Facebook: Avoid Damaging the Intimacy in your Relationship

Since the birth of Facebook over a decade ago, it has grown from circulating among a few universities and businesses and is now incorporated as a part of most Americans everyday life. According to The Statistics Portal, Facebook is the number one leader in social media, now reaching 1.59 billion active … 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

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

Listening Well: An Experiment in Empathy

“An empathic response is restrained, largely silent; following, not leading, it encourages the speaker to go deeper into his or her experience.” Empathy does not mean, as we often think, “worrying about, praising, cheering up, gushing, consoling, or even encouraging. It means understanding.” (Nichols, 2009, p. 84) There are so … Read More

Making Friends Post-College

Your college years are often an intense, shared experience where you are flooded with peers in the same life-cycle stage, everyone is in a new place, and most people are open to meeting new people and forming new relationships. Bonds are forged over being away from home for the first … Read More

Listening Well: Responding to Criticism

When was the last time you found yourself in an argument with someone? Who do you argue with most frequently? And what are those arguments about? Want a more productive option?? Michael Nichols, the author of “The Lost Art of Listening” shares a story about his temperamental cat that many … Read More

Helping Your Socially Struggling Child

All children struggle with something in life. For some, it is reading or math. For some, it is learning to tolerate the word “no.” For others, it is making and keeping friends their own age. Many parents feel incredibly helpless as they watch their child struggle socially, because while there … Read More

Cognitive Neuroscience Part 2: The Brain vs. The Mind

Over the next few posts, we’re going to talk about an emerging field of study called cognitive neuroscience. But don’t worry. We’re going to leave (most of) the 7-syllable words to the textbooks and wikipedia entries. Instead, we’re going to focus on the practical applications of this science on our … Read More

Reacting or Responding?

As I was reading recently, I came across a quote in Melody Beattie’s book Codependent No More that really spoke to me. “We jump into the first feeling that comes our way and then wallow in it…we are reacting without thinking. When we react we forfeit our personal, God-given power … Read More