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“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

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Past Posts

mm Tom Carney

Ordinary to Extraordinary

Apr 07, 2022

Several times in these blogs, starting in 2015, I’ve written about one of my heroes, Franz Jaggerstatter. That’s because back in college I was so impressed with the book,...

mm Tom Carney

Why the Bible Is So Hard to Read

Mar 31, 2022

Fr. Dominic Assim, the pastor of the Catholic parish I attend, recently urged his parishioners to read the Bible, from start to finish. I agree wholeheartedly. The apostle Paul...

mm Ted

The Fourth Sunday of Lent

Mar 29, 2022

(As per last Sunday, today’s liturgy provides two choices for readings. I have chosen this one because it contains one of the most remarkable stories in all the Gospel...

mm Tom Carney

Keeping a Clear Eye

Mar 24, 2022

When I was working (I’ve been happily retired for 17 years.), I often got into a funk on Sunday evenings. I generally enjoyed my work but had this vague...

mm Ted

Third Sunday of Lent

Mar 21, 2022

(The liturgy for this Sunday provides two choices for readings. I have chosen this one because it contains one of the most profound stories found in all the Gospels....

mm Tom Carney

Being Medics in the Culture Wars

Mar 17, 2022

Besides the shock of the brutality of the invasion of Ukraine is the shocking revelation of what life in Russia has become. Truth is whatever the dictator says it...

mm Ted

Second Sunday of Lent

Mar 12, 2022

“Jesus took Peter, John, and James and went up the mountain to pray.” Lk. 9:28 What if … What if … the Transfiguration, so powerfully described in today’s gospel,...

mm Tom Carney

Faith an Antidote to Angst?

Mar 10, 2022

Despite its age, many of us can relate to the lyrics of “Calling All Angels” by the American Rock Band, Train, released in 2003. I need a sign to...