MEET GRETTA & BILL

As a psychoanalyst and a psychologist, we have developed our own approach to traditional talk therapy techniques incorporating a mindfulness perspective and specific tools that we teach and use in all our sessions.

Our experience as professional artists – writing, illustrating, performing and composing – informs our work. Creative and playful symbolic expression allows clients to uncover and process his or her deepest emotions and experience new ways of perceiving and being.

We teach workshops and seminars and are training supervisors. Our work is shaped by our extensive background in a variety of psychological approaches, our immersion in creative and dramatic arts, and our journey on the mindful path.

 
 

Gretta Keene, LCSW, CST

Gretta is a certified psychoanalyst as well as a sandplay and EMDR practitioner. She has worked extensively with children and adults who have suffered sudden or chronic traumas. As a practicing artist and meditator, she works with clients seeking to identify and actualize their inherent potential.

 

 
 

Bill Murray, PhD

Bill is a clinical psychologist specializing in relationship counseling and the mindfulness-focused  treatment of anxiety issues. He is a certified EMDR and sandplay practitioner. Bill is adept at holding a space of compassionate respect for those who embark on the journey of insight and transformation.

 

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From Gretta & Bill's Instagram...

You haven't heard from us in a while. Lots of change making itself felt and demanding attention. . A joyful change is the arrival and healthy growth of our grandsons, George and William, who came into the world ten weeks early. Last weekend we finally met and I was able to sing them in person. . Pete Seeger's song begins: . Don't you know it's darkest before the dawn? And it's this thought keeps me moving on: If we could heed these early warnings The time is now quite early morning. . These certainly feel like dark days, and the warnings seem like they're getting later and later. Still, let us sing. Sing about hope. Sing about love. Sing about justice and freedom and unity. Sing our way through the night and into the dawn. . Through all this world of joy and sorrow We still can have singing tomorrows! . . . . #mindful #mindfulness #mindfulliving #wisdom #wisdomforlife #meditation #healing #photooftheday #quoteoftheday #inspiringquotes #change #darkdays #singing #quiteearlymorning #peteseeger #mindyourweather
Snow fell in NYC last night, creating this lovely scene of an entrance to Prospect Park as viewed from our office window. It felt like a benediction on our little Manhattan staycation. . Thursday morning we rolled our suitcases onto the F train and a couple of hours later were pouring over medieval illuminated manuscripts at the Morgan Library. These days, we rarely get to play in the city, so we were excited and grateful to connect with the treasures New York City has to offer. . We discovered a new one for our Thursday evening activity: a free classical music concert at the Austrian Cultural Forum. We went to sleep dreaming with anticipation of our Friday fun--the Whitney Museum and the NY Philharmonic. . We did a bit of walking getting to the Whitney (wonderful!), then more to get to dinner, where we encountered the disappointment and frustration that frequently accompanies misaligned expectations. We used our tools and were in good shape by the time we reached Lincoln Center, only to find the doors to David Geffen Hall locked and its foyer empty. I checked my phone and found the concert had taken place the night before. . I briefly considered taking a swat with my umbrella at one of the lanterns hanging in celebration of Chinese New Year. Instead I started trudging back to our hotel. Gretta suggested going to the movies instead, but I was too captured by my internal stories and their impact on the chemicals coursing through my system to consider anything but sulking. . Gretta let me know that she, too, was feeling raw. Her wisdom prevailed, and we watched The Post on our big screen TV. The absorbing story and the high-stakes conflicts and choices depicted in the film brought perspective to my suffering, and by the morning we ready to enjoy the crown jewel of our getaway, Wagner's five and a half hour opera, Parsifal, bookended with brunch and dinner with operavore friends. . We rolled our suitcases out of the F train, up the subway stairs and through the snow--a sign of wonder and of peace. . . . . #mindful #mindfulness #mindfulliving #wisdom #wisdomforlife #meditation #healing #disappointment #mindyourweather
