It's hard to give up the self-esteem connected to being codependent and appearing 'right,' which is probably a survival behavior learned from growing up in a crazy family. It feels like you will actually disappear.

Guilt can prevent us from setting the boundaries that would be in our best interests, and in other people's best interests.

The new year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written. We can help write that story by setting goals.

Much of the time, the things we feel guilty about are not our issues. Another person behaves inappropriately or in some way violates our boundaries. We challenge the behavior, and the person gets angry and defensive. Then we feel guilty.

What do folk always say about Arsenal? They can pass you to death.

Grief and memory go together. After someone dies, that's what you're left with. And the memories are so slippery yet so rich.

Good is positive. Evil is merely privative, not absolute: it is like cold, which is the privation of heat. All evil is so much death or nonentity. Benevolence is absolute and real. So much benevolence as a man hath, so much life hath he.

The history of New Orleans was always a fascination to me - such a blend of light and darkness and plague and pleasure and hedonism and fear and death. It's just a very, very intriguing city. I have this strange love relationship with it.