For the last two weeks, Suki has been going through our older footage of Dr. Sarno. We only have about 8 hours of tape from our early shoots, but the majority of it is strong, and the passage of time makes it more powerful. Yesterday she showed me a clip from 2004 of Dr. Sarno saying in French, “The more...
this is a very long post, but I think it's worth the read. I was trying to connect a lot of ideas that are related to "Story of Pain". The other day I was texting with a friend in Billings, MT when my phone rang. I answered, assuming it was she, but instead found myself listening to a United Airlines supervisor...
I have been meditating fairly regularly since this fall. I have found it to be extremely useful in all aspects of my life. As I have worked on Story of Pain the last couple of years I have tried to point the camera at myself from time to time to document my own healing process. I haven't done it recently...
My cousin Ed brought his daughter Arianna to visit for my daughter’s birthday. Ed has had a very deep influence on my thinking. About 25 years ago we went for a run together and he talked to me about his study of the history of physics. He explained that as scientists get a deeper understanding of something, the science becomes...
When we look backwards and find that the unthinkable has become the norm, it creates a frame through which we can examine the present. By “the unthinkable”, I am referring to ideas that are either so embedded in our culture that they are like stenches that we cannot smell, or run so counter to the prevailing cultural way of thinking,...
On Sunday I left home for a wild trip with an overpacked schedule. Within 24 hours I had traveled from Chapel Hill to Denton TX, where I showed a film, saw three amazing bands, connected with old friends and made new ones, slept for 4 hours, met a brilliant man on a plane, and came close to dying over Wyoming....
we are working on a film about the relationship between stress and pain. The film focuses on Dr. John Sarno. Jonathan Ames, who referenced Dr. Sarno's book "Healing Back Pain, on his show HBO "Bored to Death" is in the film. On Saturday I picked up his book "The Alcoholic". Last night after Phillip Seymour Hoffman had passed away I...
Today is my birthday, our birthday. My brother and I are 45. For the past six months I have been living in my childhood home with my wife and kids. It no longer feels surreal, and in fact, it is starting to feel like home. There are countless reasons that we came here. My childhood friends have children the same...
We interviewed Dr. Schecter for our film. This is his own video that I just came upon- and thought I'd share. The key point is FEAR. Fear of continued pain often drives the problem. Think psychological- not physical- slow down and be mindful of what your body is telling you - that you often don't want to hear. ...
This video came to me via my friend Alana via facebook via upworthy via youtube via TED. We live in a world in which ideas bounce around like rubber balls on a linoleum covered floor, and I think that can be a good thing. However, it can also be extremely confusing. The focus of this video is stress, and our relationship...
Happy Thanksgiving. A couple of days ago a friend on facebook explained that she had started to write down a list of things she was thankful for. She set a goal of 50 but easily came up with 86 items and suggested that others follow her lead and perhaps set a goal of 100. I have a lot to be...
I have not had the time or bandwidth to work on “Story of Pain” recently because I have been dealing with another project that has been demanding all of my energy. In fact it’s been demanding so much of my attention that the stress has led to a bout of severe pain, cramping, and numbness in my foot. As such,...