Five Questions for a Better New Year

New Year’s tends to be a time of looking forward. Yet, in our effort to set goals for the future, it’s meaningful to reflect on the past year and make sense of what our experiences have meant to us. What can they teach us? How can the lessons of 2012 help us to achieve a more fulfilling…

 

5 Ways to Beat the Winter Blues

Why we feel down at the end of the year and what we can do about it. The holidays are painted to be a time of love and cheer, but for many people, the winter months and the close of another year can be tough. The gloomy weather can wear on us. Family visits can…

 

5 Achievable Resolutions for a Longer, Happier Life

Resolutions are notorious for falling by the wayside a few months or even days into the New Year. A 2012 University of Scranton study revealed that only 8 percent of people who make New Year’s resolutions are successful in achieving them. This low success rate may relate to the fact that many of us are more inclined…

 

Be Your Own Couples Therapist

In my 25 years as a therapist, I’ve worked with countless couples facing a broad spectrum of challenges. Yet, despite the diversity between them in age, occupation, or origin, I’m amazed at the similarities in the patterns and pitfalls that couples fall into. When two people walk into my office and start discussing their relationship,…

 

Five Tips for Maintaining Lifelong Friends

When it comes to our physical and mental health, friendship may truly be the best medicine. An Australian study showed that strong social networks may lengthen survival in elderly men and women, with good friends being even more likely to increase longevity than close family members. As author Edna Buchanon put it, “Friends are the…

 

What Real Love Looks Like

Throughout our lives we compile a picture of what we think real love should look like. Often this process begins early, as little girls listening to fairy tales at bed time will envision their very own knight in shining armor.   As we grow older, we often imagine finding a soul-mate, that perfect person who we…

 

Stop the Blame Game to Improve Your Relationship

When it comes to placing blame in a relationship, it’s almost always easier to see the faults in our partner than in ourselves. One of the problems with couples pointing fingers is that usually both parties are right, and both are wrong. Every person is full of flaws and certain ways that we attempt to…

 

Why It Is Good For You to Feel Negative Emotions

How can we best deal with our day-to-day emotional reactions? What can we do when our partner lets us down, when we have a struggle with our child, or when we feel provoked by a friend? Oddly enough, the first piece of advice is to stay with the pain. It turns out we expend much…

 

Advice for Valentine’s Day: Amplify the Romance in Your Relationship

We’re all familiar with the complaint that Valentine’s Day has taken on too much of a material focus. And looking at it objectively, it’s pretty silly to assume that our feelings can be sized up in a dozen roses or a fleet of pink balloons. Yet, cards and chocolates aside, this heart-filled holiday is, for…

 

Is Mental Illness a Bigger Threat to Kids than Physical Illness?

As parents, our children’s health ranks among our top priorities. When fall arrives and flu season begins, we notice every cough and feel for signs of fever. But how attuned are we to mental health symptoms in our kids? When do we first notice that our child may be suffering emotionally or engaging in behavior…