Today is my daughter’s birthday. . I had never experienced before the kind of intense love I felt holding my little valentine in my arms. Each day brought new joys along with real challenges. She was small to begin with and didn’t gain her birth weight back until 3 months old. She could projectile vomit 6 feet across the room. . The doctors were not alarmed and Dr. Spock said it could be normal with some babies, but she continued to have a “sensitive stomach” so much that when she was 4 years old she ended up with a nasal-gastric tube in the hospital. The doctors sent her home after a week deciding it was “bad stomach flu.” . The uncontrolled vomiting happened again and this time we went to a bigger hospital. There she was given a diagnosis: pseudo-obstruction dismotility disorder – the same condition that the little girl was dying from in the recent film, Miracles from Heaven. . I was told my daughter would probably die before she was ten and would only be able to survive if she was fed intravenously for the rest of her life. She had multiple operations and treatments. . And then she got better. And now she is alive and healthy and happy. . In the picture she is holding Gandhi, our 19 year-old poodle. He won't live forever. I will be sad and miss him when he goes and yet I would never choose not to have had him in order to protect myself from that pain. . I know to the core of my being that life is finite, death is ever present and the pain of loss is the price required for the joy of love. . Love! Hold the preciousness of each moment. We can’t predict the future for any of us. To stay safe from the pain of loss is to be numb to life. During those years when I was so aware that I might lose my daughter any day, I discovered the joy that dwells in that pain and vowed to open my heart to fierce love rather than staying closed off but “safe.” . So dare, risk, be vulnerable – and love. . . . . #mindful #mindfulness #mindfulliving #wisdom #wisdomforlife #meditation #healing #quoteoftheday #inspiringquotes #love #valentinesday #henrinouwen #mindyourweather
The year I spent as a swineherd, I painted a mural for the piggery owner's wife who kept a few Jersey cows and sold the cream. . In the mural I depicted her opening up a bale of hay for one of her beloved cows and bordered the image with this quote from Psalm 104, which is a paean to the giver of life. . Look around today and, even in the dead of winter, find evidence of the gift of life. Then spend a few minutes expressing your own gratitude for the wonder, struggle, and joy of having a place in the cosmic dance of life. . . . . #mindful #mindfulness #mindfulliving #wisdom #wisdomforlife #meditation #healing #photooftheday #quoteoftheday #inspiringquotes #winter #snow #cattle #upstateny #psalms #life #mindyourweather
Our culture venerates “MORE!” . We are trained to believe that more is better. Get more money! Get more food for your money! Get more soda in your cup! Buy more toys and gadgets, more clothes and shoes, and more likes and followers on social media. . In the frenzy to acquire we often lose the ability to be nourished by simple joys. . We are conditioned to need constant stimulation and become restless and feel bored with quiet moments, plain food or basic, human activities. We forget to taste while we are stuffing our faces with food on plates piled high or from big bags of our favorite treats. . How different the focus would be if you just had one of whatever the moment’s delight provided. Like the single rose on the Little Prince’s planet, we give those things a different value than if it were one of hundreds. . I love the lush landscape of green leaves and flower-filled fields. But I am awed by the beauty in winter, when the shape of trees, plants and landscape is revealed. . Sometimes life forces us to have and do less. Sometimes we choose to have and do less. What are the gifts of those moments? Less is sometimes more. . . . . #mindful #mindfulness #mindfulliving #wisdom #wisdomforlife #meditation #healing #snow #winter #photooftheday #poetry #haiku #grettakeene #lessismore #mindyourweather
"Walked up a hill today, came to the sky." These words came to me yesterday as I snowshoed to the summit of one of the rolling hills near Hespera. . They're the opening line of a lullaby that I sang to my five children from the time they were born. Over forty years later, we still sing it when we get together. It's an enchantingly wistful and magical evocation of the soul's encounter with the natural world. . Here's the whole song: . Walked up a hill today, Came to the sky. There I was, I could hardly believe That I reached it so suddenly. . There I was in it And filling with blue, Such a blue, Full of blue, wonderful! Only this morning. . Only the dip of the sun, Another goodbye. There I was, I could hardly believe It was evening so suddenly. . Look at me crying Already, although I always knew, Knew it was coming. I'm crying already My beautiful blue away. . Walked up a hill today, Came to the sky. . . . . #mindful #mindfulness #mindfulliving #wisdom #wisdomforlife #meditation #healing #photooftheday #quoteoftheday #inspiringquotes #winter #snowshoeing #lullaby #magical #nature #poetry #elspethbradbury #mindyourweather
