Category: All
All essays publicly available.
Posted on April 16, 2019
by Kēphen
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The Dying Light of Unrequited Love We spend most of our lives trying to emotionally connect with other people, only to realize that we cannot emotionally connect with most of the people we meet. I could probably write a book about the experiences I’ve…
Category: All, Human Condition, MiscellaneousTags: *See All Posts, Ambiguous, Betrayel, Emotional Attachment, Emotional Connection, Friend-Zone, Friendship, Human Connection, Love, Mixed Signals, Unrequited Love, Used
Posted on March 20, 2019
by Kēphen
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Evan announced that he was done eating by burping loudly in my direction and giving me a half-ass grin, as if to gloat about eating more than me. For being so skinny the kid put down more slices than I could comfortably consume. I…
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
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