She Married Her Brother
Not really. Sheri married a man who puts her down just like her brother used to. What I really mean when I say she married her older brother is that she’s married to a pattern that began in childhood. That pattern consists of being zapped with a negative comment—like an accusation—and then reacting to it […]
The Latest Wow: Stay Out of the Mud!
Sometimes, we have to make the same mistake a bazillion times before we wake up. It’s downright humiliating! One of my clients knows this experience all too well. His mistake was assuming responsibility for the happiness of others. Since this just can’t work, he was continually banging his head against the wall. In time he woke up! I knew it when he wowed […]
Get in Touch with Your Inner Teenager
Let’s face it, there’s something about our teenage spirit we miss. Yes, back then we were reckless–even stupid at times, but there was something horrendously precious about it, too. Call it our free spirit, our drive, our passion. How do we recover that spirit? Maybe the answer lies in recovering that which we abandoned amid […]
The Latest Wow: Teenage Daughters Trigger Psychosis in Their Mothers
I know this is true, not because I had daughters–I had sons–but because I had a mother, and I know what I did to her. She vented about it regularly. Well, now that I’m a therapist, I hear other mothers vent. Just like my mother, I’m certain they can’t help themselves. They must vent. Maybe […]
How to Get Hippos to Eat Their Veggies (Not Easy)
According to Newton’s Laws, any force we exert will result an equal amount of force in the opposite direction. Somehow this principle escapes us when our child refuses to do something. My clients, Sara and Mark, are keen examples. Force hasn’t worked–their efforts are backfiring when it comes to their seven-year-old son, Brendon. “He just doesn’t […]
Love Shouldn’t be a Prison, and True Love Isn’t
I like this quote: “Making marriage work is like operating a farm. You have to start all over again each morning.” — Anonymous One thing that assures a long-lasting relationship is kindness—each partner treating the other with the same respect, courtesy and gentleness that characterized their mode of relating in the […]
The Latest Wow: What a smart man knows
Here’s another nugget from a male client that I just had to share with you. At first I couldn’t believe my ears, but that’s what he really said! “A smart man knows when to allow himself to be manipulated by a woman. This is quite apart from giving in. Whereas, the weak man doesn’t have any […]