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Looking for a word

As the world strives to reach a point beyond “languishing,” everyone wants the same thing: normal. On your list of things that money can’t buy, what words are you looking for? Some words that come to my mind include hope, faith, resilience, friends, family, children, recovery. Everyone has had to recover from something. When you think of the happiest person you know, pause for a moment or three. Why do you suppose that particular person is so happy? No matter what they face – and they have times of adversity just like everyone else – they manage to look on the bright side, to ...

Some leftovers from Johnson interview

It’s one of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving. Sometimes they also come from news interviews. Here are some leftover things I discussed with U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson that didn’t make it into my recent article. Because of congressional redistricting, Johnson, R-Marietta, will run for re-election next year in a new 6th District that will include all of Mahoning and Trumbull counties — assuming the Ohio Supreme Court upholds the Republican-drawn map. Johnson first was elected to the U.S. House in 2010 and has represented portions of Mahoning County since then. But this is a ...

Profound thoughts about some things

By CATHY BROWNFIELD Family Recovery Center Sometimes, do you sit with your cuppa, staring into but not seeing your surroundings, and ask yourself profound questions like, “Does everyone on Spaceship Earth think we are living in a test tube?” Or, “Can anyone else remember a time when they consciously thought, ‘I do not want to be a statistic?’ Or, “Do people know what it feels like to not be good enough, achieve well enough, or just be enough?” The human condition “is all of the characteristics and key events that compose the essentials of human existence, including ...

Check homes of seniors for common safety hazards

The holiday season is a good time to be sure that older loves ones living at home are safe and the home is free from common safety hazards. Many people who live far away from aging family members find that when they visit for the holidays, they see a much different living environment than what they might have imagined when talking to their relative on the phone. Not only do they find that the loved one’s physical or mental abilities have deteriorated more than they expected, but these changes may also have led to any number of safety hazards in the home, as well. Falls are among ...

People struggling with diseases of despair among us

Despair. The very word brings visions of sadness and sorrow to empathetic people who can feel deeply the emotions of others. Despair is “the complete loss or absence of hope.” When you think of the most despairing moments in your life, does it give you any insight about others who struggle in a sea of depression and hopelessness? From where do you draw on the well of hope? How do any of us find our way out of the darkness and into the light? Recently I was given a “final report,” “Appalachian Diseases of Despair,” which was prepared for the Appalachian Regional Commission ...

Getting enough sleep?

Tonight, we turn the clocks back an hour, as if we all grumble enough about not feeling rested when our feet hit the floor in the morning and we begin another day. How many of us will take several days to get our internal clocks reset? Several years ago my husband and I wrapped up a visit with friends and family in North Carolina. We decided to make the 9-1/2-hour drive home overnight to avoid the heavy daytime traffic. We did not rest before we set out for home. We wanted every possible minute with the people we were leaving behind. We both felt wide awake, ready to turn north on ...