As the New Year approaches, you may be evaluating what has transpired in 2017 and what you’d like to experience in 2018. The following questions may help you to constructively and compassionately consider where you’ve progressed during this year, where you’ve possibly taken some unexpected or unhelpful detours, and where you’d like to go in […]

Entering into psychotherapy can be the beginning of an impactful journey into a more fulfilling life. Yet often people complicate this process and sabotage their progress through misconceptions about what therapy entails. Accepting the following truths can help maximize your chances of making your therapy experience more effective. Accept that growth and change can feel […]

Although the Thanksgiving holiday serves as a good reminder for us to pause and count our blessings, the truth is that gratitude represents an attitude and actions that we can seek to cultivate every day of the year. In addition to improving our relationships with others, expressing our thanks offers many other benefits. Some quotes […]

When we hear the word “mindfulness”, many of us think about how being more mindful could benefit our physical health, reduce our anxiety, help us perform better at our job, or deepen our spirituality. Being more mindful can certainly bring about these changes. However, mindfulness can also strengthen our relationships with other people. How does […]

Whether it’s your spouse, in-laws, children, friends, colleagues at work, clients, children, or people you encounter while going about your day, knowing how to get along well with others can greatly enhance your life, as well as the lives of those around you, in both personal and professional arenas. Healthy interpersonal relationships and a strong […]

Have you ever flown off the handle and said or done things you later regret? (Almost all of us have.) Or have you been so much “in your head”, focused on facts and figures that you lost contact with your feelings or those of other people? (Probably.) In the first case, you were in what […]

Why is it that some people bounce back from tragedy or even seem to thrive in the face of persistent hardship, while others collapse and stay down for the count? Are some people just born with this resilience, defined as “an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)? Are […]

When asked to name their number one priority, people tend to list personal relationships, good physical health, meaningful employment, wealth, a comfortable home, sufficient leisure time… the list goes on and on. However, just about everyone would agree that they want to be happy. At the same time, many of us are concerned that we […]

So many definitions and opinions exist about what constitutes happiness. Is it a feeling? A mood? An attitude? A way of life? Let’s turn to the definition of happiness from Sonia Lyubomirsky, researcher and author of The How of Happiness and The Myths of Happiness. Lyubomirsky states that happiness is “the experience of joy, contentment, […]

Wanting to protect ourselves from harm is only natural. It would be naïve to trust everyone all the time or simply assume that the world is always a safe place. The hard truth is that people sometimes have devious motives and that life can contain danger and tragedy. However, there may come a time when […]