Author: Nancy Cotterill

There is actually a course offered at some medical schools called Empathetics. It was developed by a psychiatrist who was working with anorexic patients—a population some thought simply refused to eat. Many young girls were dying of starvation, and the words “just eat” were not working. But when clinicians were trained in empathy—trained to listen…Continue reading The Power of Empathy →

I’ve got to stop watching the news. It’s too hard to see the violence and hate. An argument over a Black Lives Matter vs. all lives matter ended in a woman being shot in the head—right here on the Canal Walk in Indianapolis. She was a mother with two small children, and whatever any of…Continue reading Where Are We In All This? →

This is a thing. It is really a thing! I recently heard a man talking about how white people are putting signs up in their yards that are nothing but virtue signaling. Virtue signaling? That intrigued me. According to a web site called Simplicable, virtue signaling “is the conspicuous communication of moral values and good…Continue reading Virtue Signaling: What is that? →

Most of my friends are still very worried about COVID 19. I admit…I am not. I am so over it that I can hardly see it in my rearview mirror anymore. So much has happened that is more concerning to me. More shootings here. More first responders leaving their jobs. And still and forever, the…Continue reading Seated in the Rest of God →

Is there a need for anything else to be said about George Floyd’s public humiliation and murder? Frankly, I’ve been stunned into silence—a rarity for me. But I ask myself: Can anything I say matter now? Maybe not. We can’t change what happened, but maybe we can join the mourners across the country who feel…Continue reading Come Together Over Me →

Have you ever noticed that the word “silent” has the same letters as the word “listen?” I have a friend who never says much. She waits to see what other people think on any given subject before she expresses an opinion—or says nothing. I think she loves the safety of keeping her own counsel and…Continue reading Proving You’re Right…Or Not →

When an opinion columnist at the New York Times asked readers to share the status of their mental health with him in April, a few weeks into quarantine, he received more than 5,000 replies. While many said they were “hanging in there,” the rest of the responses were more like a “river of woe and…Continue reading Sacrificing Sanity →