In my previous article I introduced one idea—one idea that can free me from most of my suffering. This idea is that meaning is made up. An event occurs, or someone says something to me . . . and then I make meaning of that event, or the words that were spoken. I make meaning […]
Author Archive | Jake Eagle
Why Therapy Fails
Tens of millions of people go to one form of psychotherapy or another because they want: To be happier To escape their anxieties and fears To create a happy romantic partnership To find their life purpose and feel satisfied And when I look at the results I reach the conclusion that most therapy fails. It’s […]
Preciousness of Life
Kyoto, Japan It is Tuesday evening in Kyoto, Japan. We have just finished conducting a Live Conscious Retreat. In our retreats, all participants use pseudonyms, no one uses their real name. For this retreat Hannah chose the name “Yuuki”, which is the Japanese word for courage, and I chose the name “Mr. Lucky”—which in Japanese […]
Don’t Waste Your Life
I have a client I’ve been working with for a couple of years who recently fell off the self-help wagon and then found her way back onto it. I share this story with you because, to me, her experience is emblematic of so many people who are trying hard to make the most of their […]
Blog Hop
I want to thank Elyn Aviva for introducing me to the notion of a blog hop. The purpose of a blog hop is for one blogger to introduce his or her audience to another blogger whose work we highly appreciate. And also, as part of the blog hop I’ve been asked to answer a few […]
How To Stay True To Self
Many of us have been to the mountain top. We know how we feel when we are open, loving, in touch with ourselves and accessing our own wisdom. Petty little things don’t get to us. Our love and patience are bigger than our fears. We find humor in being human. Why don’t we stay on […]
A Lesson from Nelson Mandela – (original article as published in elephant journal)
We all make choices—adopt beliefs—that alter the trajectory of our lives. Some of these choices have long lasting consequences. One such choice has to do with whether we frame things in a binary way, such as “us vs. them,” or whether we frame things based on the notion that “we are all in this together.” […]
Four Mistakes That Couples Make
I spend several hours every week watching smart people make terrible mistakes in how they treat their lovers/partners. What follows is a list of the four major mistakes I see couples make. If I do nothing more than commit myself to avoiding these four mistakes, I radically improve the quality of my partnership. 1. Comparing […]
Lasting Change Is Possible
What is the key to making real, lasting change in our lives? As a therapist I used to look to create therapeutic home runs. Some of these felt to the client like a 4×4 across the forehead and others came in the form of a wave of love that produced satori—sudden enlightenment. Although I still […]
New Year Resolutions
Happy New Year! Okay . . . a brand new year. If you read our articles you know that we think one of the most profound things in life is our ability to “redo” ourselves. What’s a redo? A redo is a chance to exercise our free will, so as soon as we feel […]