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

  • Immigration and the “R Word”

    I like traditional Irish music, and one of my favorite songs is “The Rambling Irishman,” made popular in 1976 by a group called The Wolfe Tones. One of the reasons …

  • A Question for God

    I’m participating in a program at our parish called “Alpha.” Its aim is to discuss basic questions about God – including God’s existence – about who Jesus is, or was, …

  • The Age of Confusion?

    I’m a big fan of wildlife and outdoor videos, mostly on YouTube. I recently watched a video showing half a dozen toddler bears exiting their den among boulders, seeing the …

  • RSVP

    My wife, Amparo, and I recently bought a car, not a new one but a late model. It seemed to make the most economic sense. What didn’t make sense as …

  • Faith Like Falling in Love?

    I’ve often quoted New York Times columnist David Brooks in these blogs because I find his columns unusually insightful. And, unlike many columnists in that publication and others, he doesn’t …

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Past Posts

mm Tom Carney

Ordinary Faith, Ordinary Science

Aug 15, 2024

I keep coming back in these blogs to the perceived conflict between faith and science, mostly because so many people cite it as a reason for having lost their...

mm Tom Carney

Indifference Society’s Greatest Threat?

Aug 08, 2024

One of my favorite songs in Spanish is a well-known tune by Argentina’s iconic singer, Mercedes Sosa, who died in 2009. I’ve mentioned it before in this blog. Here...

mm Tom Carney

Is God Dead?

Aug 01, 2024

In college, I read a book that profoundly affected my faith, contributing to a faith crisis that lasted for years. Entitled “Honest to God,” and written by Anglican Bishop...

mm Tom Carney

Who, or What, is God?

Jul 25, 2024

Do you ever stop to think about who, or what God is, and where we get our image of God? The title of this blog, “Who or What is...

mm Tom Carney

Conforming to “the Real World”

Jul 18, 2024

My friend, Ted Wolgamot, a retired psychologist, also writes a weekly essay on religious matters and last week included this anecdote. A priest received a phone call from an...

mm Tom Carney

Is Forgiveness Overrated?

Jul 11, 2024

A recent article in the New York Times reports on a new book by trauma therapist Amanda Gregory entitled, “You Don’t Need to Forgive: Trauma Recovery on Your Own...

mm Tom Carney

The Best We Can Do?

Jul 04, 2024

It’s strange what you remember, and don’t remember, in old age. I remember, for instance, the oddity of the snail darter – a tiny, seemingly insignificant fish that stopped...

mm Tom Carney

All About Heaven?

Jun 27, 2024

Fox News interviewed former president Donald Trump in early June and among the questions was one on the meaning of religion. I’ll provide his answer, but first, a caveat....