Sometimes I can’t sleep. . Going to sleep is not the problem. I read until the book wobbles and falls on my chest with a gentle plop. I take off my glasses, give Bill a squeeze and rollover into sleep. . It is the 3 am wake up that torments. I am sometimes thinking before I am fully awake. They are usually not restful thoughts at that hour. There are the things undone, the things I wish I hadn’t done and the things someone else had done or not done that add to my list of worries. . I’ve gotten much better at going back to sleep but there have been many nights in my past when I would toss and turn, checking the clock every so often and see the hours go by one by one. At times I’d decide that I’d rather be up than twisting and turning and losing the battle with sleep. So I’d pad through the dark in my robe and slippers and read or write, accepting that the day was going to be starting very early. The windows would begin to glow with morning light and the colors return to the room. That was my reward, my recompense for my nighttime suffering. . In Brooklyn, the rosy colored dawn lights the brownstones and spills pink across the rooftops. In Stillwater, dawn breaks over the distant mountains and through the trees. Venus, the morning star often still hangs in the sky and I wish. . I have always loved the dawn with its promise of new beginnings. None of my nighttimes thoughts seem as dire in the early morning. The light is returning and with it, hope and the ability to take action and address the fears of the night. Gratitude for the new day and new opportunities warms my heart. . I may be sleepy, but it’s okay. Time for tea. . . . . #mindful #mindfulness #mindfulliving #wisdom #wisdomforlife #meditation #healing #dawn #insomnia #photooftheday #quoteoftheday #inspiringquotes #poetry #emilydickenson #mindyourweather
Darkness and suffering abound in many forms, and their scope extends from the personal to the global. If we, as Rumi suggests, are to be candles, what is our flame? . Perhaps it is simply being alive and awake. . A flame of anger in the presence of injustice. A flame of compassion in the presence of suffering. A flame of joy in the presence of celebration. A flame of gratitude in the presence of gifts. A flame of love in the presence of . . . all. . We remain unlit when we shut down or dissociate, withdrawing or escaping from a mindful awareness of the challenging mystery of life. . Wake up. Burn bright. . . . . #mindful #mindfulness #mindfulliving #wisdom #wisdomforlife #meditation #healing #conflict #darkness #suffering #wakeup #photooftheday #quoteoftheday #inspiringquotes #rumi #mindyourweather
This is a photo taken by my brother, Brad Keene. Seven years ago I titled it, "Finding the Beauty in the Old and Discarded." . A few days ago Brad had to have an emergency BKA--a below knee amputation. . As people become old and disabled they are often ignored and emotionally discarded. May we continue to find the beauty and worth of humans who feel discarded and offer them interest, respect and love--the compassionate attention we hope others will offer us when time does what time does. . So if you're walking down the street sometime, Spot some hollow ancient eyes, Please don't pass 'em by And stare like you didn't care . Say, "Hello in there, hello" Say, "Hello in there, hello" . . . . #mindful #mindfulliving #mindfulness #wisdom #wisdomforlife #meditation #healing #photooftheday #quoteoftheday #inspiringquotes #joanbaez #hellointhere #oldage #bradkeene #compassion #mindyourweather
I've been watching tutorials on book design. An important topic is the use of white space to give the eye opportunities to rest and focus on what is significant. . Isn't that just like the pause that Patricia Donegan writes about? The doorway through which our inner eyes perceive the striking and fleeting uniqueness of each moment and awaken to the experience of being alive. . Instead of filling in every gap with mental and physical activity, let's widen our margins and give ourselves a little space, a little pause to look and to see. . . . . #mindful #mindfulness #mindfulliving #wisdom #wisdomforlife #meditation #healing #photooftheday #quoteoftheday #inspiringquotes #patriciadonegan #pause #awakening #light #mindyourweather
 

OTHER THERAPISTS IN OUR PRACTICE

(Click on a name to learn more.)

Catherine Genzler, MA

Mary McGregor, LMSW

Steven Gordon, MHC