positive psychology

Mind Over Matter II: Practice

Jul 23, 2018

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by

Ron Johnson

in emotional maturity, feelings, happiness, mindfulness, positive psychology, self-awareness, social esteem

In our first blog on Mind Over Matter we discussed the theory of “mind over matter,” namely the idea of getting full use of both mind and brain. We discussed several things that distinguish the operations of the mind and the brain: What is the brain? The brain is a machine, a wonderful machine at…
Feelings V: Disappointment

Jun 21, 2018

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by

Ron Johnson

in Connection, emotional maturity, feelings, marital, positive psychology, relationships, self-awareness, social esteem

This is the fifth in a series on feelings. We have previously noted that this whole matter of “feelings” is murky and prone to misunderstanding. We have looked at emotions (fear, anger, joy, and sadness) to start with and then have proceeded to discuss the whole difficult business of communicating feelings, which is fraught with…
Loving and Liking II: The Importance of Not Liking your Spouse

May 21, 2018

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by

Ron Johnson

in Connection, emotional maturity, family, feelings, happiness, marital, men’s issues, mindfulness, positive psychology, relationships, self-awareness, social esteem, Uncategorized

In our first blog on the loving/not liking phenomenon we discussed how important it is to distinguish liking and loving. Both of these phenomena are of central importance in having successful relationships as well as have an emotionally satisfying life. Simply stated: Loving is natural and often immediate. Loving is most immediate and natural with…
The Other S Word

Dec 17, 2017

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by

Ron Johnson

in Children, Connection, feelings, positive psychology, self-awareness

You already know the bad “S” word. But there is a much worse “S” word: stupid. When this really bad “S” word gets into people’s vocabulary, they are in real trouble. This really bad “S” word begins to dominate how people think of the world…and themselves. I do my best to rid my patients of…
Love Is Not Enough

Dec 13, 2017

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by

Ron Johnson

in feelings, happiness, positive psychology, self-awareness

What an odd title: love is not enough. Is that true? How could that possibly be true? Isn’t love always good? If I love someone, isn’t that good in itself? Isn’t love always good? These are the questions I want to address in this blog. I actually borrowed this title from a movie and a…
Why Good Men Lie

Aug 28, 2017

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by

Ron Johnson

in feelings, men’s issues, positive psychology, relationships

Jack is 55. He is an established and experienced tradesman who prides himself on his work. Work is clearly the best thing in his life and he thrives in it. He refers to going to work as “putting on my (tradesman) belt,” and looks forward to going to work, often getting up at 3 AM…
I’m Glad that I’m Sick

May 1, 2017

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by

Ron Johnson

in Mental, positive psychology, self-awareness

Who in the world would say such a thing? Who in the world would want to be sick? Surprisingly, many people would. It’s not that they actually want to be sick. Rather, they want to have a reason for why they feel so bad. Having a reason why your stomach hurts answers the questions, “What’s…
I Don’t Want To Grow Up

Mar 20, 2017

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by

Ron Johnson

in Children, emotional maturity, feelings, positive psychology, self-awareness

I found myself saying something to a patient the other day that was one of those “My mouth said that” statements (note a previous blogs on this phenomenon). In other words, I didn’t know it until I said it. The statement was this: “You want to be grown up. You don’t want to grow up.”…
America Depressed and Distressed

Feb 17, 2017

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by

Ron Johnson

in appreciation, emotional maturity, feelings, Mental, political, positive psychology

It is remarkable that the popular media has properly identified President Trump as a person with a narcissistic personality disorder. Sadly, this is certainly an accurate diagnosis for Mr. Trump although I prefer avoiding all such diagnoses because they just look at what is “wrong” with someone, which is never helpful. Instead of identifying someone…
Liberal’s Moral Dilemma

Nov 11, 2016

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by

Ron Johnson

in morality, political, positive psychology, Spiritual

We liberals are not as moral as we might think. Worse yet, conservative America has just voiced their belief that the Republican Party has the corner on morality. Certainly, most liberal readers of this document will wonder how I could possibly suggest that conservatives are more moral than liberals. Well, it depends on the definition…