Category: All
All essays publicly available.
Posted on January 21, 2019
by Kēphen
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“Nature is not a place to visit. It is home.” ~Gary Snyder Liberation and a Return to the Sacred Buddhism has a long history with the forest. Siddhartha Gautama fled the comforts of the Shakya Kingdom and immersed himself with the lands beyond to…
Category: All, Atheism, Religion and Spirituality, Depression and Suicide, Environment, ScienceTags: *See All Posts, Behavioral Health, Buddhism, Ego, Forest Bathing, Forests, Four Noble Truths, Liberation, Mahayana, Mental Health, Nature, Nature Therapy, Pan, Pantheism, Sacred, Self, Siddhartha Gautama, Taoism, Woodlands
Posted on January 20, 2019
by Kēphen
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The Perfect Life: An Unexpected Loss In order to protect the identity of his family, I will only refer to the young man in this article as “A.J.” A.J. was in his senior year of high school, where he was active in sports, playing…
Posted on January 2, 2019
by Kēphen
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Love Me Not: A Conversation About Mental Health & Relationships If you’ve read my previous work, you know that I’m often very personal and brutally honest about my experiences and my mistakes. This essay will be no different. I want to share with you…
Category: All, Depression and Suicide, Human Condition, LGBT, MiscellaneousTags: *See All Posts, American Midwest, Behavioral Health, Bullying, Dating, Erectile Dysfunction, Growing Up, Life, Mental Health, Mental Illness, Performance Anxiety, Relationships, Romance, Sexual Dysfunction, Sexual Experiences, Sexuality
Posted on November 12, 2018
by Kēphen
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Chasing the Westward Sun: One Week and 3,500 Miles In the summer of 2017 I went on a one-week 3,500 mile road trip through Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, and North Dakota. The road trip had spawned after the death of my mom the year…
Category: All, Environment, Human ConditionTags: *See All Posts, America, Cattle, Childhood, Choteau Montana, Colorado, Creek, Farm Life, Farmland, Glacier National Park, Grand Teton National Park, Inspiration, Jackson Lake, Life, Memories, Midwest, Montana, Nature, Parachute Colorado, Pinedale Wyoming, Road Trip, Rocky Mountain National Park, Valley, Woods, Wyoming, Yellowstone Lake, Yellowstone National Park
Posted on October 24, 2018
by Kēphen
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Recovery for me is a multi-faceted term. It means acknowledging my behavioral condition, understanding it and understanding that I and it are not one in the same – that I am more than my condition. It means that I recognize the signs and symptoms…
Category: All, Depression and Suicide, Human ConditionTags: *See All Posts, Behavioral Health, Bi-polar Disorder, Depression, Health, Inspiration, Life After Trauma, Mental Health, Mental Illness, Recovery, Suicide Awareness, Suicide Prevention
Posted on October 22, 2018
by Kēphen
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[Warning: this article discusses the sexual assault of men and boys and may not be appropriate for readers under the age of thirteen] The Past That’s Not Forgotten According to the advocacy group Protect Our Defenders, 54% of reported sexual assault victims in the U.S….
Category: All, Human Condition, MiscellaneousTags: *See All Posts, Adults, Boys, Children, Data, Male Rape, Male Sexual Abuse, Male Sexual Assault, Men, Prolonged Sexual Abuse, Sexual Assault on Boys, Sexual Assault on Men, Statistics, Survivors, Victims
Posted on September 22, 2018
by Kēphen
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In the Twilight of Memory Calling to me in the distance, I can hear them all say my name. Reaching out from the past, from moments that used to be. I drift beyond the precipice of wakefulness, I let go of my consciousness and…
Posted on September 20, 2018
by Kēphen
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My name is Kephen Merancis and there’s really no easy way to start the conversation that we need to have. It takes a lot of courage to break the wall of silence that stigma builds. It takes at least a little bit of hope…
Category: All, Depression and Suicide, Human Condition, Kephen's Commentary, MiscellaneousTags: *See All Posts, Behavioral Health, Bi-polar Disorder, Depression, MCRD, Mental Health, Mental Illness, San Diego, Suicide Awareness, Suicide Prevention, USMC
Posted on September 20, 2018
by Kēphen
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According to the American Psychiatric Association Foundation, employees with depression miss on average 31.4 days per year and an additional 27.9 days of unproductivity when they report for work, but are unable to focus due to the symptoms of depression. Various studies show that…
Category: All, Depression and Suicide, Human Condition, ScienceTags: *See All Posts, Addiction, Anxiety, Behavioral Health, Depression, Loneliness, Mental Health, Mental Illness, Workplace
Posted on September 9, 2018
by Kēphen
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Prajñāpāramitā Part II: The Heart Sutra The second sutra that I will be explaining from the Prajñāpāramitā is the Heart Sutra. If you have not already read Prajñāpāramitā Part I: The Diamond Sutra, I encourage you to start there before continuing with this article on the Heart…
Category: All, Atheism, Religion and SpiritualityTags: *See All Posts, Buddhism, Existence, Faith, Heart Mantra, Heart Sutra, Insight, Inspiration, Life, Mahayana, Mind, Prajnaparamita, Religion, Thich Nhat Hanh, Truth, Zen Buddhism
Kēphen
Out of the Darkness
Posted on September 20, 2018 by Kēphen
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My name is Kephen Merancis and there’s really no easy way to start the conversation that we need to have. It takes a lot of courage to break the wall of silence that stigma builds. It takes at least a little bit of hope…
Category: All, Depression and Suicide, Human Condition, Kephen's Commentary, MiscellaneousTags: *See All Posts, Behavioral Health, Bi-polar Disorder, Depression, MCRD, Mental Health, Mental Illness, San Diego, Suicide Awareness, Suicide Prevention, USMC