
Weekly essays, reflections, and a gathering place for people willing to be cracked open by disability, caregiving, and life itself.
| Platform | Pricing | Only free issues | Publishes | Weekly | |
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| Issues | 77 | Founded | a year ago | Last Issue | 3 days ago |
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Last Friday, I did a live with , a clinical psychologist who writes here semi-anonymously about her own struggles rather than her clinical work. We spoke about what it costs to be in the role of the helper and what happens when the helper n...
The flowers have arrived, digital painting by Judith Alalu, 2026
People tell me all the time, in one form or another, that they talked more than they meant to. “Wow, I don’t normally talk this much.” “I spoke the whole time.” “You’re such...
Beneath the Surface, digital painting by Judith Alalu, 2026
Almost eight years ago, when my daughter was 4, she flew to Peru with Deb and got scared during turbulence, so she told herself to be brave like the rabbits in Peter Rabbit. I ask...
The Heart, sculpture by Judith Alalu, 2019
“The great revelation had never come. The great revelation perhaps never did come. Instead there were little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in the dark.”
-Virginia Woo...
Ram Dass
Mark Epstein, the Buddhist psychiatrist and author of Thoughts Without a Thinker and Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart, once described a conversation with Ram Dass that changed how he approached his work. Ram Dass asked him wh...
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The writers behind this newsletter.
I’m a husband, father, psychologist, reluctant expert in muscular dystrophy, and recovering neurotic. I’ve spent my life studying what happens inside people as a therapist, meditator, and through a body that made me listen.
I write about disability, power, and the wisdom of lived experience. My work challenges dominant narratives about disability and explores what those narratives reveal about agency, embodiment, and what it means to be human.
I write about motherhood, thinking alongside my five children as we learn to show up with a good heart. I believe small acts of kindness can change the world. Here, we slow down, think together, and build bridges.
Psychologist and writer, sharing (anonymously, for now) from both sides of the therapy room. This is where the mask comes off. I write about falling apart and the messy, brave work of becoming real.
Substack When Pain Writes. Drawing on literature, philosophy, and personal experience, this Substack explores what cannot be easily narrated.
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