Forgiveness is only one part of a larger process of working through a painful event, trauma, or loss, and it generally comes at the tail end of that process, after a lot of work has been done. As I explained in the previous post, it is a choice not an obligation. When our hurts have […]
Americans Get the Gold Medal for Anxiety
“As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.” -Henry David Thoreau NEWSFLASH!: The United States gets the gold! We have become the nation with the highest level of anxiety in the world. According to a recent study […]
Making Peace with Painful Memories
“The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It’s the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared.” -Lois Lowry, author of The Giver I am writing today inspired by this week’s celebration of Memorial Day in the United States, a tradition that began after the Civil War to honor those who lost […]
Joy=Love–Fear and Other Emotional Equations for Happiness
“Everything can be taken from a man or a woman but one thing: the last of human freedoms is to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”– Dr. Viktor Frankl There are a lot of excellent self-help books out there these days. So many, in fact, that it […]
Look Out, Parents! The Kids are Catching Your Emotions
Susan and Larry called our counseling clinic to get help dealing with the problems of their seven year-old son, Billy. Billy was falling behind in school, having trouble paying attention in class, getting into skirmishes with kids on the playground, and fighting constantly with his four-year old sister. Mom and Dad were upset, worried, and […]
Helping Others is Worth Our Time
“It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.” […]
