The Velvet Rage: Overcoming the Pain of Growing Up Gay in a Straight Man’s World by Alan Downs

It is my personal mission to help members of the LGBTQ+ community to lead healthier and more balanced lives by freeing their authentic selves from their automatic patterns. Alan Downs‘ excellent book, which I review here, establishes some valuable groundwork for understanding the impact of growing up gay in a hostile culture and moving beyond the patterns that helped us to get through the pain. In the article I describe some key concepts including the escape from shame, the shift from seeking approval to seeking contentment and the movement beyond body objectification.

Our Hopeful Response to the Corona Crisis

This is a challenging situation for all of us. It is almost as though the rapid spread of a virus is reminding us painfully of how interconnected all of us human beings on this planet are. Perhaps we can use this reminder to improve the ways in which we connect to ourselves, other people and the world at large.

The human spirit is strong and has survived through horrendous challenges at countless moments throughout history: the plague, the Spanish flu, many wars and so on. At times in the past people have thought: life will never be good again, we are doomed, everything is always going to be terrible. And people have bounced back, sometimes having learned painful but useful lessons.

Move your depression along

How can you move your depression along? Read here about two possilbities: antidepressants and sport.