History and You, June 11, 2013
Whenever you deal with people, the dynamics are as interesting and fun as they are challenging and hurtful. My father once told me, and by the way, this advice came from a man who was married to my mother for 63 years, that one of the secrets to having a long and happy marriage was to choose someone who naturally coincides with the way you are on the part of both the woman and the man. This is not an easy thing to do in your life, but it worked well for him. Is there something viable in that kind of advice? Are the individual natures of how we are so important as to determine whether couples will gel and thrive in the face of so much adversity that life has in store?
Well, all that my wisdom can tell you, for whatever that’s worth, is that Love is the most powerful force I’ve ever seen in my life, and in the lives of many other people I’ve come to know and long remember. Love withers the evil eye, and like rushing water it pervades and overwhelms without resistance, everything in its path. If you have faith in the love you feel for someone else, and that same kind of love comes back to you, nothing will ever matter except the two of you, together.
If you want to love, serve others; if you want to be loved, be heartfelt to others. Your existence has no meaning alone; it’s only what you do in your solitude that defines and colors what you feel for, and how you do the things you do in your life.
Guest, Nancy Dreyfus
I grew up a self-conscious bookworm in a tense, glamour-oriented household where I worried so early about my relational deficits that by 3rd grade you couldn’t get me to play Old Maid. By 5th grade, I was planning my face-saving lifeplan: “Someday I’ll write for The New York Times and no one will notice there’s something wrong with me.”
This mindset got me into The Columbia School of Journalism and turned me into a prize-winning reporter managing her own sense of invisibility crusading for the disadvantaged. I actually was offered a job at The Times when I was 25…..about the same time The Universe offered a competing option: An assignment to write an exposé of a spiritual group gave me an unexpected glimpse of feeling whole--independent of any achievement or anyone’s particular affection. When an important editor told me I had written something “incredibly mediocre,” and astonishingly, I felt no familiar diminishment, I promptly left journalism and decided to spend the rest of my life exploring ways to access and sustain the identity that made that possible.
A psychotherapist now for over 25 years, I see myself as a kind of transpersonal scout, helping people let go of external structures that no longer fit and orienting them to what it means to live a life based on their own insides. A phrase I like in this regard is “Trust in Being,” and while the phrase is probably not unique to them, I really heard it from some wonderful teachers in a group called Waking Down in Mutuality.
While I was learning psychoanalytic theory at Hahnemann Medical College, I was also studying Buddhism and secretly teaching clients to meditate. The tension between solid developmental approaches and my draw to the Mystical has been part of my journey. For years I taught Law of Attraction classes to Main Line moms, but understood enough about unconscious programming to consider The Secret as not telling the whole story. Personal growth, to me, examines the interplay between family-of-origin conditioning and one’s understanding of how The Universe operates. Many of us operate as if we are living in an Unfriendly Universe-, and my hope is that Talk To Me Like I’m Someone You Love will show you how—right in the messiness of life—to feel both discomfort and Something Friendlier in the wings.
History and You
Capturing the importance of the individual and how the past can put you in a position to make a difference in the present. History, as we have come to know it, is a collage of choices made, created, and driven by all of us. Our understanding of it only helps to measure how far and with what level of sophistication we can see the world and our individual place in it.
The individual, the everyday hero, who wakes up to work his day and returns home at the end of that work, is the focus of this show. People today live in an environment they seldom know because so little is known about history. Therefore, the variety of topics and history surrounding everyday people will be made current and relevant through insightful discussions. Topics for the show will include, but are not limited to, an informed and considered view of:
• Politics
• Sports
• Art and Culture
• Philosophy and Religion
• Ethnicity and National Identity
• Science and Technology
• Psychology
• Education
• Social and Cultural Issues
In short, the show will delve into the issues of human nature and how history can assist us to better understand and cope with these issues in our modern day world. With visits from professional guest speakers, as well as "call-ins" and emails from folks contributing their insights to the discussion, the show aims to provide the public with thought-provoking moments about the quality of life we are currently living and how to contend with it. The supporters of "History and You" feel that the volume of listeners will steadily grow given the variety and interconnectedness of topics presented in a way that appeal to a wide range of age groups, income levels, and demographics.
"History and You" will provide audiences with a reason and a forum from which to reflect, revisit, and renew thoughtfulness about their lives. This informed and discussion-oriented format tends to build loyal and passionate listeners. This is a show that creates a positive difference for every individual through its passionate and introspective look at people and their lives.
