Brigitte Schneider

I’ve been noticing how my mind is purposely looking for grist for the mill. Albeit a special kind of grist. A torturous one. For instance, I am in the bathroom…

It seems that in the course of my lifetime, every so often all kinds of crap gets thrown my way. Not much I can do about that. It just happens.…

When I was a young woman, I wished for a partner with the same taste in things. Like what kind of furniture we love, what type of clothes, music, art,…

I have my moments. Like good moments. Moments I can look back on feeling neither embarrassed nor proud. Moments I'd like to replicate. Like, for example, my encounter with the…

... if everybody behaved just the way I wanted them to? If everyone around me was just an absolute pleasure to live with? Then I could comfortably lean back in…

At times I find it hard to discern the difference between a situation from my opinion about it. Something happens, and before I know it, my mind escalates it out…

Every parting is a little death. When a dear neighbor moves away. When my niece flies back to Germany at the end of her summer vacation. When I walk home…

We are punished by our sins, not for them. (Elbert Hubbard) When I read that, I could literally hear my mind come to a screeching halt: Wait!What?We do not get…

Sometimes I just can’t see what is really there. Like when the Chef I am working with gave me the following note: I was profoundly convinced it read: “Pecan Wasted…

As a child, I loooooved Easter egg hunts! The possibilities were excitingly endless. Colored eggs and chocolate bunnies could be found in places where eggs and chocolates do not belong.…

Sometimes there isn't enough paper in this world to list all the things going wrong in my life. Like the other day, when a brake light warning message came up…

… and at other times not. Or rather, I am either completely unable to forgive or I don't see a need to forgive at all. For me “forgiving” only exists…

I am paying far too much attention to bad things while wishing for good things to happen in life! It's not just the Internet, gossip or the news. It also…

Like “I will be less controlling.” Believe it or not, that's a really tough one for me. Because naturally, unavoidably, indisputably I am soooo much better at EVERYTHING than anyone…

And that someone would be … (drumroll) … ME! How so? Well, sometimes I have a tendency to turn completely innocent situations into tragedies. (In)conveniently, I can't come up with…

Have I ever been furious with someone? You bet!Why?Well, let's roll the camera backwards .... just for funsies.Let's say, I am moody because John made fun of me. John, on the other hand,…

Have you ever had someone or something kinda sorta explode in your face? I have. Let me start with the “something” before I get to the “someone.”I have a friend who can never ever…

I used to swear whenever something went wrong. Then came 9/11/2001. I heard about people who had been furious about missing their planes … until they learned that missing their planes had saved their lives.That…

Back in the days, I mean like EONS ago, I shared an apartment with another student. One day I came home and he welcomed me with anguish and despair in his eyes.“What happened?” I…

… beat yourself up for something?I did – just the other day. Wasn't the first time either. As usual, it came as a Voice in my head spouting out all kinds of invectives.Listening to that Voice,…

Some years ago, we adopted a dog. Sherman. Luckily he was already six years old and knew how to be a dog and live with humans because we sure needed some training in…

The other day I was waiting for a parking space. I was sitting in my car, trying not to be in anybody's way, while patiently watching a Beamer sloooowly pull…

You might not be able to relate, but for me, not getting my way is more of a rule than an exception. Worse yet, “my way” has no entertainment value whatsoever. The “highway,”…

... not just in trying times, but in general. An example might be when a co-worker asks me to follow up on a complaint. Strictly speaking, that would be part…

Ready for this? My husband has a knack for tidying stuff away in the kitchen. In general, that's a good thing even though at times he stores away meals I…

That sounds so weird, I can't even begin to describe how difficult it is for my brain to rewire itself to this “new normal” and to find ways to act accordingly. I huddle…

Lately I have been thinking about the speck that we see in our brother’s eye while we don’t see the beam in our own. That is from the Bible, of…