Long Overdue Update-- Part I

OK, I'm drowning a little bit.

This is the season of the semester where tests and papers are cascading upon each other. I love what I am studying. But I'm not doing so well, juggling my life as wife, mommy, student, and human person--or at least THIS human person! (And the blog shows it!)

Any of the rest of you out there feel like that?

I LOVE my Adv. Marriage & Family Class. The books are FABULOUS! Failure of Nerve by Edwin Friedman. Looking at large-scale leadership from a family-systems counseling perspective. Awesome, ingenious book, ahead-of-his-time thinker. Also The Family Crucible. Fabulous case study from start to finish, with so much insight about how families relate! I especially love how this counselor describes HIS own interpersonal process, alongside the counseling insight. And Couples In Conflict. This guy is SO insightful! The only bummer about this class, is that I'm auditing it, and there is so many other books that I'm supposed to be reading.

Surprisingly, I'm also really enjoying Psychological Disorders... At least on this score-- the human brain is fascinating! (I was reminded that when I was in 3rd grade, I decided to be a Neurologist. That didn't happen. Another story for another day. But I've always been amazed by the brain!) To understand more about the physical links with all kinds of mental/emotional/phsycial disorders.... to understand how the brain reacts to trauma... mind-boggling. I love seeing how wonderfully cohesive and connected the human person is-- mind, body, spirit, emotions... Feel like I could spend weeks just posting fascinating new research facts about the brain alone!

Also loving Crisis and Transitions. It really should be named "Human Personality and Development." It occurred to me when I asked a former student what they thought of this professor, and he reported how it bothered him that our prof. never followed his syllabus, that some might not like his style. But I guess my brain works in a kind of convoluted, disorganized way, because I feel like everything that comes out of his mouth is golden, and my friend's assessment had never occurred to me before. What I love best (this being my 2nd class with the same guy), is how he weaves the gospel into everything... emotions, families, the church, the counseling room, psychology, neurology, etc... Another fascinating, thoroughly readable book-- Mindsight. Check it out.

The other 3 classes.... Well, these above are my favorites!

Thankfully, this week is Spring Break. What do we have in store?? First on the agenda, REST. And so, I'm not picking up a book until Tuesday!

Part I implies a Part II. There MIGHT be a Part II coming later this week, but I'm not making any promises.