Twelve Suggestions for Creating a Happy Marriage
1. Contrary to what the media would have us believe, love is not something that you "get" from another person. It is an inner experience that you can cultivate through consciously choosing to act lovingly. By this I mean acting with kindness, patience,...
How are You Inhabiting Your Body?
Have you ever noticed that people who feel good about themselves carry themselves such that you instantly know it? This is so true that you can tell by watching someone how they are feeling about themselves in that moment. We all subconsciously notice people’s...
What Do Young Children Need Most?
It is not uncommon for clients I see to express concern with regard to their parenting skills. They worry that they have scarred their children with any lapse of attention, angry outburst, or other behavior or parenting decision that they later regret....
Habits can Make or Break You
Habits are insidious. They take root and blossom in our lives, for better and for worse, mostly unconsciously. Our most rooted habits are born of the environments and people we are exposed to at a young age Use this understanding with awareness in raising your...
“Grounding” a Technique for Calm and Presence
The Grounding Exercise is a somatically-oriented audio guided imagery exercise that I teach my clients for those times when a few deep breaths are not enough. It is very effective for many of my clients in learning to bring themselves into a calmer, more centered and more present place.
We Cannot Make Our Children Happy
As parents we work hard to provide the best circumstances we can for our children in hopes that it will make them happy. We try to give them the best of everything that we can provide. The social and cultural pressures of parenting can even lead us to believe...
That Pesky Critical Inner Voice
Do you a have an annoying inner critical voice chronicling your mistakes and imperfections? Do you wish you knew how to get this voice to just shut up? The "Mini-Me” Self-critical thoughts accompany most people to one degree or another throughout the day, or in...
Anxiety? Neurologically it is all about Survival
This section of my blog is an educational, and “how to” section on managing anxiety, whether it is about your children, or anything else you encounter in life. My last post in this category discussed the importance of learning to manage your own anxiety so that you...
Helping Our Children to Feel Good about Themselves
It is truly heartwarming to see a child or young adult who feels good about themselves in a genuine, non-questioning, non-self-focused way. What are some of the parenting conditions that encourage this? Our children enter the world as sentient, aware beings. They...
5 Practices for Creating More Happiness in Your Life
The happier you are as a person, and in your life, the happier, healthier, and easier to parent your children will be. The following are some suggested practices that you can implement in your daily life. They require becoming more conscious of your habitual...
Anxiety About Our Children’s Well-Being
“There really are places in the heart you don’t even know exist until you love a child” Anne Lamott There are many troubling conditions or situations our children may experience in life. Sometimes these are passing concerns, such as our child’s hurt feelings when he...
Six Things You Can Do to Experience More Peace and Satisfaction in Your Life
What creates peace and satisfaction, and what destroys these experiences? Peace and satisfaction (or their opposite) are inner experiences that are the result of the way we live our lives. They reflect choices we make daily in response to whatever life is bringing...
Your Children are Not Your Children
“Your children are not your children, they are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself. They come through you, but not from you…. You may house their bodies, but not their souls…” Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet, 1923 Our children are living expressions of the...
I created this self-help blog because I wanted to share what I’ve learned during my own parenting journey, as well as my training and experience working as a psychologist for over 30 years.
I am hoping you will find it offers insights, practical techniques, useful concepts, and helpful suggestions that you can use for your growth as a parent as well as for your own personal growth.
It is my great hope that you will find this blog helps you in creating more peace and contentment in your life and helps you to offer your best self to your children.