It’s graced the pages of the Wall Street Journal. It’s taught in classes at Google. It’s even shown up in an episode of Parks and Recreation. But what exactly is mindfulness anyway? And why is it becoming such a big deal? According to one leading psychiatrist, mindfulness is simply the … Read More
Parenting: Creating a Happy Home – Part 3
This blog series is continuing to explore concepts that will help parents to build a home that adult children want to come home to. In the previous two parts of this series, we explored structure vs. spontaneity and listening vs. lecturing. Both of these concepts are fundamental to building a … Read More
Setting Boundaries in the Teen years
Parenting is a tough job! Each phase of kids growing up comes with its own set of new joys and new struggles. The teen years can be particularly trying, as teens test out different identities, explore newfound privileges and independence, and parents try to adjust to their child getting older … Read More
How to Motivate your Partner to Attend Couples Therapy
Couples therapy, for many individuals, continues to be seen as this mysterious, unforeseeable process that can be very anxiety-provoking to embark upon. Depending on your culture, beliefs and value system, turning to an “outsider” may be a very difficult decision for either partner. As a couples therapist, one of the … Read More
Parenting: Creating a Happy Home – Part 2
In the first post of this blog series, we discussed some key aspects to creating a home that adult children want to come back to and visit. There are several tips that this blog series will explore in order to help make your home a home that is healthy, fun, and … Read More
Listening Well: Asking for Support [Without Receiving Unwanted Advice]
Have you ever needed to sort through a problem or share a heavy emotional load with another person, but felt like there was no way to do that, without having to receive another set of opinions, perspectives, or advice that would probably just complicate the issue? So, then you just … Read More
The Science Behind “Flipping Our Lids”
Have you ever gotten really upset about something only to look back on it a day or two later and realize it wasn’t that big of deal after all? Most of us have had a similar experience. We find ourselves apologizing to a partner, child or co-worker for something that … Read More
Parenting: Creating a Happy Home – Part 1
I recently read a blog about building a home that children want to come back to. Parents walk a tight rope when it comes to parenting. Some parents hover over their children in order to protect them from perceived harsh realties of this world. Other parents believe that it is … Read More
Reconnecting Over Summer Break
Summer. Many parents view summer with a mixture of anticipation and dread; anticipation of the longer days, the looser schedule, and the opportunity to spend some quality time as a family, and dread of the boredom, the squabbling, and the search for ways to entertain kids. Summer can be a … Read More
How to Cope When Losing Your BFF
I believe most of us have heard BFF as a commonly used phrase to describe a very close friendship or “best friend forever.” Especially for women, close friendships often serve as a place of refuge or a layer of protection from difficulties in life. Research shows that BFF’s can increase … Read More