Relationships
Relationship Checklist
When I am lucky enough to meet with people before they marry or enter into another kind of committed relationship, I encourage them to think about ten topics, and to revisit those topics repeatedly in Read more…
Relationships
What is “Love?”
Philosophers and poets have struggled with this question for thousands of years. Psychologists recently started examining the same question, but with limited success. The first thing we should acknowledge is that all emotions, including “love,” Read more…
Relationships
Antidotes to the Four Factors Predicting Relationship Disaster
In a previous article, I talked about the four bad communication habits that have been shown to reliably predict the end of a relationship. Referred to as the “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” by researcher Read more…
Relationships
Predicting Success or Failure in Relationships
Dubbed “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” by relationship expert John Gottman, Ph.D., these four communication habits can reliably predict the end of a relationship. Note that while Gottman’s research focuses on marriage, I believe Read more…
Behavior
Understanding Behavior
Every interaction we have with the universe, whether with people, animals, objects, or even our own thoughts or bodily sensations, has five elements. I like to represent these with my hand. It has the advantage Read more…
General
Unhelpful Thinking Habits
“Nothing ever goes right for me. I have the worst luck in the world!” “I just failed that test. I’m no good at school. I might as well quit.“ “She hasn’t texted me back. She Read more…
General
Mindfulness as a Weight Loss Strategy
Recent decades have seen countless popular diet schemes that promised to help people shed unwanted pounds. But most people find that these are unsuccessful, especially in the long run. “Diets,” after all, are things people Read more…
General
COVID Winter
2020 has been a long, stressful year. January brought us the “novel Coronavirus,” though it didn’t become “real” for most of us until March. We were asked to make adjustments to our work, school and Read more…
General
Healthy Sleep Habits
Your behaviors during the day, and especially before bedtime, can have a major impact on your sleep. They can promote healthy sleep or contribute to sleeplessness. This is important because too little sleep can mimic Read more…
Treatments
Grounding Techniques
Many of us suffer from guilt and regret about the past, or anxiety about the future. Grounding is a practice that can help you cope with those worries and regrets and live in the present moment. Read more…