We humans sure like our bubbles. Not the bath or blowing varieties, but the psychological, emotional, social, and physical spaces that we create to feel safe and protected. Bubbles are actually an evolutionary thing that initially developed as a means of increasing our chance of survival. As we have evolved, there were five feelings that [...]
At one level, I’m always amazed at how so many of us allow their past selves to have such a big impact on who they are now and how they think, feel, and engage with their world in adulthood. At another level, I’m not the least bit surprised because our childhood experiences that shape our [...]
There’s no doubt that living a balanced life is one of those highly coveted goals to which we all aspire, along with happiness, inner peace, and love. Yet, in this day and age, balance is also more difficult than ever to achieve. Between career, family, self-care, technology, and everything else in our busy lives, it [...]
There are many aspects of our lives that impact the direction we go as we progress through childhood and into adulthood including parents, peers, and of course these days, social media. As members of various concentric circles of influence (i.e., family, community, popular culture), it is normal (though not necessarily healthy) to adopt the norms, [...]
To what do you aspire? Who do you want to be and what kind of life do you want to lead? To be happy, successful, impactful, rich, famous, loved? We all want to find and experience that elusive “Holy Grail” that we believe will fulfill our aspirations. However, as is commonly expressed in both ancient [...]
Let’s begin with a basic reality of life: We are all victims of our upbringing and the culture in which we grow up. We didn’t get to choose our parents, siblings, extended families, where we lived, where we went to school, the activities we participated in, or the conditions of our early lives. Rather, our [...]
An unfortunate reality of being human is that so much of the way we think, the emotions we feel, the behaviors we engage in, and the manner in which we interact with others is governed by unconscious forces of which we have little awareness or control: Primitive instincts (e.g., fight-or-flight), Emotional baggage (e.g., low self-esteem, [...]
In my last article about the perceptions that impact our relationships, I explored the “11 Perceptions that Sabotage Your Relationships.” In this article, I will consider the eight perceptions that you can embrace that will help you initiate and nurture healthy relationships. Perception #1: I am worthy of love. This perception is the foundation of [...]
Many of us devote enormous amounts of time, energy, and money to becoming the best versions of ourselves. These efforts are reflected in a self-help industry that generates more than $13 billion a year. We strive to let go of past baggage, change the way we think, transform our emotional lives, behave differently, or alter [...]
These days, it sure is difficult being a human being. When I say that, I don’t mean that it’s harder to do the basics of being human, for example, talking, eating, sleeping, working, playing, the list goes on. I mean the deeper aspects of being human, the ways we think, experience emotions, behave, interact with [...]
