The first of my 30 Second (ish) Therapy series – how to get mentally prepared for big life changes! It’s important to put both external supports and internal supports in place. The more you surround yourself with people who have have made the same transition, the more smoothly it will go. The more you can…
This time of year, the days are shorter and the nights are longer. We wake up in darkness, and by the time work is over, night has already arrived. This post is for the people for whom this is more than just an analogy, for the people who feel like putting up lights and decorating…
A few weeks ago I was teaching a weekend meditation program at the DC Shambhala Center, exploring how mindfulness can be used to unravel years of habitual patterns and defense mechanisms so that we can actually open up to ourselves and to this world. My assistant director, a professor, author, aikido practitioner, mom, and all…
Loss hurts. But loss is also what it means to be human. Grieving is the path through loss, the path to becoming more fully human. Through loss, as we grieve, we deepen our humanity. That’s the big picture. On a day to day level, loss is disorienting and physically painful. We may find it hard…
Earlier this month I was teaching a meditation program at the DC Shambhala Center and was reminded of a very important concept that arises out of the teachings on mindfulness. In this first month of the New Year that is usually awash with New Year’s resolutions to meditate more/smoke less/eat better/etc, I was very aware…
I’m digging this article that appeared on FastCompany.com: 10 Career Lessons You Should Learn By Your 30’s. You can (and should!) read the entire article. The mistakes I hear about most in the career work that I do are #1 (“Your Dream Job is a Dud”), #5 (“You Have a Nightmare Boss”), and #6 (You…
Make no mistake: I was overjoyed at the Supreme Court’s decision to make gay marriage a legal thing in this country. Nine years ago, after spending five hours in the ER with my partner and after helping the doctor set his shattered leg, I was told that I could not accompany him to his hospital…
What is hypnotherapy, and how can it help? Hypnotherapy is very simply a way to relax the active, conscious mind, and allow the wisdom of the deeper unconscious mind to come forward. Our active mind can only hold a few objects of knowledge at a time – and the more stressed we are, the less…
I’ve been hanging out with grief a lot this spring. In March, my dad passed away, and then over Memorial Day weekend I had the privilege of staffing the TAPS Good Grief Camp, a camp for military families who have lost a loved one. This is my one opportunity a year to work with kids:…
We’ve all been told that relationships are hard – and that’s true. But sometimes it’s difficult to know if the relationship is hard because it’s working, or is it hard because it’s just not a viable relationship. In a viable relationship, the hard work pays off. In a relationship that isn’t working, the hard work…