Alex Gertsburg

Mother

Mother visited me. I had questions. I asked for answers. She gave them to me. She knelt down next to me and moved close. She leaned in, moved her lips next to my eager ear. She whispered. Gently. Delicately. Softly. She said: In every moment of every day, you have the incredible gift of freedom,Continue reading Mother

Break Glass in Case of Emergency

To be read and performed when life seems like it’s totally shitting on you. Follow some of these steps: Repeat as necessary. Photo: Julian Castro, Self-Portrait

Break Glass in Case of Emergency

To be read and performed when life seems like it’s totally shitting on you. Follow some of these steps: Repeat as necessary. Photo: Julian Castro, Self-Portrait

Talking to My Self

Hey, You in there. How are you doing? I’m checking in with you. It’s been a few minutes. Let’s do it again. Are you being authentic? Or are you saying and doing things to please someone because you want them to like you? Are you saying what’s on your mind? Are you expressing yourself creatively?Continue reading Talking to My Self

Daddy-Daughter Chat

Some things last forever. You don’t outlive them. Sometimes you just need a reminder from your ten-year-old.

Patterns

I zoom out. Seconds Minutes Hours Days Weeks Months Years Centuries Millenia Epochs On infinite repeat. Particles Waves Seasons Harvests Orbits Chaos ordered Math and science are most reliable friends. Birth Heartbeats Breaths Footsteps Moods Arguments Love Loss Illness Death Generations on repeat. They say: “Find your rhythm.” They say: “Get into a rhythm.” IContinue reading Patterns

My Gangster List of Inspirational Inputs

When the day gets moving, proactive can turn to reactive pretty quickly. Other people’s agendas and urgencies try to grab my attention or sneak into my consciousness. Their mindsets can impact mine. To get ahead of that, I start every day with a “Positive Input.” It’s been one of my favorite and most enduring parts of my morning routine.Continue reading My Gangster List of Inspirational Inputs

The All-You-Can-Eat Mindset Buffet and Haberdashery

Black and white photo of a girl playing on a swing

I imagine mindset as a hat in a giant haberdashery, that is, a hat store, where I can rent any one I want for the day. Or a meal on a plate at a 24/7 breakfast buffet. All-you-can-eat, whatever my preference. I bee-line to Aisle 1 — “Positive, Resourceful, and Useful” My favorite racks. AbundanceContinue reading The All-You-Can-Eat Mindset Buffet and Haberdashery

Sanctuary

I’m a weird and self-conscious ten-year-old immigrant kid in the suburbs, and the library is my babysitter. Mom drops me off there for the afternoon while she goes to the grocery store or the salon or wherever she goes. She says she’ll be back in a few hours. “Take your time,” I say over myContinue reading Sanctuary

We

It seems to me that most people on the planet, every waking second, are in some state of amnesia, or telling stories, or listening to them. Being human seems to mean judging people evaluating threats making choices constantly. Here’s a choice I wonder about: what if everyone, for just a minute, gave people the benefitContinue reading We