It’s the one principle that all spiritual and non-spiritual disciplines share: Healing occurs from the inside out. But how do you do it? The hardest part is squaring yourself what the fact that you’ve got issue. This is difficult for all of us. Our ego gets in the way, neck-deep in denial, and, well, say goodbye to any transforming insight....

Some years ago I was interviewed by a popular science magazine about what I thought of online therapy. At that point, online therapy wasn’t exactly new, but it wasn’t spreading like wildfire either. I said that therapy in person could be supplemented by online therapy, but that a therapist can learn a lot about a patient by meeting in person. Body...

In the lead-up to the Climate Change Summit, a famous actor (I don’t remember who; I’m not good with celebrities) was asked why he was so committed to the cause. He said it was because he had children and he cared about their future. I’ve heard those kinds of comments repeatedly, and not just around the topic of climate...

  I did my best… I did my best! Dane Cook, comedian The phrase “to make a mistake” implies purposive, conscious, planned action. That’s utterly inaccurate: there are no intentional mistakes, no one consciously sets out to fail. When we fail on purpose, when we make a mistake by design, we are actually succeeding with some kind of covert...

Blue socks? Why not? … and you were right, it was one of a billion thoughts you had that hour. When we human beings wake up in the morning, we think, “Ah, time to get up. I’ll get dressed, have breakfast and get ready for the day.” Those of us...

The recent media attention to domestic Violence in the NFL epitomized by the September 8th video of Baltimore Ravens, Ray Rice knocking out his fiancée in an elevator and Commissioner Goddell’s delayed reaction, bring to the forefront the reality of domestic violence and the factors that fuel it. Football players are not the only men who succumb to domestic violence and they are not the only ones whose behavior...

A mindfulness guided meditation video to help you overcome anxiety and fear. In this simple 15 minute video, a calm male voice leads you through a breathing exercise, and repeating a series of mantras that focus on creating a sense of inner peace.   ...

This past month I’ve been struggling with my personal view on growth. A concept so dear to me considering it’s been the underlying principle of my whole existence. See, I’m one of those persons who firmly believes life is an opportunity for continuous improvement. And that individuals should always strive for ongoing self-enhancement. Needless to say, I’m a fan of...

A child’s level of introversion or extroversion can influence the parenting and care-taking they should receive. Parenting strategies and therapeutic techniques should be utilized with respect to the child’s personality and way of being; whether they tend to be an introvert or an extrovert, for example. According to Marti Olsen Laney, Psy.D., of “The Hidden Gifts of...

See Part 1 Author Malcolm Gladwell (‘Outliers: The Story of Success’; ‘Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking’ and other books) has commented, “Anyone who is in a creative space…you have to reverse the normal human tendency, which is to edit. Creative people…their brains are messy. Their imaginations are messy. “Why, because they don’t want to throw...

Most adults are aware of the health risks of smoking tobacco. Research shows that smoking may also have an affect on mental health. While the motivation for smoking varies from person to person, knowing why some people smoke may help those who want to stop. The physical, or biological, elements of smoking deal with how the cerebral matter reacts...

  Therapy is really hard to do. Good therapy is, anyway. Bad therapy is pretty easy: giving advice, passively listening, befriending clients, or following a rigid step-by-step protocol. Good therapy is incredibly demanding and involves observing and then integrating information on a number of levels. That’s why it can be so hard to find a good therapist, and why I have seen brilliant and terrible ones from all backgrounds and...

What I really wanted to say in my title is when where and why we get pissed. Cause we do. And we can’t blame a mental illness on outbursts of rage, irritability, or anything else for that matter. Here is a list of things that piss me off, and any other “normal” person with a mental illness: ...

Q: My ex-wife is ruining my life. She doesn’t want to spend time with our kids, which is fine with me because she’s incredibly neglectful. But she’s actually blackmailing me, telling me that if I don’t keep paying child support, even though the kids aren’t with her at all, she’ll force the kids to spend...

When comedienne Joan Rivers died unexpectedly several weeks ago, medical malpractice was thrust back onto center stage. Ironically, Joan herself, the lady who popularized the phrase, “Can we talk?” may hold the answers to questions that medical malpractice lawyers will be asking. So far, the conversation about Rivers’ death centers on the word “consent.”...

As for everyone, having good habits is very beneficial for children who are introverts. Being an introvert tends to come with a higher need to have predictability, routine, control over one’s own life and environment or at least an ability to know what to expect in most situations. Habits are important for introverts because not...

Thin mists and light clouds waft imperceptibly; The friends who have gathered here pass the pipe around. I know that there is no constancy in what is possible and what is not, Yet I do not believe that fire and ash are only fragments of time. —Wang Lu, a Japanese seventeenth-century “gentleman smoker” (quoted in Smoke: A Global History...

It is shit like this that aggravates me. This was posted on Facebook by “Support Bipolar Awareness!” So far it has been liked 86 times and shared 40. You see, I am not a joke. I am not some party-time-personality-changing-trick. I have a mood disorder so, thus, yes, you could say I am moody by definition. But I...

                    Continued from last post: therapy is exceedingly complex, and a good therapist is able to juggle and integrate all 7 of these layers. The client’s content This is the surface of the therapy. It’s the story...

We Aren’t Always Able to Leave   Ray Rice, the NFL, and CBS has gotten me so angry, that I have not been able to write. I have been trying to write this post for weeks. In actual fact, I haven’t been able to write a word of any kind, because...

With so much (rightful) attention being paid to physical abuse and domestic violence, I wanted to also shine some light on emotional abuse, which can be just as psychologically damaging.  But it is also, in some ways, easier to rationalize.  People who are being emotionally abused might downplay their own victimization by comparing themselves to people who are being physically abused:...

We are primed to look for the easiest way possible — it’s human nature. And there is something to be said for maximizing efficiency, removing obstacles and shortening the proverbial path we take in life. But sometimes, life gives us no choice and we are dealt a hard road. While we may decry the fairness, timing, or reason for it, it...

This is a new series on Weightless that includes all kinds of posts, which explore taking kinder care of ourselves — from appreciating our bodies to getting to know ourselves better to feeling our feelings to saying no to saying yes to savoring supportive, healthy relationships. Because self-care helps us build a more positive body image....

The pounding of your passionate heart, The endless flow of your breath, The fierce power of your life force, The vital energy of your being, The exhilaration of your dreams, The reverberation of your free and open spirit, The beautiful song of your soul, The intense feeling of being alive.  ...

As the economy gets ever better at satisfying our immediate, self-serving needs, who is minding the future? So asks the cover article of the fall edition of American Scholar magazine, entitled Temptation, Inc. It’s a long, wide-ranging, provocative piece that explores the many ways in which consumer technology is getting better and...

Noosphere – a beautiful concept. You are a part of this human whole. A conscious or an unconscious part? The noosphere is the sphere of human thought. The word derives from the Greek νοῦς (nous “mind”) and σφαῖρα (sphaira “sphere”), in lexical analogy to “atmosphere” and “biosphere”. It was introduced by Pierre Teilhard de...

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” - Winston Churchill Failure is inevitable, we all know that. Mistakes are a completely normal and natural part of learning and getting better. However, even though we know...

Large and rapidly moving, ominous clouds of negativity roll into my mind, infuse my thoughts and deeply darken my mood. As I exhale, I feel the irritability fume from my nostrils like fiery smoke from a dragon’s. As I bristle with defensiveness and hostility, I feel the energetic spikes of anger jet from my spine, creating a non-verbal warning...