Lives In Progress

by Jude Treder-Wolff, LCSW, RMT, CGP "The only peace we find at the top of mountains" goes an an old Zen saying, "is the peace we brought up there with us." And yet we tend to search outside ourselves - and outside our daily existence - for inner quiet we hope will clear emotional fog and calm turbulent thoughts that seem unavoidable. The trick is to develop a mind-and-skill set that helps us reframe life’s dilemmas, disappointments, and difficulties as creative choices – by working on them the same, focused way we learn technique in piano or dance or painting. By learning the techniques in a gradual and relaxed way when the pressure is off so they are ready to roll when the pressure is on. The fact that we can rethink our old, automatic mental habits, create new roles and change our minds through new learning for the entire length of our lives - the scientific term is “neuro-plasticity – really is good news, especially in these times of accelerated change an

"The arts are not a way of making a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable." Kurt Vonnegut. The New York Fringe Festival opens today, bringing more than 200 performing companies and 1600 performances to local venues. Affordable tickets to interesting and innovative work is just one reason to support this fringe or one of the others soon to open in cities across the country. Here are some more: They foster independent artists; They stimulate economic growth - restuarants, hotels, the travel industry and every small business in the neighborhood of a fringe event benefit with new customers and opportunities for promotion; They support the creative community; The promote under-developed neighborhoods; By making performing arts visible, available and affordable, the festival supports local arts year-round.   Full disclosure : I will be performing CrAzYToWn: my first psychopath in two upcoming Fringe festivals and am