Episode 18: The Rockpile

On this final episode it is time to talk about anxiety over illness. We all suffer a bit of hypochondria and so it's time to deal with it. Then let's listen to another short story from the late 1800's about a high-born man's fascination with a trapeze artist, by Thomas Bailey Aldrich.

Let's talk about our kindred relationship with the animal kingdom as we drift to sleep. What about imagining peace and harmony with our favorite animal sleeping next to us? Then let me read A Yellow Dog by Bret Harte

Do you ever ask, "who am I?" Are we just the person our family and friends want us to be? Let me talk to you about the question of identity and belonging and then read to you a story by Louis Gould called X: A Fabulous Child's Story.

A beautiful story by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is recited after some thoughts about always pleasing others. It is impossible, so I spend some time helping you adjust your thoughts and expectations about the reality of disappointing others.

This podcast is designed to put you to sleep. Hopefully this story won't have the opposite effect. Alexander Pushkin writes about an undertaker. I've taken this opportunity to speak about death and grief - things that can keep us awake.

Let me own the problem of patriarchy, apologize and then read you to sleep with a story by Katherine Mansfield called, The Stranger.

Let me talk you down from your negative thoughts about your body while I read this classic short story from James Baldwin called The Rockpile.

Let's talk about the illusion of control and our attempts to manipulate people and circumstances. We need to exercise grace, strength and even when other people's junk spills over onto us. Let me read Hunter Quartermain's Story, a character from King Solomon's Mines which influenced the Lost World genre, as well as the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and India Jones.