Missing My Guide
Knowing nothing is a great place to start. I hope you end up there. -Roshi Norman Fischer “The goal of expressing kindness and compassion to one’s self & others is enough of a challenge until we leave this plane(t)” – Dr. Noah The above quote and Dr. Noah’s response was the last email that I received from my long-time teacher in 2013. Dr. Noah Young left this planet too soon....Learn More
It Is Time
What I have been planning for the last three months is almost upon me. My trip to Europe. I may have butterflies in my stomach now, but I will reframe that as being excited. What faces me is my Ideal Vacation Scene of traveling across the pond with my inner child in hand. Hey, taking care of my younger wounded self has spurred on incredible adventures and this is the next. Adventure? Sure. I...Learn More
Spiritual Beings Having a Human Experience
After graduating from the University of Santa Monica with a master’s degree in Spiritual Psychology, I have avoided talking about spirituality. Many people I have treated lack the belief in God or had religious issues so I felt I could still reach my clients psychologically. To be transparent, it feels to me that our society has not embraced that type of thinking or the realization that this...Learn More
Family Sculpting
I’ve learned a few rather obscure tools in the 29 years I have been practicing psychotherapy. I guess the most obscure tool is from Family Systems Therapy designed by Virgina Satir. There are more common approaches that lean on the obscure side and my favorite would be from Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP). NLP addresses our inner aspects or sub-personalities. I’m sure you are aware of that...Learn More
Improving Communication
Maybe this article should be titled, “Get off your ifs, ands, and buts.” This week had one theme – the trouble with communication, or lack thereof. In meeting with couples and families, my common message has always been, finding a way for the message sent to be received. It takes effort for the communicator to present information to another person in a manner that they can accept. For example,...Learn More
Tis’ the Season for Depression
Welcome to the holiday season. If you’ve had issues in the past, they tend to surface this period of time. Remembrances of family, relationships, friends can stir up a lot of difficult emotions and memories. In school, they would say, “If you think you are enlightened, wait till you go home for Thanksgiving.” Using the holiday season as a healing journey can be empowering. Avoiding these...Learn More
A Message to New Therapists
If you are an intern and starting in this profession, toss away everything you have learned and pay attention to one thing – the customer. This isn’t a time to dazzle them with theory, or prove to them that you are really brilliant, simply let go of that and be yourself. You have to understand that the most important aspect in the healing profession is your bedside manner – so to speak. New...Learn More
A Tribute – Thank You for My Tears
I often call myself a dinosaur because I grew up in a different era where the social norms were much different. As a child, we only had a handful of television stations that came in fuzzy most of the time. Often I turned to the radio for entertainment and especially to listen to sporting events. You have to understand that we didn’t have the luxury of seeing every sporting event like they do...Learn More
The Law of Attraction
Do these statements look familiar? “When you’re down people kick you.” – Well, what happens when you are up? “What’s the worst thing that can happen?” – Well, why can’t we think of the best things? It is interesting how we have been trained to focus on the negatives. In our lives, this is how we create the negative things. It is called: The Law of Attraction. Why don’t we instead...Learn More