Category Archives for On Being Human
Our Intuitive Self
It is so easy to lose touch with our natural rhythms and connection to our inner life and soul. Pressures and expectations from many different sources (family, cultural, religious, work) often pull us in the opposite direction of living from our true nature. Its easy to find ourselves focusing only on getting our interminable “to […]
Read More »Responding vs. Reacting
“Between the stimulus and the response there is a space, and in that space is your power and your freedom.” Viktor Frankl In this culture of immediacy and instant gratification, we often forget that we have the choice to slow down and think, before responding. Giving ourselves this time, we can begin to participate in […]
Read More »Equanimity
Equanimity: mental calmness, composure, and evenness of temper, especially in a difficult situation. I often start my sessions with couples asking them to write on a piece of paper three words that describe HOW they want to be during our session. This begins the process of clarifying what kind of partner they aspire to be […]
Read More »Awakening
“Uncertainty and unpredictability, impermanence and change, good times and hard times, sorrow and joy, loss and gain… all of this constitutes our home ground, the mandala of our life, our base for practicing fearlessness and compassion…. there could be no more fertile ground for our awakening.” Pema Chodron. Growth occurs when we let the fullness […]
Read More »Letting Go
In a recent yoga class, my wonderful, gentle instructor, Adi Amar, said, ” the more you can let go, the more you will receive.” I think all of us, at some point in our lives, struggle to Let Go. Whether we are holding onto a negative storyline, an old or recent conflict, emotions that make […]
Read More »the importance of safety
“to be human, one has to be safe” unknown author. How true this is; our human-ness requires us to be vulnerable; in order to be vulnerable we need to know we are in an emotional and relational context that will support us and be safe. How do you let your partner know that they are […]
Read More »Sexual Addiction, Part Two: If not an addict, then what?
In my last post, I described the pitfalls of accepting the label of “sex addict”. But with that label being tossed around so frequently and easily today, how do we begin to think of compulsive, sexually acting out behavior in a different way? If we do not define people struggling in this way as sex addicts, […]
Read More »Sexual Addiction. Part One: The problem with the label.
The labels of sexual addiction and porn addiction are extremely prevalent these days. Upon hearing the word “addiction”, immediately, we think of having no control over something (i.e. drugs, alcohol, gambling, sex) and our energies go into controlling whatever it is we don’t have control over.In the sexual addiction model, therapists try to “help” the […]
Read More »Accepting Ourselves
I’ve been thinking more and more about the prevalence and insidiousness of body hatred… most women learn to buy into negative messages from family, media, and the larger culture about their body at a really early age. My favorite psychoanalyst, Clarissa Pinkola Estes, writes about this in Women Who Run with the Wolves. Here is […]
Read More »Invitation
“We are constantly invited to be who we are.” Henry David Thoreau How do you use your life experiences, your relationships, your daily routine and rituals to live from your truest self? What feelings and thoughts come to your mind, body and spirit when you need to take a stand, speak your voice, express your […]
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