Catherine Nelson Ph.D. – BBSH / Pathwork

Your Heart Song?

Radio Interview of a Mother & Her Son with MS

Catherine Nelson, Ph.D.
March-April 2020 • Vol 3, No 109

One cold night in January, I was driving home and listening to the last part of a radio interview of a mother and her son. The mother has muscular dystrophy, which is a degenerative disease of the voluntary muscles that control movement in the body. She talked about making “choices” in life. She said that everything we do or don’t do is a “choice” and has a consequence.

This mother is in physical pain much of her day. She makes a conscious choice every morning to get up, to make a cup of coffee, and to go through her day in physical pain. She said she is very aware of each choice she makes. Her muscular dystrophy is slowly worsening, but she appreciates all the medical help and medications she receives.

Her eleven-year-old son, who was born with muscular dystrophy, was also interviewed. His health and ability to live is more precarious. He struggled to breathe and talk during the interview. He had two siblings who were also born with muscular dystrophy, and they had died. The doctors told his mother that he would not make it past one year. He did. They then predicted he would die by age two. He didn’t. The doctors are amazed he has made it to age eleven.

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2020-03-02T09:12:14-07:00Mental & Emotional Health|

The Gift of Giving

& the Art of Receiving

Catherine Nelson, Ph.D.
November-December 2019 • Vol 3, No 107

Here we are already making plans for the upcoming holidays, especially Christmas. Some of us have already stashed presents away, and some of us will be last minute shoppers. The spirit and joy of the holidays is infectious, and we all want to be a part of it one way or another.

One of the main themes at this time of year is giving gifts to friends, family, and others. Some of us worry about finding the “right” gift for each person on our list. Will it be a good color or the right size? Will it be “enough” for a certain person? If it is not well received or valued, what should I do? How can I afford all of the gifts on my list?

These kinds of questions and concerns create tension, worry, and frustration inside of us. We seem to have lost the real value of giving. Maybe these two stories will help us remember the essence of gift giving in the days ahead.

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2019-11-04T08:14:29-07:00Current Events, Mental & Emotional Health|

Begin Again…

Getting Back to Basic Core Values

Catherine Nelson, Ph.D.
January–February 2019 • Vol 3, No 102

Here we are at the beginning of a new year. In our culture it is customary to reflect on the past year and set some goals and priorities for the coming year. We are leaving a year that was filled with excess and inundation—political commercials spending excessive amounts of money. We are inundated with all the pressure to buy things over the holidays, with the emphasis on “things,” not relationships. We are bombarded with excessive amounts of information in the media, on our computers and cell phones. Endless kinds of entertainment are available day and night. Many of us are distracted, mesmerized, overwhelmed, even addicted, to looking at the little and big screens in our world of technology. More and more of us, adults and teenagers, look like cell-phone zombies as we walk down the street totally focused on their gadget. Some of these individuals trip and fall; some forget where they are; some get hit by cars!

It’s interesting to note that Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were both very restrictive about the use of technology for their children and teens. There are recent reports from veterinarians that our domestic animals are suffering from depression because their owners are not paying attention to them. Another factor to examine is the high rate of suicide in the US, and especially in Montana.

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2018-12-27T10:08:58-07:00Mental & Emotional Health|

Who’s our Tribe in This Day and Age?

Time for a Global Perspective

Catherine Nelson, Ph.D.
September-October 2018 • Vol 3, No 100

Somewhere deep, very deep inside us is a need for safety in our lives. Perhaps it is in our DNA from living thousands of years on planet Earth. We believe that our safety is determined by our family and our “tribe.” Our ancestors survived trusting that membership in the tribe would help to keep them safe from harm, from attack, from hunger, and so much more—and it often did.

Strangers were suspect. They might be enemies, invaders, or potential conquerors capable of causing the death and destruction of our loved ones. The strangers might have looked different. Maybe they spoke a foreign language, dressed strangely, or had different values. In essence, the thinking was: if you don’t look like me, or talk like me, or believe as I do, then you are my enemy.

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