Time & Other Thieves

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In this episode, I share parts of a conversation I recently had with psychotherapist and organizational consultant Dr. Jeffrey Axelbank. In July of 2025, Jeff was featured in a New York Times article by Ellen Berry titled "The Ghost in the Therapy Room," about therapists who die unexpectedly—or at least their patients don't expect it. These patients are deprived of saying goodbye and otherwise preparing themselves for a profound loss that tends to go unrecognized by society. 

Jeff talks with me about his experience of such a loss, after having worked with the same psychoanalyst for 36 years, three sessions a week. He did not know she was dying of pancreatic cancer. He also discusses his earliest experience of psychotherapy, which he sought because he wanted help with a stutter, and about his work as a process group leader and an organizational consultant. 

To any therapists listening: I hope this episode will inspire you to be communicative with your patients about your impending death, should you fall ill, and to create a professional will regardless of your age or health status, so that your patients will be better cared for in the event of your unexpected passing.

(If you'd like to listen to the Mount Eerie song I reference in the beginning, here is a Spotify link.) 

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In this episode I share parts of a conversation I recently had with Jacob Winkler,  founder and facilitator of the Masters of Group Therapy Club, of which I've been a member since August of 2024. I hope you enjoy this tiny sliver of the giant pie that is Jacob's knowledge and wisdom around the human psyche and how to work with it in the context of process groups. He talks about honoring what people are coming in with instead of pushing it to the side in order to stay on task, about the power of the unconscious mind, about writing as a form of self therapy, and about the value in studying one's own irritation with others as a way to help those people become more of themselves.

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In this episode, I explore some of the ideas that Carl Jung expounds upon in his 1933 book, "Modern Man in Search of a Soul." There's the notion that we cannot fully accept others unless we've fully accepted (i.e., loved) ourselves; that the parts of ourselves we deem unacceptable will be banished to the unconscious and wreak havoc in ways we can't control, while we WOULD have more control if we accepted them; that "certainties can arise only through doubt"; and that problems are necessary; problems are what necessitate our growth and expansion. I also talk about what it means to "be oneself" if that self is always changing, like a river. And I discuss the concept of everything containing its opposite, and why I no longer ascribe to the popular Buddhist belief that man's "true nature" is loving-kindness and compassion. 

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In this episode I share parts of a conversation I recently had with psychotherapist, process group leader, and group therapy consultant Sara Schreiber. I first met her in August of 2024 in the Masters of Group Therapy Club. Together we explore her approach to facilitating groups, what challenges her most about being a group leader and member, and how her spiritual practice informs her therapy work and everything else in her life. An observer of Orthodox Judaism, Sara answers some questions I have about various religious traditions—including no sex (or even touching of any kind!) before marriage—and shares some of the prayers she says multiple times a day (including one for after using the bathroom) as a way of staying in conversation with God. I felt very happy and peaceful listening to her, and I hope you will, too. 

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In this promotional-type bonus episode, I describe the new group I'm starting in late July, which I hope you'll consider joining! There will be two separate cohorts of Time & Other Thieves: A Discussion, Meditation, and Interpersonal Process Group. One group will meet on the last Tuesday of the month from 2:00 to 3:30 PM Eastern Standard Time, and the other on the last Wednesday of the month from 6:00 to 7:30 PM. In each Zoom meeting we'll explore a different book and its corresponding podcast episode. But the primary focus will be the here-and-now emotional, interpersonal experience of participants, with an open invitation to put thoughts and feelings into words as they arise, toward other members. Email me at [email protected] for more info!

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In this episode I explore some of my favorite ideas from the book "Not Always So: Practicing the True Spirit of Zen," by Shunryu Suzuki (edited by Edward Espe Brown). What does it mean to be oneself? How does being oneself relate to the Buddhist notion of emptiness? What is the ultimate goal or purpose of spiritual practice? I'll address these questions and more while also reflecting (yet again) on how these ideas apply to interpersonal process groups.

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In this episode, I explore some of the ideas presented in Howard Thurman's 1949 book, "Jesus and the Disinherited." Bo Aganaba (host of the GoodBeing Podcast) first told me about Thurman and this book (a huge inspiration for MLK Jr.) when I interviewed him back in December. The Baptist minister's thoughts on fear, deception, hate, and love are just as relevant today as they were when he wrote them. I apply some of Thurman's ideas to what's happening in the political realm right now, and of course I can't help but apply others to the work I do as a leader and member of interpersonal process groups. "A complete and devastating sincerity," anyone? Don't mind if I do!

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In this episode I explore some of the ideas in Martin Buber's "I and Thou," which presents the dialogical philosophy for which he's most well known. Given my continued passion for leading and participating in interpersonal process groups, I discuss these ideas through that lens, focusing on how group provides an opportunity to inhabit the You-world instead of the It-world, to encounter and actualize others instead of merely experience or use them. And through that encounter, we contact the eternal in others—and in ourselves. To quote Buber, "I require a You to become; becoming I, I say You.”

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In this episode, I get to explore one of my most favorite topics—group psychotherapy—with two women who are as passionate about the subject as I am: psychologist Sarah Taylor and spiritual director Vanessa Caruso. I met Sarah and Vanessa last summer in the Masters of Group Therapy Club, which continues to meet three times a week via Zoom. In this lively discussion, they talk about their 30-plus years of friendship and how they decided to start facilitating interpersonal process groups together. Among other aspects of group, they explore the sense of abundance that it cultivates, the courage and creativity inherent in the process, and the differences between being a group member and a group leader. If listening to this episode doesn't make you want to join a process group yesterday, I don't know what will.

You can learn more about Sarah and Vanessa's groups here: https://www.sayingtheunsaidgroup.com/

If you'd like to learn more about process groups happening in the Asheville area, you can email me at [email protected].

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In this first episode of the new year, I share parts of a conversation I recently had with Bo Aganaba, host of the GoodBeing Podcast and founder and principal at GoodBeing Co. He had me on his podcast a few months back, so now the tables have turned! Bo and I talk about climate change, Christianity, Alan Watts, yoga, time (is it really a thief?), and the importance of play. With musical interludes by Violet Ultraviolet.