Independence Day 2.0
What Does Freedom Mean To You?
by
Terry Shulman
Singer Janis Joplin once sang in the song “Me and Bobby McGee”: “freedom’s just another word for nothing less to lose.” It’s an oftrepeated and iconic line. Many of us have felt the brunt of loss over the last yearjob, money, home, possessions, relationships, health, and beyond.
There’s no making light of loss, of course, but I recall a frienda recovering shopaholicwho lost her home, most of her job income, and truckloads of things she had accumulated over the years. As she downsized from her home to a smaller rental home to yet another smaller rental home and purged most of her nonessential materials things, she remarked how much lighter, happier, and free she feels. She embarked upon a new chapter in her life and, with some anxiety, she felt hopeful and excited about the chance to reinvent herself and also reclaim parts of her authentic self which she had lost sight of.
Sometimes, things just weigh us down. Can you relate?
As we approach the U.S. 4th of July Independence Day holiday, take a moment to consider what freedom and independence mean to you? In these everchallenging and globally volatile times, it is easy to focus on the importance of financial independence and freedom from anxiety. These are wonderful goals. Still, maybe we can appreciate whatever freedoms we do currently enjoy. For most of us, we have our physical freedom to move about and our freedom of self-expression and our freedom to pursue a life of authentic meaning and purpose.
We can also claim our independence from addictions and from dysfunctional relationships and our right to vote independently for what we believe in.
Freedom doesn’t just mean doing what we want to do every moment independent of others. We must coexist among a multitude of individuals and systems with which we don’t always agree but compared to most systems and countries, we have many more rights and privileges which we too often take for granted. Life may not be perfect but this holiday allows an opportunity to soak in the gifts of freedom and independence that we may not have had in the past or may not have in the future.
America (and Americans) tend to value “rugged individualism” and “freedom” at all costs. But do we need to balance the “I” and the “We?” The current health insurance debate is a good example. As we seem to move further away from healthcare as a right to healthcare as a privilege, we seem to be going backward to a “survival of the fittest” state. But, as a nation, isn’t it in our collective interests to help our fellow citizens rather than close our eyes, minds, fists, and hearts just to make sure there’s more money for those who already have so much? Is this what our forefathers imagined as the “united” states?
A free society also needs to have a “free” press. But what happens when the press is under constant attack and there no longer such a thing as “facts?”
And what about democracy itself? As we struggle to get the basic facts about our last election and how much our faith in free and fair elections may have been impinged, we may be witnessing the erosion of an election system that used to be the envy of much of the world. Is this what we fought so many wars for?
And speaking of wars… Is there any rhyme or reason anymore for the wars we continue to fight?
So, whatever you’re doing this holidayrelaxing, spending time with family or friends, enjoying the weather and some fine foodslow down and embrace our freedoms and independencetwo of our greatest assetswhile we still have them.
How I Spent My 52nd Birthday on June 27th…
by
Terry Shulman
You know you’re getting older (but maybe mellower) when you wake up around 7am with a headache that kept you up most of the night anyway. You intend to meet friends for breakfast but computer problems derail your plans. You run some errands and wait in halfhour line to get your free birthday car wash. You meet your wife for a modest lunch at an Indian restaurant you have a halfoff Groupon for. You enjoy the lunch and your wife’s company and you have enough leftovers for dinner. You come home and take a 5hour nap from 38pm which is probably the best birthday gift you can give yourself. You eat the Indian leftovers while listening to a Marianne Wiliamson livestream on your phone with your wife. You finish watching the Tigers baseball game on TV. You take your dog out of a last walk of the day. You catch up reading birthday greetings on Facebook and respond to them. You catch up on some newspaper and magazine reading. You catch up on the news and some comedy shows on TV. You finish off the Edy’s ice cream tub. You hit the hay at about 1am. Your birthday’s over and there’s nothing particularly exciting (though you’re having a lake party on Saturday) but you’re sober, you didn’t overshop, steal or do anything else that addictive (TV and ice cream aside), and you feel full and grateful for the little things in life (which are actually big things): your health, your wife, your dog, your friends, your home, your freedom, your creature comforts, your recovery….
