MFT Solutions: Healing Relationships

Author: Carlton Brown

  • A Butterfly that Knows Itself Can Change the World

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    Carlton Brown
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    I hesitated to write this column because, I said to myself, I am worrying about what I can’t control, and I tell my clients all the time not to do this – not to worry about what you can’t change. I am worried about the United States. Recall that my ancestors came from there. I…

  • How to Save the World

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    Carlton Brown
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    Maturana and Varela, Chilean biologists, wrote an essential book called The Tree of Knowledge. They “explain” evolution according to a simple rule that even a single-celled organism can follow: Don’t piss off the environment. We talk about climate change like it is something we caused and can therefore reverse. That may be partly true. What…

  • As You Wish

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    Carlton Brown
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    In William Goldman’s The Princess Bride, the Dread Pirate Roberts is a mythical figure who sails the seas and spares no one. Westley unfortunately gets captured by him, but manages to escape execution by pleading for his life and saying, “Please”. Roberts is impressed by this, and also by Westley’s story of his unending love…

  • Fear and Flying

    Fear and Flying

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    Carlton Brown
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    I think I suffer from a form of OCD. You know what OCD is, don’t you? It’s an anxiety disorder where you seek to relieve your anxiety by performing a compulsive task. I worry about becoming irrelevant. So to deal with that anxiety, I learned to fly. Surely pilots are relevant. I became a pilot…

  • Tariff Day

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    Carlton Brown
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    Today is Tariff Day. But it’s also Chocolate Cake Day. Tariffs are bound to interrupt your digestion. Money generates anxiety at the best to times. Having to pay more money for things – well, that will generate anxiety. Anxiety, that signal of impending emergency. Evolution has long favoured interrupting meals in case of emergency. According…

  • No Pain, No Gain

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    Carlton Brown
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    Did you notice the typo above? It was a convenient image. But the problem with convenience is that I can’t edit it… I was sitting in the dentist’s chair this morning, having made an appointment to explore the cause of my tooth pain. Of course, to diagnose the pain you have to experience it. So…

  • Lane Departure

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    Carlton Brown
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    I used to drive somewhat faster on the highway than I do now. I have been influenced to change by several factors: when we had children, I became concerned about safety; then I learned that most gasoline engines operate at peak efficiency at about 80 km/hr: therefore by slowing down I was saving money and…

  • Two Roads Diverged

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    Carlton Brown
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    I belong to an organization that has imploded recently. We were anxious about running a large public event after the pandemic. We divided into two camps: some of us had a lot of faith that we could pull this off and that it would be of benefit to a larger audience. Others were more cautious…

  • Finishing Things

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    Carlton Brown
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    My sister-in-law Karen died this year. She had had a rare form of cancer. She fought it valiantly for some time, but her body just got tired. She was married, with three adult children – two with special needs. She had a supportive husband. She worked as a neonatal nurse. We weren’t close but we…

  • The Furnace

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    Carlton Brown
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    This is from last year but as fall approaches I think of this again and I smile: my knee is much better. The bathroom is still not finished but it’s really close. And the furnace tech has forgiven me… I live in a rural area and winter is coming. There are a number of preparations.…