Welcome to episode 3 of All About Nothing, our bi-weekly podcast series. Today, amidst storms of feeling on the heels of the recent US presidential election, we anticipate the upcoming national holiday of Thanksgiving, by visiting the complex world of giving, receiving, and gratitude, all fraught for the child of neglect.

Thank you all for joining me in contemplating difficult topics, and changing my world.

When I began studying neglect and looking for patterns to recognize it, one of the first that jumped out at me, is what I came to call “the Three P’s of Neglect.” They are: passivity, procrastination and paralysis. The three P's became a “dead giveaway” in recognizing a child of neglect.

The child of neglect has a very difficult time initiating, following through and completing tasks, especially in the interpersonal. Often they (or impatient parents, partners or others) interpret these attentional type issues as “the problem,” when they can point to “nothing” else. We touch on these topics in this week’s episode.

In this episode we will explore the complex subject of forgiveness, inspired by the Yom Kippur holiday and also by the many feelings stirred in me by tragic testimonials from both sides that I heard seemingly endlessly on October 7th. So much unbearable trauma. How do people move on?

My experience of forgiving my father was one of the most profound experiences of my life, and I also know that forgiveness is not for everyone or every kind of injury. Not everyone is forgivable, or worthy/safe to forgive.

Self-forgiveness however is imperative, and is finding a way to live with ourselves after doing or feeling responsible for something destructive or painful. This will be a first look at what is a very big and to me very important topic.