Years ago, while teaching a meditation class, the group was working with a basic lovingkindness practice and in the discussion that ensued, one participant complained about the difficulty and unpleasantness connected with the process of sending positive energy to “a difficult person” in her life, which is what happens during the meditation. We got into
Have you noticed the dramatic increase in the amount of online material about narcissism these days? Some of it is professionally written and found in blogs, newspapers and magazines. Much of it, however, is found on frustrated and angry threads all over the web, coming from individuals whose personal experience has led them to identify
As a psychologist, I was always taught not to pick sides. Impartiality is one of the tenets of my profession. I must admit now, to myself and publicly, that I no longer find that impartiality possible to maintain if I am to respect myself as a human being. Looking around, I see and feel, as
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is really no disorder at all. It is a very reasonable response to life at its most unreasonable. When one is subjected to an experience too excruciating and extreme to internalize, it gets stuck like a bite that’s too big; it can’t be “swallowed.” Typically, the experience plays and replays obsessively in
WHAT CAUSES ANXIETY AND WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT IT Without anxiety, the most frequently occurring psychological problem, you wouldn’t be here. Deprived of that state of arousal called “fight or flight,” your ancestors would have fallen victim to everything man eating, including other hungry humans or humanoids, lacking the wherewithal to exert themselves at
I’m aware of the fact that a lot of changes are being proposed by people who want to do better next year than they did in 2018. I think that’s great; we should always try to make things better, to do the very best we can. In fact, we often look at ourselves with a
In 1999, I discovered that I had a common heart arrhythmia called atrial fibrillation. If you have atrial fibrillation – or “a fib” – the upper chamber of your heart loses its regular rhythm and shutters and flutters without doing much of anything good. It can happen all the time, frequently or on occasion. I
Psychotherapy, when working correctly, acts as a door opening to the possibility of change. We approach it because we are wanting to make at least something in our lives different. Or maybe someone close to us has expressed the desire/need for us to change. For whatever reason, the appeal of transforming our lives in some
As we move further into the 21st Century, we are seeing a significant rise in the practice of meditation – particularly forms of mindfulness – not just in the United States, but in cultures around the world. For the last hundred years, there has been a slow, steady increase in the number of people committing
When you come down with the flu, chances are you respond to the illness with a series of behaviors designed to get you well again. You most likely spend much more time in bed; you get plenty of rest; you may have your cocktail of vitamins and over-the-counter medications that help you get your health
My passion is to help guide you if you have chosen to look profoundly into the questions of your life. My goal is to help you get to the point where your existence on this wonderful planet has become a richer, deeper, and more meaningful process. Every story is unique and I would love to learn about yours.
