Some of the best times I had as a kid were spent in the movie theater, escaping into the realm of fantasy. Professional filmmakers refer to that sense of escape as the “willing suspension of disbelief,” where, for ninety minutes … Continue reading
Category: Life’s a Beach!
Nobody Can Think For You
Occasionally, a parent or a spouse will tell me that their child or partner “needs help.” When I ask them why, they either don’t answer, or they say that they can’t get their loved one to “make sense.” Over the … Continue reading
Pride Can Be HEALTHY
Lately it has become fashionable to label people who have accomplished great things as being “arrogant.” The reason for this is best left to another column, but I suspect we wouldn’t be enjoying many of our conveniences and comforts were … Continue reading
A Healthy Outlook is Better than Some Arbitrary Label
Recent medical/psychological research and studies are finally suggesting what I’ve been saying for years: Much of the psychobabble surrounding fashionable labels like “ADD”, “ADHD”, etc. are nothing more than haphazard “diagnoses” of teenagers’ behavior, triggering a flurry of needless prescriptions. … Continue reading
Do Friendships Always Last Forever?
A few years ago I spoke to a woman who was thoroughly fed up with a friend of hers. She just didn’t enjoy being with him any longer. Though she had already decided to back away from him altogether, she … Continue reading
When Surrounded by Stupid Behavior
A Delaware Wave reader emails that insignificant things often annoy her. She writes that she was upset in a restaurant recently because a child was making some noise. She admits that the kid was just being a kid, and that … Continue reading
Aging Parents: When the Parent Becomes the Child
I see so many people in my office who spend more years caring for their elderly parents than they spent raising their own children. This is becoming more and more commonplace as advances in medical science continue to extend the … Continue reading
We Have the Power to Fix Ourselves (Nobody Else Can!)
A reader asks me why some health professionals refer to her son’s behavioral problems as a “disease.” She says it makes her son feel worse about himself and even seems to deepen his depression. The whole idea behind calling behavioral … Continue reading
It’s Either an Excuse or a Reason, but not Both
I have a friend who, when confronted with something he did wrong, often ends his explanation with, “Well, it’s not an excuse, but it IS a reason.” Though it always gets a chuckle, the expression doesn’t really resolve anything. A … Continue reading
Is Perfection Always Best?
A few months ago, I responded to a reader about her compulsion to raise “the perfect child.” Many of your responses centered on the various implications of “Nobody’s perfect”. The most obvious (and truthful) interpretation of that is that we … Continue reading
I Don’t Want to Interrupt, But…
Clients with relationship problems sometimes bring up the problem of interrupting. It’s no secret that there are few things more annoying than a person who interrupts. Though it might seem rude, there are different kinds of interruptions, some of which, … Continue reading
Six Tips for Coping with Crisis
Interestingly, in spite of our current health scare and how some people are reacting, the topics of conversation in my office haven’t changed all that much. We’re still exploring day-to-day ways to make it through life when it’s easy to … Continue reading