What’s the right path for you? Where are you going—in terms of your self-improvement and personal growth? And how are you going to get there? Is there only one way, or many? Charting your own course This is kind of how I think about psychotherapy, as a chance for each of us to chart our […]
Tag Archives | Language
Can You Hear Me? — it’s so painful not to be heard
Maybe one of the more painful, or even frightening things, is when we are unable to get another person—especially one we love—to hear and understand us. The person listening doesn’t necessarily even need to agree with us—if only they would listen and understand our experience. Can you hear me? Is that too much to ask? […]
3 Degrees of Consciousness
Imagine a circle. There are 360 degrees. You are locked inside the circle. The circle is—let’s call it your ego, or identity. The truest “you” is on the outside of the circle. To get out of the circle you must fire your booster rockets and go through an opening that is 3 degrees wide. If […]
Can We Stop Telling Stories?
Freedom is man’s capacity to take a hand in his own development. It is our capacity to mold ourselves. –Rollo May As a human being, I am a meaning maker. I’m compelled to make sense of the world around me. I do this by telling myself stories. But I’ve discovered, as I become more present, […]
Law of Acceptable Dishonesty
Long before we go to school we are trained to be dishonest, often by well-meaning, good people. Our parents, neighbors, friends, coaches and teachers all do it. We are all taught that white lies, omissions, minimizations and exaggerations are acceptable, especially if we justify our lies as a way to protect someone’s feelings. Law of […]
Grow Your Brain
Would you like to grow your brain—learn how to use more of your brain? What if you could go from using 15% to 20%? Imagine the changes that would occur. The 2014 movie “Lucy,” explores this subject by dramatizing what happens when the main character gains access to 100% of her brain. Essentially, she expands […]
Live Wisely, Think Deeply, Love Generously
A meaningful life guaranteed If we live wisely, think deeply, and love generously we can guarantee ourselves a wonderfully meaningful life. Why wouldn’t we do this? Is it, as Pope Francis says, that we no longer hear the wisdom of the great sages of the past because they are drowned out by too much noise […]
What Awaits You On The Other Side?
Imagine you are walking down a dusty road between two tall hedges and carrying a heavy load. This is the road of an ordinary life. You notice that some people get ahead of you and some fall behind. You have struggled at times along this road to keep up, to get ahead, to connect, to […]
There is a time to whine
In my office I have a sign that my clients can see from their chair. It says, “Thou Shalt Not Whine.” It’s partially meant to be a joke, but it’s also indicative of my approach to therapy. I’ll say more about that in a minute, but in this article I want to acknowledge that I’ve […]
Healing Myself With My Dreams
One of the many things I love about the practice of Live Conscious is that it invites me to embrace all of me—the practice hinges on self-acceptance—not tolerance of poor behavior, but acceptance. I begin exactly where I am—accepting my past, my present, my failures and successes and then honestly ask myself, “Am I pleased […]