Lives In Progress

            " "Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding."   Albert Einstein        Peace is a mindset, a way of thinking about relationships that is about collaboration rather than competition. It is something we must offer to the world rather than hope for the world to offer it to us. This can be a challenge, because people hurt, disappoint, even destroy us in various ways all the time. We can be deeply wounded by life and abandoned by everyone who should care, and it is still possible to be a person who creates peace. Some ideas:             One of the most powerful tools a therapist trained in action methods learns is role-reversal - the act of taking on another person's reality as best we can. To put this into action, we have to get up out of our own space, sit or stand someplace else in the room, and take on the physical posture and attitude of the person with whom we are reversing roles. We say their words. We say the per

Chris Stamp, original co-manager of The Who and lead singer Roger Daltry        There are second acts in life, if we create them.   The memorial service for Christopher Stamp , a colleague in psychodrama and the healing arts, at The Old Whaling Church in Sag Harbor, NY featured a fascinating mix of the players and stories that made up his astonishing life. There was rock and roll royalty – Roger Daltry was one of the speakers, just to give an example – talking about  Chris' early career as co-manager of The Who . There were therapy clients who spoke about his passion for the work of recovery and colleagues whose lives were changed by their work with Chris in the great second act he wrote for his life, as a therapist and addiction counselor. There was powerful music. Kids – beautiful kids with beautiful British accents – reading poems to honor their grandfather. Stories.     The Who’s music, which shaped my adolescence and college years and therefore shaped who I am is part