. Developmental trauma. Complex PTSD. Little "t" trauma. It's all the same. And we (the clinical world) are only in the beginn …
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Author: Dovid Kohn

March 4th, 2015

So I went online and found some of the corniest Purim material I can find... Not so easy. There's loads of this stuff. Disclaimer: This material is digested better with some alcohol. I wouldn't know this personally. I just know how reading it went down when I digested it sober. Enjoy, and A Freilechen Purim!!!   Top Twelve Rejected Purim Shpeil Titles

12. The Megillah Files
11. Mr. Haman's Neighborhood
10. Ha …
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Author: Dovid Kohn

March 3rd, 2015

For everything under the sun there is a time. This is the season of your awkward harvesting, When pain takes you where you would rather not go,   Through the white curtain of yesterdays to a place You had forgotten you knew from the inside out; And a time when that bitter tree was planted   That has grown always invisibly beside you And whose branches your awakened hands Now long to disentangle from your heart.   You are coming to …
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Author: Dovid Kohn

February 27th, 2015

G-d Sees Shades of Gray -I did not choose this title.. but it's a good one. Following is a nice Dvar Torah taken from a shiur given by Rabbi Frand (an uncle and Rebbe of mine). The Medrash says that when Moshe descended from Mt. Sinai and saw that Aaron was apparently an active participant with the Jewish people in making the Golden Calf, he was exceedingly upset. The Medrash explains that Aaron's intent was only to stall until Moshe came back d …
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Author: Dovid Kohn

February 26th, 2015

  THE GUEST HOUSE  This being human is a guest-house. Every morning a new arrival.   A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor.   Welcome and entertain them all! Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture,   still, treat each guest honorably. He may be clearing you out for some new delight.   The dark thought, the sham …
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Author: Dovid Kohn

February 25th, 2015

 What is serenity? It isn't so easy to define a feeling. But serenity is also a feeling and mind-state. I rather like the folowing descriptor: "Serenity is the ability to accept pleasant and unpleasant feelings; to know what you feel and to accept it even if that feeling is uncomfortable." UNKNOWN Combine that with the following two little gems: “Pain is what I walk through. Misery is what I sit in.” UNKNOWN "Seren …
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Author: Dovid Kohn

February 24th, 2015

  “To think is easy. To act is hard. But the hardest thing in the world is to act in accordance with your thinking.”  -JOHANN VON GOETHE   ALMIGHTY God, Source of all the energy of life, Without you I am helpless. Give me the courage – The physical drive, the emotional energy, and the spiritual will – To risk in order to grow, to Welcome every challenge as my life unfolds.  -R. NATAN OF BRESLOV   . …
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Author: Dovid Kohn

February 23rd, 2015

They say that when Rumi, the famous Persian Sufi poet died, Muslims, Jews and Christians alike attended his funeral. In reading his words, it isn't hard to see why. Although I don't read Farsi and need to read his work through English translations, one can see tremendous depth of spirit and expression in his works. Here's a piece of his writing - it's actually a bit connected to my previous post, in that it speaks to our innate natural wisd …
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Author: Dovid Kohn

February 22nd, 2015

Mary Oliver writes poetry. Lots of it. I don't get it all. Some of it seems to be the verbal equivalent of beautiful nature paintings. But when I do get it, it resonates. Deeply. So here's one of those: THE JOURNEY One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice – though the whole house began to tremble and you felt the old tug at your ankles. “Mend my life!&rdq …
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Author: Dovid Kohn

February 21st, 2015

This is my second version of this article - the original one got lost in cyberspace due to a technical glitch. Sort of the modern day equivalent to the missing sock in the washing machine...at least I have my socks. I will occasionally post an article or blog piece, or whatever these things are called. But mostly this will be a place for me to share favorite quotes, sayings, poetry, prayers, and other assorted random but meaningful things. Like …
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