My Recent Trip To Michigan’s Upper Peninsula
To Present on Hoarding Disorder
by
Terry Shulman
My wife Tina (The Shulman Center’s creative director) and I recently returned from a 4day trip to the Upper Peninsulaa gorgeous part of our state which neither of us had visited in over 30 years. It was a working vacation: I’d organized stops at four public libraries (from the eastern to the western part of the peninsula) to present to the public about hoarding disorder (Cedarville, Newberry, Munising, and Iron River) and a last stop at a hospital in Escanaba to present on compulsive stealing, spending and hoarding (most of the 15 attendees wanted to hear about hoarding).
My wife and I found everyone we met along our journey was incredibly nice. We noted the slower pace of things than where we live in the lower peninsula. (The “Yoopers” like to call us downstaters “trolls” ‘cuz we live below the Mackinac Bridge which connects the two land masses and divides Lake Huron from Lake Michigan. Mackinac Bridge is one of those manmade wonders. Built during the 1950’s and officially opened in 1957, the Bridge spans about 5 miles and is held, in part, by suspension cables which allow it to swing a bit. The Bridge has been known to close down during strong winds.
My presentations were met with enthusiasm even if the turnouts were between 3 and 15 people. But it was quite the joy to bring some light of knowledge to those who did attend. I wish more people with hoarding issues would actually take the next steps to get help. But Rome isn’t built in a day. It seems like it’s only been about a decade or so that we’ve been talking about hoarding in a serious way.
What I am coming to understand and appreciate more each time I present is that our relationship to our stuff is very complex and everchanging. Each of us could be at risk of developing an unhealthy attachment to our possessions and a corresponding difficulty letting anything go.
As the end of 2017 is coming more into view, I am grateful for the last five years I’ve been giving these public library presentations on hoarding. I estimate I’ve given about 50 of them during this time, with my schedule having gotten much more full in 20162017 where I’ve presented about 35 times. My wife and I are going to have tshirts made up soon to commemorate our “Cluttered Lives, Empty Souls” Michigan Library 201617 Tour with the library names and dates of each presentationjust like a concert tour tshirt.
Life is filled with unexpected and evolving journeys of wonder and variety which we could not have planned.
Japanese Doctor Who Is Translating My Shoplifting Book
To Visit Me in Detroit in October
Dr. Hiroshi Okuda, a psychiatrist at Irabu General Hospital in Kanagawa, Japan contacted me by email about a year ago. He stated, in decent English, that he’d read my book Something for Nothing: Shoplifting Addiction and Recovery and wanted to translate it into Japanese and find a publisher to distribute it in Japan. He said he had worked with patients who had “kleptomania” or other theftrelated behaviors that seemed complex and difficult to treat. He noted that there is a lot of stealing in Japan, including shoplifting. We’ve kept in touch and he’s emailed me translation passages over the last two months. Recently, he informed me that he will be in the United States in October for business and to visit a friend and that he’d like to stop by and meet with me here in metroDetroit. We are planning to do so.
Here is a recent email that Dr. Okuda sent me giving me a little background about “kleptomania” history in Japan….
History of shoplifting/kleptomania treatment from a “therapist” in Japan who is coming to visit me in October and who has been working with me on translating my book “Something for Nothing” into Japanese to, hopefully, have it published in Japan next year….
The history of treatment of kleptomania or shoplifting addiction in Japan as far as I know
In 1990s Dr. Takemura happened to find increasing number of patients with kleptomania or shoplifting addiction in Akagikogen hospital which he had founded as a mental hospital specializing the treatment of dependence and addiction. It is situated about 60 miles north to Tokyo. He found many kleptomania patients with eating disorder.
