by dmackinnon | Oct 29, 2015 | Communication, Healing Choices
My friend and mentor, Christina Baldwin, often says: “Ask for what you need, offer what you can.” I’ve written recently about asking for what we need (click here and here to read those posts,) but that’s only part of the story. We also need to offer what we can....
by dmackinnon | Oct 21, 2015 | Communication, Healing Choices
A couple of weeks ago I drove home from a trip to Pennsylvania with a friend. About midday we stopped at a rest area on the Merritt Parkway. We got to the door of the restroom only to find a line of at least 8 women ahead of us. There were only two stalls in the...
by dmackinnon | Oct 17, 2015 | Communication, Healing Choices
Two weeks ago I was sitting in the front row of a classroom, trying to listen to a lecture. The speaker projected her voice, but the two women sitting to my right were having an animated conversation, occasionally punctuated by giggles and chuckles. I found it...
by dmackinnon | May 29, 2013 | Healing Choices, Process
I live on a small street with a cul-de-sac at one end. There are some common areas that all the residents of the street are responsible for, along with our own properties. It is clear to all of us what spaces are our responsibility and what spaces are not. In our...
by dmackinnon | Dec 19, 2012 | Communication, Healing Choices
When I was seeing patients, I would often say to a patient, “Can I examine you now?” Sometimes, when I said it to a child, the response was, “No!” At that point, I would say, “Let me rephrase that: I’m going to examine you now.” My initial request was not really a...
