Euphoria can be useful because its presence can signify that we are headed in the right direction provided its not followed by big erratic lows. Once I started to experience it I realized that I was becoming happier which was yet another indicator that repressing my trans identity to the extent I was made me less so. Today I try and keep an even keel and don’t want to have my life become a roller coaster but the affirmation that occasional euphoria brings means that your dysphoria is being successfully worked on and once there you stop desiring validation or affirmation from others as you simp ..read more

When criminality becomes instinct its engrained in the DNA. Therefore by taking documents perhaps as collateral or as imagined self protection down the road, Trump did something that people who aren't twisted psychopaths wouldn't do because they understand the gravity and potential fallout. That Trump's brain does not operate like that because the connections are faulty, can only ultimately be good for the country in prosecuting the offense. So here it's good that the tiger cannot change its stripes ..read more

Self acceptance happens in stages and when I thought I had reached it years ago I actually hadn't because there are two parts to its attainment. The first part is understanding the mechanics of what constitutes who you are and what drives you, while the second part is about using that understanding to heal the misplaced guilt and the shame amassed over the years and, even more importantly, to burn off fear. So while I may have come to a place of full realization about my being trans some years ago, it didn't mean that once there I had adequately dealt with the emotional impact and baggage that ..read more

Toscana is not complicated and is sweet without being saccharine. The storyline deals with loss, grief, love and measuring up to expectation. While it's not going to win any Oscars it's worth watching for the Tuscan ambiance alone which you can almost taste and smell and makes you want to get on a plane.  All that to say that there are definitely worse ways to spend 90 minutes ..read more

No you are not dreaming it's not 1822 but you wouldn't know it....I keep saying people never ever get smarter. There is no Darwinian improvement....     ..read more

The trans blogging community can become a feedback loop which feeds on itself and it is why I generally tend to stay out of it. That loop can be a lifeline to many but also an influence that might not necessarily be helpful to our own situation. I see, like with so many things, a double edged sword there which we need to keep at arms length if we want to find our own path. At its most placid it is a benign forum to commiserate with another in a similar situation. I don't think about that community when I write but envision myself at an earlier stage looking for guidance which interestingly eno ..read more

Connectivity to the deeper self helps in dysphoria management when the realization that we are trans but cannot go to an extent that is desired becomes apparent. Not everyone can or even desires to fully transition so working in the inner self rather than getting lost in the far less important accoutrements of being transgender can be pivotal. Solid self acceptance is the most vital and important step where all signs of an apologetic tone can be removed and in so doing culpability disappears over time. After that is finding ways to curb or soothe dysphoria even when the ideal scenario is not a ..read more

To the world Joe Biden is nothing more than a milquetoast centrist but somehow to the fringe right he is Hugo Chavez; that's how deluded these right wingers are. So while progressives in the States think Biden doesn't go far enough with climate change initiatives, student debt relief or social programs to help people in need, he is vilified by an authoritarian extremist party devoid of ideas.  About 30% of the country is unreachable and always will be hence you have to work with those with some degree of intelligence, common sense and pragmatic thinking; the kind of people open to solving ..read more

Parents sometimes live and die by their kids' misadventures and it is tempting to want to shield them from life thus doing them a disservice. At my children's ages it is no longer little problems but bigger ones which you cannot immerse yourself into. Your daughter's argument with her boyfriend or your son's anxiety must be handled with more deftness and finesse or better yet not intervened into at all. Sparing them pain doesn't help them and weakens their ability to handle what is yet to come and yet that pit of the stomach feeling appears in you because you want to help even if you know you ..read more

Trans people with strong dysphoria will understand very well what I am about to describe. That tug of war which on some days tells you all is okay as things are and on others where the ravenous beast that is your dysphoria says otherwise. Eventually that battle wears you down bit by bit if you do nothing. I can say with great experience now that there is no way to outrun dysphoria other than to treat it and if what you are doing now is working then no need to move a muscle. If something continues to perturb however then you aren't doing enough; the reality being that the greater its potency th ..read more