Ron Johnson
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Early Life Decisions
Look at what you tend to do over and over again. These would be things that you tend to be good at. This would cover a whole range of things like, Note which of these things tends to be how you act. Now consider which of these things you were taught in your family and…
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Feeling Helpless
I felt helpless this morning. Woke up at 5:30 and immediately had a feeling that seemed like sadness, but that didn’t seem quite right. The more I thought about it, the more I decided to talk to Deb about the feeling. Then the word “helpless” came to mind and it seemed right. I’d like to…
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Intention
Intention is one of the most important features of life, both individual life and social life. Consider what you intend to do or say, perhaps in comparison to what you actually do or say. You will often find a difference. Consider also how you have had some challenges with other people who didn’t understand your…
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Parapraxis
Most of what Freud said was wrong, but then, he was the first significant modern thinker to discuss genuine psychology, so we have to give major credit to this brilliant person who worked almost entirely alone to understand the human psyche. I say that he was “wrong” with most of what he said, but that…
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Play
Play is a central ingredient in life. Asian philosophers speak of play being one of the cardinal elements of life together with work, friendship, spirituality. If we consider this philosophy, we need to consider how we can integrate play into our lives along with these other elements. But what is “play” we might ask. Let’s…
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Transitions
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It is important to honestly and forthrightly face transitions in life. We find that we are in an important transition. We have lived a good life and have enjoyed much of it, but now, it seems, that we are moving in a different direction, perhaps on a different path, perhaps with a somewhat different goal.…
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Good and Bad Narcissism
Narcissism. We’ve heard a lot about this term recently. It has become a favorite diagnostic term that people have used when they talk about some of their family members. Thus, it belongs in the commonly used terms as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, ADHD, and autism. We believe that these terms have been way overly used…
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Love the Way You Love
Love the Way You Love On my way to work yesterday I found myself singing, “If you can’t be with the on you love, love the one you’re with.” I remember this from the 60’s with the free love theme that was part of that era. While there are so many dangers with such a…
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Finishing Past Losses
The bulk of the work we do with people is to help them recover from the losses that they have suffered in life. With very few exceptions, the only meaningful diagnosis we ever give anyone is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) because all mental health disturbances, relationship disturbances, and other life difficulties originate with the…
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Grief and Relief
I just met with a man who recently lost his wife. They had a long, successful, and enduring marriage but she contracted a debilitating disease that dominated their lives for nearly a decade as she deteriorated in physical condition. This meant that the man felt compelled, both by love and by necessity, to be the…