mysteryshrink

I'm a psychologist who goes to way too many movies, for the same reason I chose this profession. I love stories. I use movies and novels working with people in my office and during speaking engagements. "You should write some of this down," I kept being told. So, this is it, folks.

Little Boys Have Love in Their Eyes

Little Boys Have Love in Their Eyes MysteryShrink Short I’m sitting at an outdoor table along the Plaza de San Francisco in San Luis Potosi yesterday. Weather’s lovely. Colonial churches, cinnamon chocolate in the air, old men hidden in clouds of balloons for sale. A ragged little boy of six …

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Over-Dosing on Back Braces

MysteryShrink Shorts Overdosing on Back Braces “Good afternoon,” I said from the podium a couple of days ago. “My name is Barbara and I’m a back-brace addict.” I didn’t start out as an all-out back brace fiend. Neither of my parents had an unhealthy attachment to medical devices—though my brother, …

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“Me Too” and the Greater Truth

“Me Too” and the Greater Truth First, what happened: The first time I was fourteen and working at a dry cleaning pick-up station inside a megastore. I noticed that the forty-some owner, who was the father of a classmate, seemed to hang a lot while I was working and then …

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Las Vegas Shooter: How Far Will We Go to Get Attention?

Las Vegas Shooter: How Far Will We Go to Get Attention? “Look at Me!” When did we morph into a culture in which seeking attention is a way of life? And death? It’s easy to divide the world into good people (people like us) and bad people (people who aren’t …

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The Problem with Hotel Loyalty Programs

The Problem with Hotel Loyalty Programs is– The “Wrong People” Get In The management of Executive Lounges in luxury hotels should make us where a badge.  By ‘us’ I mean travelers like me who invade prestigious hotels and their ‘executive lounges’ by using Hilton points cards to charge gas, public …

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No Arms, No Hands, All Heart: The Beading Angel (sorry for the poor photo, you’ll understand)

No Arms, No Hands, All Heart The Beading Angel MysteryShrink in the Now* She’s always there. On the pedestrian walkway between the Mexico City Hilton and the Zocalo, sitting with her footless leg tucked under the one with the tennis shoe hiding where her toes were before the fire–her wings …

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“Hey! You there! Don’t you see my halo? So move #$**!@! over!

“Hey! You there! Don’t you see my halo? So move over!” “Paying Attention to What You Are Paying Attention To” Series What you pay attention to changes the experiences the world for other people. Maybe not the president or even the mayor, but what you pay attention to matters a …

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