relationships

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…
Loving and Liking I: Not the Same

May 19, 2018

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by

Ron Johnson

in Connection, emotional maturity, family, feelings, relationships, self-awareness

Loving and Liking I: Not the Same Some people are just easy to love. They attract your love for many reasons, but it isn’t necessary what they say or do: they’re just lovable. They’re like little kittens or puppies. I’m reminded of being with our grandson a couple years ago at Bear Country while the…
The Other N Word

Apr 23, 2018

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by

Ron Johnson

in Connection, emotional maturity, feelings, men’s issues, relationships, self-awareness, Uncategorized

I have to be real careful with this blog. It could be very offensive. The “N word” that we all know…unfortunately…is all too rampant in America. Not so, by the way in most of the rest of world, and not even very prevalent in North America. I never heard the N word when I lived…
Feelings IV: Intuition

Apr 5, 2018

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by

Ron Johnson

in Connection, feelings, relationships, self-awareness, Spiritual

This is the fourth in a series of blogs of feelings. Feelings I had to do with identifying basic feelings, namely joy and sorrow, the feelings related to love; and anger and fear, the feelings related to defense. Feelings II dealt with expressing feelings, and Feelings III on hearing feelings. We have granted that the…
Expressing Feelings III: Hearing Feelings

Apr 5, 2018

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by

Ron Johnson

in Connection, feelings, relationships, self-awareness, Spiritual

Expressing feelings is extremely difficult as we discussed in Expressing Feelings II. It is difficult to wander about in your mind to understand what you feel. It is difficult to find the right words that adequately communicate what you feel in your heart. And it is most difficult to try over and over again to…
Expressing Feelings II: Practice

Feb 9, 2018

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by

Ron Johnson

in Connection, feelings, relationships, self-awareness, Spiritual

This is the second in a series of Expressing Feelings, the first installment being on theory, this one on the practice. In brief review, Expressing Feelings I: Theory we discussed: –There are four basic feelings: o Joy, when I have something I love; sadness when I lose it o Fear when I fear losing something…
Expressing Feelings I: Theory

Jan 20, 2018

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by

Ron Johnson

in Connection, feelings, relationships, self-awareness, Spiritual

This is the first of four blogs on expressing feelings. This one is on theory; Expressing Feelings II will be on how practice expressing feelings; Feelings III will be on how to hear other people’s feelings, and Feelings IV will be on when not to express feelings. Let’s get started.
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…
Regrets of Youth

Jun 19, 2017

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by

Ron Johnson

in Connection, men’s issues, mindfulness, relationships, self-awareness

We all have regrets. If we don’t have them, we should have them. They are an important part of life, especially as we get older and look back at life. I have been doing a bit of regretting recently. The older I get, the more I notice the many regrets I have acquired over my…