Clients sometimes describe a spouse, family member or friend as ‘contrary.’ In other words, this person constantly disagrees just for the sake of disagreeing. Such a person is often referred to as a ‘rationalist’ (though ‘annoying’ is a good alternative). … Continue reading
Category: Life’s a Beach!
Guilt is Not Love (Delaware Coast Press)
Occasionally a client will look back over the holidays and admit to me that interactions with family, grown children, aging parents and old friends were often tinged with one, common feeling: Guilt. In spite of all the jokes (‘What? You … Continue reading
Is your kid an adult? (Delaware Wave)
The holidays can be an opportunity to reconnect with children who’ve been living away from home — many for the first time. Although it’s reasonable to expect it to be a happy experience, it can be full of challenges as … Continue reading
Smile for Your Own Sake (Delaware Coast Press)
After two of the biggest holidays of the year, it seemed kind of silly to write a column about smiling. But after doing what I do for 25 years, I am well aware that not everybody is jolly over the … Continue reading
The Regret-Filled Mindset (Delaware Wave)
Around this time of year, some people make themselves sad by dwelling on ‘what could have been.’ What a profound waste of time! Let’s say that you spend just 10 minutes a day thinking about the things you wished you … Continue reading
Tips for Keeping Resolutions (Delaware Coast Press)
It’s a proven fact that champagne, eggnog and cocktail wieners can combine to produce some pretty outlandish New Year’s resolutions. ‘Say what you mean and mean what you say’ doesn’t seem to matter as much when you’re balancing a lampshade … Continue reading
Fail-Safe Your New Year (Delaware Wave)
So here we go again: How many New Year’s resolutions have you actually kept? We all know that most of them fail. And they fail because they’re artificial. You can’t resolve to do something just because it happens to be … Continue reading
Be happy within your means (Delaware Coast Press)
Around the holidays, people often ask me about greed and why the season is so ‘materialistic.’ Well, I don’t believe there’s such a thing as ‘materialism.’ All of us need and want material things. It’s only a matter of degree. … Continue reading
Avoid holiday conflict (Delaware Wave)
The seasonal pressure to make everything (and everybody) instantly cheerful and merry can certainly be stressful. The timeless words, ‘I’ll be home for Christmas’ can sometimes set the stage for tension, particularly among family and between married couples. Couples fight … Continue reading
How much is too much? (Delaware Coast Press)
People often ask me, ‘How much is too much?’ In other words, at what point does something become an addiction? If a person consumes X number of drinks (or cigarettes, or slices of bacon, or whatever) in one day, is … Continue reading
Rediscovering the Mind (Delaware Wave)
One of the ‘bibles’ of the mental health profession is the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM). It is used extensively by psychotherapists and other mental health professionals in diagnosing mental disorders, syndromes and other problems. … Continue reading
Go all the way (Delaware Coast Press)
A reader emails that she has successfully reduced her cigarette intake from 22 to only 6 a day. Now she’s stuck, and asks for advice on how to end the habit altogether. Your mistake, dear Reader, was that you set … Continue reading