Are you approaching your relationships with openness and enthusiasm, with reluctance and anxiety, or in some other way? The way in which you approach your relationships impacts on the behavior you exhibit while attending to the relationships and the perceptions you...
This year has had its challenges. I experienced the shocking and traumatic loss of my almost 16-year-old nephew. I also shared in the travesties experienced by my patients. The unexpected and premature loss of my long-term patient’s young adult daughter, a patient...
A name and brief bio is offered on several media outlets of the victims from the El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio mass shootings. I teeter on wanting to know more about each of them, and not wanting to know. I’m fearful that if I “know” them, my pain will intensify,...
There is certainly no instruction booklet on how to foster meaningful relationships. The way we first learn is through modeling our parent’s behavior, by process of elimination, and through on the job training when we’re thrust into our social worlds in school and...
And What To Do Instead I work with patients who are in considerable pain. Deep and intense pain surfaces because of expected and unexpected challenging life circumstances. I connect with my empathy and deep compassion while I attune and support them through their...
I’m fortunate to be teaching a semester long graduate course on mindfulness. Having expanded my knowledge on the topic, being entrenched in continually researching it, and the incredible curiosity and inquisitiveness of my students which has led to compelling...
The other evening a client shared in session that she recently lost her 21-year-old-daughter due to an unfortunate accident. She didn’t know that I also experienced a profound loss just last month with the passing of my nephew just a day shy of his 16th birthday also...
In today’s world we have easy access to most things. It’s not surprising that kids may feel entitled and assume that they can easily get what they want, thus cultivating gratitude becomes even more important. Studies on gratitude prove its positive impact on many...
I have read articles recently describing how we are becoming immune to all the chaos. Although coping by way of cutting off my feelings could come in handy right about now, I’m finding it impossible to ignore or distract from them. Just as an atrocity passes, it seems...
I’m constantly reminded in my personal and professional life how precarious life can be. Things can change on a dime and life the way we know it can transform into something wonderful or something horrific. Over the past week, a patient I’m working with was awarded a...
