Robert F. Mullen, PhD
Director/ReChanneling

I recently underwent hormone therapy and radiation for prostate cancer. In the hallway of San Francisco’s UCSF Medical Center cancer dept. hangs a ship’s bell. At the successful conclusion of my 28-day regimen, I was encouraged to give the bell cord a healthy tug. As the peals resonated throughout the department, roughly two dozen nurses, technicians, and other staff members crowded into the hallway, applauding, cheering, throwing confetti, and waving pom-poms. It is a tradition unlike any I have ever experienced.

I have been with UCSF Medical Center for two decades and have not met an unkind person or heard a discouraging word. I give as much credit to the warmth and kindness I was given, as the treatment.

I also completed my chapter, “Social Anxiety’s Failure to Establish, Develop, and Maintain Healthy Relationships,” for C.-E. Mayer and E. Vanderheiden’s latest academic anthology, Handbook of Love, Part 2, which Springer will publish early next year.

I rarely use the mundane expression ‘blessed,’ but I must make an exception for this holiday season.

I wish the same for all my readers.