Growing Bolder Community

September is National Women's Friendship Month. Call, write, talk to, text or whisper in the ear of your friend and tell her how much she means to you. "We are friends and I do like to pass the day with you in serious and inconsequential chatter. I wouldn't mind washing up beside you, dusting beside you, reading the back of the paper while you read the front. We are friends and I...

By: Brian M Murray, MS, IMH “It sometimes takes a state of solitude to bring to mind the real power of companionship.” -Stephen Richards… A woman is married for 18 years has 3 children, active at her church and involved with a women’s small group two times a month. She goes home, sits in front of the computer and logs onto a social network. Looking around she notices all of the...

I couldn't resist uploading a picture of my spike heels to CNN's iReport recent call for stories about shoes and the people who love them. Here's the back story on my getting-famous stilettos! http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-446919www.runningwithstilettos.com

~{}~ The battle axes won’t be melted soon This peace on earth is just a phrase But you and I made up no day too soon So let me give you this embrace The silent nights that we are hoping for They won’t be keeping us awake By sunset we’ll just close and bolt the door Since silent night is give and take ~{}~

~{}~ Far, too far away are you Not just in distance but in soul And though I would, there’s nothing I can do One day your sanity will pay a bitter toll There is so much I gladly would have done If only you would have let me But it’s too late, and now you’re too far gone ~{}~

To a large extent, we are a mobile, moving society. Although I don’t have any statistics, I would venture to guess that a large majority of Americans have made one or more major moves in their lives. For these people (and that includes me), where we were born is not where we currently live. The reasons we moved are varied. Some move for better jobs, some for health, some because it is part of...

Back in the day when kids put on play clothes after school and free time was not so structured, I had my best friend, Lizzie. Each afternoon till 5:00, when her family ate dinner (an hour earlier than ours), we were free to do all the stuff children did in the pre-daycare, pre-Elizabeth Smart, pre-Amber Alert days when you actually saw kids outside in neighborhoods riding bikes, playing...

In the summer before tenth grade I hosted my first real party, the memory of which still evokes the impulse to hide behind the planks of my formerly mousy brown hair in an effort to become invisible. By a real party I’m not talking about the birthday parties I used to have as a younger kid, where I and my two best friends (one of whom I didn’t really like) were driven to the indoor roller...

Have you ever wondered why some people cannot seem to trust anyone? Maybe you are married to someone who despite all of your positive efforts of encouragement still struggles with being able to trust you. Maybe you have a friend who automatically distrusts everyone they come in contact with including supposed safe categories of people such as the police or a pastor. Or maybe you have a...

Have you ever spent time with a person who doubted nearly everything they did or how about a person who is confident in their speech or actions? What if they grew up in the same household yet there this huge difference between the two of them? How can this be? Erik Erikson in his eight stages of psychosocial development explains that between the ages of two and four a child learns either...