Welcome!

“Do Not Be Afraid … You Are My Dearest Friends”*

Toxic Fear is perhaps life’s greatest hostage-taker. One psychiatrist calls it a “disease of the imagination.” Fear and disabling Worry can start off like a tiny seed and, watered by thoughts that emphasize worst-case scenarios, grow into a virus-like fiend that ends up dominating our mental state. It then holds us back from our ability to enjoy nearly every dimension of our life: our talents, our work, our love, our play, and our approach to a life in the Spirit.

This website is dedicated to three major Defense Systems that can be effective in helping us overcome the insidious nature of fear, as well as other mental health demons like depression. It will also focus on how we can better live out our lives free of those persistent foragers that roam throughout the corners of our minds… relentlessly haunting us.

Those three Defense Systems are: Spirituality, Psychology and Addiction. All three of these provide newly developed means of delving into the root causes of fear and depression and other mental health disorders, and assisting people in finding improved pathways to freedom, joy, and peace.

“Do not be afraid” – a phrase found 365 times in Sacred Scripture!

*Luke 12:32; translation found in The Bible in Contemporary Language, Eugene H. Peterson

Recent Posts

  • Can You “Practice” Joy?

    How should you judge whether a Mass, or church service, was good or bad? For me, among the criteria is whether or not you leave happier than you went into …

  • Ruined for Life?

    In 1989, the military in El Salvador murdered six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper, and her daughter in their home in San Salvador. The priests were internationally recognized scholars who wrote and …

  • Insights into What Comes Next

    I’ve written before about my 4-year-old grandson, Leo. Many grandfathers would say this about their grandchildren, of course, but I think he’s exceptionally smart. He asks a lot of smart …

  • Boring? Maybe, but Worth It

    The Internet and social media are full of articles about people who have given up on religion and churchgoing. I get it. People ask themselves why they need it. Compared …

  • The Essence of Christianity?

    A few months ago, I attended an event at a theater in downtown Denver. My companions and I were waiting in line in the cold, when I spotted a presumed …

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mm Tom Carney

How to Die with Dignity

Sep 24, 2015

Ron Flug, the husband of my friend and former newspaper colleague, Polly Flug, died several years ago of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. I’m somewhat...

mm Ted

Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sep 24, 2015

“If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off… if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off … if your eye causes you to sin, pluck...

mm Tom Carney

An Antidote to Indifference

Sep 17, 2015

These weekly blogs are primarily meant for skeptics who, despite their skepticism, search for God. And they’re based on the premise that there is no contradiction between skepticism and...

mm Ted

Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sep 17, 2015

“Taking a child, he placed it in their midst, and putting his arms around it …” Mk, 9, 36 We humans crave power. All of us do. We love...

mm Ted

Learning and Memory

Sep 15, 2015

“Memory is of critical importance to our very existence.” James McGaugh, Ph.D. How do we remember what we remember? Like most of the brain’s processes, memory remains a bit...

mm Ted

The Senses and Perception

Sep 15, 2015

“We’ve learned there are many brain regions involved in perception.” Marlene Behrmann, Ph.D. Our five senses – vision, hearing, smell, taste, and touch – are what helps us successfully...

mm Ted

The Developing Brain

Sep 15, 2015

“Your brain is changing every minute of the day, from your time in the womb until the moment you die.” Abigail Baird, Ph.D. According to the most recent brain...

mm Ted

Stephen Colbert Opens Up About His Devout Christian Faith, Islam, Pope Francis, and Mor

Sep 12, 2015

Stephen Colbert Opens Up About His Devout Christian Faith, Islam, Pope Francis, and More In a surprisingly candid interview, the new ‘Late Show’ host discussed the role his faith...