What Paper Plates are For

April 14, 2017April 18, 2017 ~ Kana Smith ~ 2 Comments

There's a TV ad for an antidepressant that features a paper plate on a popsicle-stick handle with a smiley face sketched on it... Various people are holding it up in front of their faces, which (behind the paper-plate-smiles) are unhappy, disengaged, or entirely expressionless. That ad speaks not only to the experience of Depression, but also to … Continue reading What Paper Plates are For

Taking Out the Trash

February 23, 2017February 23, 2017 ~ Kana Smith ~ 7 Comments

This week I volunteered to help out a church acquaintance with some cleaning and reorganizing of her house. She's a single mom with numerous health problems and two active young boys, and she babysits an infant who's now mobile enough to require baby-proofing of the house---and she was finding the project overwhelming. I won't lie: I found the project … Continue reading Taking Out the Trash

Exorcism by Ink

January 24, 2017January 24, 2017 ~ Kana Smith ~ 17 Comments

I've exorcised a number of demons through the use of ink. No surprise for a writer. But this week exorcism-by-ink took a different twist. A couple years ago I foolishly married a person who turned out to be a liar and a cheat (and also already-married!) and unfortunately I had already let him scrawl his name across … Continue reading Exorcism by Ink

Changing My Story

January 4, 2017January 5, 2017 ~ Kana Smith ~ 5 Comments

Sometimes the really simple stuff is the hardest to get my hard head around... How is it, for example, that I can have a goal and know what it is and face no real impediments---yet it doesn't materialize? When there's not some external obstacle, why don't I get that goal accomplished? Well, it all comes down to ME, … Continue reading Changing My Story

Don’t Be JAFO

January 2, 2017January 9, 2017 ~ Kana Smith ~ 2 Comments

I said a probable goodbye to a dear friend today. Pat just had a massive stroke; he's in a coma on life support and not expected to make it back to us. Knowing that he wouldn't be talking to me (but who knows, might be able to hear me) I stopped at the hospital today … Continue reading Don’t Be JAFO

If God Acts as Travel Agent, Don’t Argue the Itinerary

December 8, 2016December 12, 2016 ~ Kana Smith ~ 6 Comments

I dreamed last night that I was back in Safe Haven, the psych-facility where I recently spent ten days, and the dream felt comforting. The place is well named. My cell phone was one of the things I missed most in there---not for calls, but for Google (I hadn't realized how many things-a-day I look … Continue reading If God Acts as Travel Agent, Don’t Argue the Itinerary

A Dash of Tobasco

December 5, 2016January 9, 2017 ~ Kana Smith ~ 11 Comments

Last week at the beginning of a session, my counselor handed me a plastic dinosaur. I tucked it under my arm as we talked, and waited for him to tell me what was up with the toy. Of course he didn't start by telling me anything; instead, he asked me what I "noticed" about the T-Rex... … Continue reading A Dash of Tobasco