MARINA OPPENHEIMER BOOKS AND BLOG

¿ Qué es la muerte de un sue ñ o? Es el constatar que hemos tomado el rumbo equivocado, es el extraviarse en una noche que no termina, es el retumbar de un lamento que no se acaba. La muerte de un sue ñ o es estar solos y en silencio allí donde retumba la tormenta que se avecina, es el saber que no hay refugios donde pasar el día.   La muerte de un sue ñ o es no dejar de preguntarse qué fue de aquel sentimiento liviano como el agua, aquel amor que tenía un sabor a madrugada. La muerte de un sue ñ o es como el vuelo de un ave, que sobrevuela la ciudad dormida, y luego parte porque sabe que cuando el sue ñ o muere hay que dejar que se apague.

The corona virus did not only throw the world into a severe medical situation; it also dragged along desperation in hundreds of people’s lives as well as impotence in those who witnessed the destruction and couldn’t do anything to stop it. A friend of mine compared the current world situation to that of a war where our enemy is invisible and unknown. For those of us luc ky enough to be able to stay home and just fight loneliness, what to do with our days is our only concern. I for one went back to the books I have written, edited some of them, updated others, and finally opted for a new cover for the rest. For some reason, starting a new book was difficult because I lacked the motivation that always comes to me from what I see in the world around me. As a result, after several weeks of solitary confinement, I decided that I needed to find a new task to lighten up my days. So, I decided to buy a rose bush to place in my balcony; it was something to take care of. The day I went to the pl...

Salut Michel: ¿Cómo estás? Hace tiempo que no recibo tus noticias. O quizás el estar recluida en mi casa por la pandemia me hace necesitar más de las voces amigas, especialmente las de mi infancia y adolescencia. Por alguna razón el encierro evoca el pasado, aquel en donde todos éramos como una gran familia en la que nos sentíamos protegidos. En esa época el mundo era diferente y salvo la preocupación por tener buenas notas, el universo en el que nos movíamos era casi transparente. Es cierto que en algunas ocasiones aparecía alguna nube en el horizonte; pero con un llamado telefónico todo volvía a su lugar. Pero hoy al mirar la foto de fin de año del colegio me doy cuenta de que hace mucho tiempo que ese mundo dejó de existir. El aislamiento y la soledad de este momento que nos toca vivir son los que traen estos recuerdos a la mente, como muchos otros. En las paredes blancas de nuestro hogar volvemos a leer la historia de nuestra vida en sus ínfimos detalles, los buenos y los otros. Y ...

Mother’s Day… The celebration of the most profound relationship among human beings: the one between mother and son. According to Freud, during the phallic stage of development (ages 3-6) young boys develop the Oedipus complex towards their mother; in other words, they start feeling unconscious sexual desires for her. Freud introduced this concept in his Interpretation of Dreams (1899) and coined the expression in his A Special Type of Choice of Object made by Men ( 1910 ). Taking into consideration that the mother carries her son in her womb for nine months and that both have different sex, it is not surprising that this kind of relationship will develop. When a woman becomes a mother, by and general she is more devoted to her child than to her partner. Her level of libido also decreases markedly. In a way, her partner becomes the second best and this situation usually generates a fairly amount of stress in the couple. Generally the partner will feel intense jealousy of the son ...

    I still remember the first time I heard one of my colleagues say: “It is what it is” when asked how he had finally convinced one of his patients to let go of a relationship that was no longer there. At that time, I was still a young therapist not very skilled at that kind of direct interventions; in my fear of losing patients, I was always walking on eggshells. Later, when I became more seasoned and more secure, I would try my hand at being less pleasing; gradually I became more realistic and was able to understand that, by and general, patients are able to face their fate. After so many books read on the philosophy of life, I clearly understood that there is only one way to walk the path of life with serenity: to accept that it is what it is. This paradigm is valid for all walks of life: our affections, our profession, our family of origin, and our children. This is not to say that we should blindly accept what is presented to us without even trying to change what can b...