Feelings of the Wildfires
I really don’t know what to say about how shocked I have been to see the devastation playing out in Los Angeles. I grew up, lived, and worked in the Santa Monica / Pacific Palisades area, and my last home was literally a mile south of all the devastation. This past week I have found myself trying to sort out my feelings before traveling there to see the devastation firsthand. One of my...Learn More
Are You Enlightened?
If you think you are enlightened, go home for the holidays. Well, at least that was the joke they told us in grad school. Family has a way of pushing our buttons even if you believe you are an ascended master. After years and years of personal growth, I recently went home for the holidays and had a great time! Am I enlightened? No, far from it. I still had my anxieties, hurt, and shame. Now,...Learn More
Dream Your Dream
It’s that time of year again. The time to set your sights on the new year, create some plans that are unobtainable, disappoint yourself, and then fall back into the same old limiting patterns. Humiliating? Of course, it is. This article was written to improve your odds of obtaining your desires, but in order to resolve something, ask yourself if it is something that you really want....Learn More
Surviving Trying Times
It’s been a trying week for many people with the changing of the president. When there are uncertain times, how do you cope? People of color, those from other countries, and those who are gender questioning or living alternative lifestyles have been the most vulnerable because of what they went through in Trump’s last presidency. I heard one black person receive an explicit text...Learn More
Homeless for the Holidays
I was setting up my office Christmas tree this past holiday and what flashed on me was how I was homeless this time of the year in 1981. Unfortunately, I was not alone. Each year more and more people are homeless, familyless, or friendless. That storybook holiday so often packaged each year on TV and in the movies where you have a home, a family, warmth, and food, didn’t happen to me...Learn More
Ending of a Year Beginning of the Next
How was your year? Did you accomplish what you wanted? Another year down and another one is about to start. Such is life. The ultimate question is, what did you learn? Since life is all about trial and error, if we fail to learn from failures, we are destined to repeat them. And, if you fail to try, you will be destined to repeat the same behaviors over and over again. Yes, it can be easy...Learn More
Year End Summary
I got pretty emotional today while I watched a duo exercise in our Intensive Outpatient Program. A duo is basically two participants pairing up and one acts like the counselor and the other acts like the client. After the exercise is over they switch roles. This is how we practiced in graduate school, this is how we conduct business at Basic Steps Mental Health. Why I became emotional was...Learn More
Something I’ve Avoided
There is one subject I have tried to sidestep for decades, not wanting to upset people who cannot relate to religion or spirituality. As my practice has progressed, I’ve realized that the mindset I have gained through a spirituality lens has gotten me through each and every day and can only be of benefit to others. I received my master’s degree in Spiritual Psychology – not from a religious...Learn More
Healing Ourselves at the Root
Every psychological approach has its own theory of healing and it is important to ask a perspective counselor on theirs. As for me, I am old school, and like the face-to-face sessions, avoid talking about the weather and politics and try to get people to open up a dialogue regarding the difficulties, traumas, and frustrations in life, then track them back to where they stem from and create...Learn More