The longer I work as a psychotherapist, the more amazed I am at how we all – myself included – keep doing things that make us unhappy. Call it a pattern or a habit, whatever you call it, we keep repeating behaviors and thoughts that…
Some subjects are timeless, like love. Many self-help gurus say stuff like, “You can’t love anyone else if you don’t love yourself.” Sounds good, but, what does that mean? Loving yourself is a process, it doesn’t happen overnight. It progresses – in stops and starts…
Traditionally, PTSD has stood for “post traumatic stress disorder”. It describes how we may have to tough it out to get through something traumatic (war, rape, bodily harm) and then, when it’s over, we typically “collapse” into a big, ole mess. In this after-the-trauma-is-over phase,…
Does this sound familiar? You don’t feel well. Sure enough you’ve got a cold/the flu and your body feels like crap. You’re sick. Your mental state begins to suffer too. You grow increasingly pessimistic, wonder if you’ll ever get over this “thing”, start to watch…
I don’t consider myself religious, but I do consider myself to be on a spiritual path. I want a kind of spirituality that is practical: something I can use every day to enjoy my life more. Spirituality can exist within the context of religion or…
Fatigued from an overload of shopping, spending, and travel? You’re not alone. Most people describe this time of year – Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, New Year’s Eve and other celebrated holidays – as stressful instead of enjoyable. A 2016 telephone survey conducted by the American Psychological…
I was hiking with a friend at Torrey Pines and we stopped to take in the view. A fellow hiker stopped near us and a pleasant conversation began. It was going smoothly until this person said how right Trump was to get rid of Obamacare….
For seven years I read the book “365 Tao” and did the daily meditations. Taoism – an ancient Eastern philosophy – emphasizes compassion, spontaneity and harmony with nature. It says “go with the flow” and don’t be attached to things happening in a certain way….
“Depression” is used to describe everything from feeling a bit down to feeling suicidal. I’d like to talk about three kinds of “depression” and what you can do about each one. Chemical – In this type of depression, there is an imbalance in how…
The above title came from a TED talk I watched recently. In it, the speaker – a contented, wise elder – said that only young people expect that prestige, power and possessions will bring them happiness, and that spending a lifetime searching for them is…
