Happy New Year! I am thankful the holiday season is over and I can return to what I consider to be my “normal” life. If only it were so… Last year – the one that ended yesterday – I had a very complicated surgery done on my right knee followed by 3 months in [...]
Happy Holidays! Sometimes, in the midst of our own difficulties, it is hard to remember that while there is much in life we can’t control, there is also much we can. Example? It’s been a difficult year medically with the problems continuing for another year. Last July started the surgical clock on my right [...]
I occasionally receive follow-up letters/calls/emails from former clients and these comments are always appreciated. Both my work as a therapist and as a writer are very isolating occupations without much in the way of feedback. Yes, there are plenty of verbal comments, but the written insights are the most helpful as well as the [...]
Proposal A woman I have worked with off and on recently asked me for a proposal for continuing work to address other aspects of her life – specifically enhancing her life now that she’s in her 50’s. I also realized Labor Day weekend was roling around again, beginning the annual I’ll fix “it” after [...]
Currently I have two very messed up knees, both as a result of accidents, one 9 years ago and the other 3 months ago. Currently I am doing Physical Therapy as suggested by my insurance company, plus my own regimen as developed over the past years of coping and experimenting. The point here is [...]
Evaluating Help When You Decide it’s Time to Get Serious For many of us, the time rolls around when we decide it’s time to enlist some help in changing a habit, a situation, a career, a marriage, or some other significant part of our life. Then comes the search for who. One might think [...]
As Summer Approaches Post-Covid, I imagine many of us will be getting out-and-about once again. I thought I would offer a few short pieces, some from clients, some not, that you might find entertaining and/or enlightening. This first is an example of a tiny example of assertiveness applied. Jane and her husband had fallen [...]
Planning Your Escape Regardless of what habit you decide to escape - whether self-medication, AA, abusive relationships and/or any condition or cult that is negatively affecting your life – the process is much the same. First, obviously, is acknowledging that it is time to make a change, or changes, and defining what you want [...]
“Contemplation Hell,” the “Security of Familiar Miseries” the “Pretend Trap” & Other Procrastinations One of my favorite descriptive terms for that state most of us spend too much time in is “Contemplation Hell.” That’s the purgatory we self-inflict on most of the decisions we are unwilling to convert into action. This state is reinforced [...]
Outpatient vs Residential Callers, as well as clients, find themselves being accused of “taking the easy way out” if they work with me instead of going off to “rehab” which, “everyone knows,” is the only thing that “works.” A lot of “…” in that sentence. And for good reason. But… First, I am not the [...]