self-awareness
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You Value What You See
I don’t see much. Well, that’s not entirely true, but there’s lots of truth in it. An important part of this “not seeing much” is related to the fact that I am colorblind. Not seriously so, like people who actually don’t see colors at all and live in a kind of black-and-white world, as I…
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What Do You See?
I’ve been working with a teenage boy and his stepfather recently and observed something that gave me a bit more clarity in how we see the world, namely that we see different things. Furthermore, when we see different things, we are simultaneously evaluating the things we see. It is possible that the valuing precedes the…
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Helpless
Helpless is a feeling. That having been said, it is a subset of “feelings” that I have written about (and that Deb and I have written a book about incorporating all of my feeling blogs). Describing helpless as a feeling is the best way I can define helpless, just as all words representing deep feelings…
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Passion, Purpose, and Product
A good life is a life that produces something. I have to very careful here because “producing” doesn’t necessarily mean some kind of physical product, like the infamous “widget.” A product may be an idea, perhaps an idea that changes the world, or at least part of the world, for good. The product might be…
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The Centrality of Fear
Fear is the most important emotion that exists in the human psyche. Furthermore, fear is the most important emotion that exists in all animals. If it were not for fear, nothing would survive. Animals would not survive and humans would not survive. Fear has to be seen as “the most important” of the four basic…
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Wanting It Both Ways
I recently had a therapeutic hour with a patient who “wants to have it both ways.” I know exactly how he feels because I have had the same desires, as have many people who privilege me by coming to my office for my presence and counsel. Let me explain what “wanting it both ways” means.…
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Contagious
We’ve been hearing about the contagious aspect of the coronavirus. So, we’re invited to be careful with what we touch, smell, taste, and breathe. There is great debate, however, as to how serious this epidemic is, as well as how to engage in these practices, if we even choose to do so. In this blog…
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Daily Disappointments
S**t happens, right? Indeed it does. No way around it. Things happen that are unexpected…and ultimately disappointing. If that were the end of it, I wouldn’t be writing this blog because if people actually understood that s**t happens, they would be able to handle it, process it, remember it, and prevent the almost universal reaction…