There is something fundamentally challenging about gratitude that goes beyond remembering to practice it. If I truly admit how damn fortunate I am, I usually experience a myriad of feelings: pure love, then guilt, and then sheer terror. Guilt and terror? That might surprise you. After all, we practice gratitude to help us become more […]

Like many people, I’ve made a lot of mistakes in the love and relationship department. Once, many years ago, I fell hard and fast for a man. He was smart, funny, handsome, creative, and attentive. And, the chemistry between us was so intense, it was like fireworks on top of fireworks. He wasn’t just good-looking, […]

I recently watched an excellent documentary on dirt – or soil, to be more precise – called Symphony of the Soil. The film offers a different way to think about agriculture, challenging the “rules” of the past 7,000 years and presenting a true paradigm shift. It was definitely worth the watch! The film got me […]

In modern Western society, we often find ourselves in a permanent state of unfulfilled desire. We are offered continuous distractions and stimulations that mimic reality, such as mass leisure, mass culture, and mass media. Constant intrusions and interruptions – now the norm in our culture – drive up stress, deplete mental and emotional reserves and […]

The Secret, a film and best-selling book by Rhonda Byrne, is based on the Law of Attraction. One of the major tenets of The Secret is that positive thinking can create life-changing results, including increased happiness, wealth and improved health. Now, I’m all for changing our thinking. By becoming more mindful of our thoughts and […]

Living under old belief systems that keep us stuck can be automatic for us. Mindfulness practice and other tools that assist you in accessing the power of your whole-brain can help you identify these destructive thought patterns so you can move forward instead of just spinning in place. When we become aware of them and […]

Judging ourselves. Others. It’s true. We all do it. A lot. “That person is beautiful”. “That person is mean”. “I’m not good looking enough, rich enough or thin enough”. “I’m right and you’re wrong”. We can all relate to having these judgements and with little awareness find ourselves literally stuck in these belief systems/thought patterns. […]

Through patient and animal studies, it has been discovered that the two hemispheres of the brain see and respond to the world in divergent manners. Why is it that an organ whose job it is to communicate divided? The left hemisphere sees things narrowly and focused, while the right views the whole. This was advantageous […]

Feeling uninspired at the job? Bored with your relationship? Daily grind got ya down? Don’t panic! It’s normal to get stuck in a rut every now and then. By definition, a “rut” is “a habit or pattern of behavior that has become dull and unproductive but is hard to change.” Here are 3 simple ways […]

As a therapist, I’m constantly asking people to practice compassionate curiosity about the places that scare them. I believe that people are inherently good and intelligent. That’s why I’m so interested in those moments where we find ourselves acting “out of character” or doing something that we know falls short of our values. Fortunately, I […]