Growing Stones and Becoming Courageous Like Georgia O'Keeffe

/ Molly Merson, MFT/
Growing Stones and Becoming Courageous Like Georgia O'Keeffe

Courage and fear are awkward teenagers at a school dance. When fear steps on courage's toes, courage tends to banish fear to the sidelines with the wallflower, declaring that just messes everything up and should just be ignored and pushed aside.

That might work for a while, until fear takes on a Carrie-type rage, setting fire to prom night.

Fear is a powerful emotion, sometimes more powerful than courage. Embracing your fears can help you step into the most frightening aspects of your life, especially as you get to know yourself on a deeper level. Here's a piece I wrote recently for Psyched in San Francisco, riffing off the Georgia O'Keeffe quotation: “I’ve been absolutely terrified every moment of my life, and I’ve never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do.”

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Dead Mothers Club: A Series

/ Molly Merson, MFT- Psychotherapist/
Dead Mothers Club: A Series

We keep our mothers alive inside us, even when they have died.

My first installment in the series, and an introduction to my theory of grief: The Mourning After: Grief After Mother's Day, in Psyched in San Francisco online magazine

The second installment, with interviews from a number of people whose mothers have died: Resurrecting Our Dead Mothers in the Huffington Post

Your mother's death - either by neglect, abandonment, or physical death - may be a contributor to your current distress. I have years of experience working with people whose mothers have died, and not all of these relationships were positive. If you are interested in exploring your relationship with your mother and how her death has shaped your life, I am uniquely qualified to help you name and explore your relationship to your mother, and to assist your mourning process.

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