For years, I looked at myself through the prism of trying to “fix” myself. It was subtle, out of sight, like a current underneath the smooth surface of a river, but it was altering the flow of my life...
Think about a bright twelve- or fourteen- or sixteen-year-old. One night she hears, or overhears, that her dad has something called a "glioma." What will she do? There's a chance she'll head straight for the computer and Google "glioma."
- By David Wygant
When we’re not getting along with our partner, we’ll talk honestly and frankly to our friends about what’s irritating us. But then, when we sit down face-to-face with the person, we’re not communicating authentically...
It’s a wonderful gift to have caring family and friends to listen to you. When life gets turbulent, they can be a safe haven where you feel protected and embraced. However, when we internalize other people’s problems and take on their pain as our own, then no one is being helped.
- By Mark Nepo
In many ways, to encourage is to help the heart unfold. And each time we do so, another aspect of our true self unfolds. Very often, the art of encouragement is needed to counter some sort of fear...
Many parents think they have to protect their children from their (the parents’) confusion or so-called negative feelings. They think that being a good parent means maintaining a certain role — always being patient, loving, wise, and strong. In fact, children need honesty — they need to...
- By Chris Keam
For parents, cycling with their children opens up a range of possibilities. A bicycle can bring out the kid in a grown-up — and give a kid a chance to show resilience and strength. When those things happen, everybody wins...
by Dr. Caron Goode. If we knew that our children were our planetary and societal salvation and held the answer to the questions of how to survive and thrive into the next century, how would we treat them? Collectively, the statistics regarding our children's state of consciousness are frightening.
People with low self-esteem have believed the worst about themselves so strongly and for so long that they readily discard any feedback that contradicts their belief. They are unable to trust compliments and praise and often unknowingly twist such comments to mean the opposite.
When you ask someone a personal question, do you sit back and listen to their response without any interruptions? Or do you fill in the waiting period with more questions and other talking? Most of us would right away say that we are like the first type of person or at least we want to be. Oddly enough, most people are like the second and don’t realize it.
- By Margo Anand
by Margo Anand. In launching yourself into this adventure, your first question is likely to be "Where do I begin?" Many of my clients, when they come to work with me, assume that the answer is, "by finding the right partner". They believe that...
by Jerral Hicks, Ed.D. If a parent wants to raise a child who is self-centered, uncaring, unable to take care of himself, and most likely to fail as an adult, just do the following...
Most of us know the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. It works fine in many circumstances. The problem is, however, that the Golden Rule often does not work with close relationships. For example...
- By Tom Sturges
by Tom Sturges. Here’s the problem: If you ever do become unhinged for a moment and say something unkind to your adolescent child, you can never take it back. Once said, it can never be unsaid. Although I am sure that there are more, here are five phrases that should never be spoken to an adolescent or teenager...
- By Jamie Rose
When I'm talking with my guy, especially if it looks like we're heading toward an argument, it's really important that I remember to listen carefully to what he is really saying, and not just his words. I need to hear what's beneath his words, which, when we're having a disagreement, most of the time is some version of, "I feel like you don't...
- By Tom Sturges
A father’s relationship with his daughter is the most important relationship that she will have in her life. It is, in my opinion, the basis and template for all the relationships that she will have with all the men in her life. Teachers, coaches, boyfriends, bosses, fathers-in-law, sons, and grandsons...
- By Ernest Quansah
Most people go into relationships out of love. The problem is that, later on, they find out they have selected the wrong person and now must break-up. There is a better way to ensure that you are selecting the right person for you so that your love relationship succeeds and does not become just another statistic.
When a parent dies, the surviving adults are often at a loss as to how to help the grieving child. Based on his experience helping families who are in deep mourning, Dr. Cobb offers eight guidelines that can help adults gently guide children through their difficult grieving process.
The only real hope for intimacy is through vulnerability. The only real hope of having a loving, fulfilling, dynamic relationship is through showing all of you – not just your strength.
Your heart will always lead you to where you are meant to be. Now, there are times when it becomes difficult to listen – especially when your heart feels like a tomato that has just been pulverized in a food processor. A broken heart...
You can’t choose your family, but you can choose your friends. So goes the saying. Ask yourself if that is true for you. Did you choose your friends, or did you allow them to choose you? It may be that in...
Successful living can only occur when we are able to establish harmonious relations with all whom we encounter, whether it be in the home, the office, or on the street corner. The nature of our relationships with others rests upon what we think ourselves to be and what we think the other person...
Beliefs, dogma, theologies — all the costumes of religion — vary dramatically through time and place. But the call to know love as the ground of our being, and to honor our gift of life through the way that we live it: this does not vary. Seeking, yearning, tasting and transforming are certainly heart, soul and meaning of...