He initiated group therapy for kleptomania and reported that in the home page of Akagikogen hospital in 2000. Then the influx of such patients occurred and many legal professionals including lawyers showed interest on that. Dr. Takemura has also advocated at various places in Japan that kleptomania needs treatment and punishment cannot have any effects to prevent further thefts. In the form of admission as a treatment only Akagikogen hospital, having 110 beds, offers it in Japan still now.
In recent years nearly half of hospital beds are for kleptomanias. And at the satellite outpatient clinic in Tokyo Dr. Takemura sees patients on Friday. 90% of his outpatients are kleptomanias. He reports that up to now his hospital and satellite clinic have seen 1700 cases. He is in his 70s. He asked me 3 years ago that there were certain numbers of kleptomania patients from Hokuriku district where I live. He asked assistance of me to help them to support their recovery at my outpatient clinic. I thought I should help him. I have seen 30 cases up to now. Besides Akagikogen hospital and my outpatient clinic I suppose there are more than 10 outpatient clinics and mental hospitals which provide treatment to kleptomania or shoplifting addiction.
Now we have 21 kleptomania`s anonymous (KA) groups at certain areas in Japan, but sadly none in my district. Under these circumstances we need your book!
Hiroshi O.
Hot Off The Presses!
The 29th Annual Hayes Report
Retail Theft Survey
Wesley Chapel, FL Over 438,000 shoplifters and dishonest employees were apprehended in 2016 by just 23 large retailers who recovered over $120 million from these thieves, according to the 29th Annual Retail Theft Survey conducted by Jack L. Hayes International, the leading loss prevention and inventory shrinkage control consulting firm.
“In 2016, dishonest employee apprehensions increased almost 10%, with the dollars recovered from these dishonest employees up nearly the same amount (9.3%). While shoplifting apprehensions and the dollars recovered from these shoplifters decreased ever so slightly, 0.2% and 0.9% respectively”, said Mark R. Doyle, President of Jack L. Hayes International.
Mr. Doyle added, “The seriousness of retail theft is a much greater problem than most customers realize. These theft losses are stealing profits from retailers’ bottom-line, which results in consumers having to pay higher prices for goods.”
Highlights from this highly anticipated annual theft survey include:
* Participants: 23 large retail companies with 16,038 stores and over $370 billion in retail sales (2016).
* Apprehensions: 438,082 shoplifters and dishonest employees were apprehended in 2016, up 1.0% from 2015.
* Recovery Dollars: Over $120 million was recovered from apprehended shoplifters and dishonest employees in 2016, up 2.5% from 2015.
* Shoplifter Apprehensions: 384,296 shoplifters were apprehended in 2016, down up 0.2% from 2015.
* Shoplifter Recovery Dollars: Over $78 million was recovered from apprehended shoplifters in 2016, a decrease of 0.9% from 2015. An additional $163 million was recovered from non-apprehended shoplifters.
* Employee Apprehensions: 53,786 dishonest employees were apprehended in 2016, up 9.9% from 2015. * Employee Recovery Dollars: Over $42 million was recovered from employee apprehensions in 2016, up 9.3% from 2015. * One out of every 27 employees was apprehended for theft from their employer in 2016. (Based on over 1.4 million employees.) * Shrink: 56.5% of survey participants reported an increase in shrink in 2016, with 21.7% reporting a decrease in shrink, and another 21.7% reported shrink stayed about the same.
Full survey results are available at: http://hayesinternational.com/news/annualretailtheftsurvey/ Contact: Mark R. Doyle (813) 9915628 President mrd@hayesinternational.com Jack Hayes, International. Inc. Consultants in Asset Protection & Safety 27520 Water Ash Drive Wesley Chapel, FL 33544 (813) 9915628 .
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If you need to talk, or if you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts, text the Crisis Text Line at 741741 or call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1800273 8255.