“We don’t absorb the energy of others, we match it. Wayne Dyer I’ve written about emotional vampires before: those people around us that are victims, know-it-alls, or complainers. Lately, my thinking on how to best deal with these people has evolved. If we feel drained after interacting with one of these types, it’s...Read More
The story of the human race is the story of men and women selling themselves short. ~ Abraham Maslow, American Psychologist, 1908-1970 It is estimated that we are exposed to 5,000 ads a day. Our economy is built on us consuming things, food, clothes, shelter improvements…. Businesses tend to create things that cluster at the...Read More
In the long run, the sharpest weapon of all is a kind and gentle spirit. Anne Frank An old fable goes that a lion was roaring night and day, terrorizing a village. One day, a shepherd named Androcles heard whimpering in a cave, and found the...Read More
A nail is driven out by another nail. Habit is overcome by habit. Desiderius Erasmus We all bought into the myth that a habit takes 3 weeks to reach “automaticity” (the ability to do things without occupying the mind). This was based on junk science that has not been reproducible. A study...Read More
Our habits of mind can play incredible tricks on us. One of the first things I learned to do as a nurse was to accurately name things… once we have the accurate assessment, then the right remedy can follow. This simple principle can help us self-regulate, get unstuck and acknowledge and remedy unspecified stress or...Read More
You cannot step into the same river twice. Heraclitus [Philosopher 544 BC – 483 BC] Parenting teenagers forces us to operate in unknown territory. I have found it to be complex and ever changing. It is not intuitive and what works in one situation or kid, doesn’t work in another. Parenting forces us to be...Read More
Instead of heading for a big mental breakdown, I decided to have a small breakdown every Tuesday evening. ― Graham Parke, author Symptoms can be an astonishing way for our bodies to get our full attention and bypass our minds. Projectile vomiting announces food poisoning, severe abdominal pain can proclaim appendicitis. Other signs are less...Read More
Nothing needs so reforming as other people’s habits. Mark Twain A recent study in Science Live found that regular walking helps us live longer even if we don’t walk long enough to meet the minimum weekly guidelines of 2.5 hours a week. Even still, a large percentage of us don’t even reach 20 minutes a...Read More
And now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good. —John Steinbeck When you do something that is classified as boneheaded, be quick to acknowledge your humanness. Launching into mean-spirited self-talk lands us in the valley of suffering. This dark valley is a place where we may brutalize ourselves based on our...Read More
