January 3, 2015
This post was inspired by the simple, enduring work by the late author, Rumer Godden whose work has touched many lives with its wisdom. More than ever we understand that life is more than the endless to-do lists and bucket lists we create and then relentlessly pursue to achieve “success.” As the poet Yeats said, “Life is not a problem to be […]
November 1, 2014
Worry is a trap. Lately, I’ve been falling into the worry trap too often. I’ve found myself worrying about many things. I worry about ________________. I worry about the ______________. I worry when _________________. I worry about – OK, that’s enough because mental rehearsal is the engine that powers worry. Despite many years of dedicated effort to raise my level of […]
October 6, 2014
“The existentialists have constantly reminded us that what is worth understanding and knowing is our existence, the human condition, and that engagement and involvement are superior to a detached stance. Our mirror neurons show that we are not alone, but are biologically wired and evolutionary designed to be deeply interconnected with one another.” Marco Iacaboni, Mirroring People: The Science of […]
October 2, 2014
I often write about emotions. In fact, at the heart of my work and this blog, is the effort to illuminate emotional life and provide a space for conversation about feelings. While many articles focus on specific emotions like, anger, envy, jealously and resentment – and fear, especially fear – it’s as important to round out the range of human […]
September 25, 2014
Recently my lack of empathy for someone really surprised me. No matter how I cognitively reframed the subject, I was stuck. It wasn’t until I became more consciously present to the other feelings I had about this person that I was able to soften the picture. I felt uncomfortable with my lack of kindness in this situation and wanted to […]
September 4, 2014
Lately I’ve been reflecting on this question. It’s an important one. Maybe less important when you’re 25 (though I wish I had kept it in the forefront of my mind at that age) but I can’t think how asking it doesn’t reveal what we are hiding, avoiding or displacing at any age. Nearly everywhere I look online I see references […]
August 27, 2014
Looking around it’s common to see the signs of an increasingly weary and anxious world. There appears to be little room left for the joys of wonder. Asked to identify the “malaise of the moment,” a prominent New York psychiatrist declared, “Generalized anxiety.That is by far the most common complaint voiced by my clients.” The antidote? Well, that’s a deeper […]
July 3, 2014
“Emotions like grief, fear and despair are as much a part of the human condition as love, awe and joy. Each of these emotions is purposeful and useful-if we know how to listen to them.” Miriam Greenspan Intellectually, I know that emotions live in the body. The research demonstrating the mind-body relationship becomes more definitive each year. But, […]
June 19, 2014
Successful collaboration is built on a high level of emotional literacy. Without the capacity to generate and sustain certain feelings, our ability to collaborate authentically with others isn’t possible. By the time most of us reach adulthood, our emotional repertoire has become habituated. Emotional habits are then fueled by our thinking process which is also fixed into patterns. Beliefs […]