Blog

Social Media and Our Need for Respect

This article is the fifth in the Taking Care of #1 series, about the hierarchy of human needs, how we experience those needs, and what we can do to help ourselves move toward higher-order living. In my last post, we discussed our need to belong, and how social media can and cannot meet that need. Today we are going to...[ read more ]

Social Media and the Need to Belong

This article is the fourth in the Taking Care of #1 series, about the hierarchy of human needs, how we experience those needs, and what we can do to help ourselves move toward higher-order living. Belonging Needs We all need a tribe: the people who we belong with, who accept us as we are. It is hard to overstate the...[ read more ]

First World Problems: Basic Needs in a World of Abundance

This article is the second in the Taking Care of #1 series, about the hierarchy of human needs, how we experience those needs, and what we can do to help ourselves reach toward higher-order living.  The first article in this series, Taking Care of #1, introduced Maslow's hierarchy of human needs, and how lower-order needs must be met and stabilized...[ read more ]

Looking Out For #1, Part One

My grandfather had a saying, "I'd rather burn out than rust out." Funny that burnout is now our term for the exhaustion that comes from pushing ourselves too hard for too long. I must admit that really identify with the sentiment! I'm a crash-and-burn kind of gal. Especially when it comes to my work, I plunge enthusiastically into too many...[ read more ]

Grit and Grace

Making plans. Living in the moment. Strategizing. Figuring it out as you go along. Perseverance. Letting go. A full life, a good life, encompasses it all. Where you probably get stuck is knowing when to do what. Should I hang onto this relationship, or should I say goodbye? Should I go to the mat over this issue, or should I...[ read more ]

Square Pegs In Round Holes: Psychological Care & Medical Necessity

While it's true that body and mind make up a unified whole that can't be separated, except in death,  there is a fundamental tension between the two, especially in the area of healing people’s hurts. In this post I will be discussing the differences in physical and psychological healing arts, and how applying a standard of medical necessity to psychological...[ read more ]

Remembering America’s Grandmother

     It was a state funeral, yet completely personal and somehow intimate. As a Houston native, I can testify that the city of Houston loved Barbara Pierce Bush – my social media feeds are full of tributes from friends and family that still live there. Reports are that there’s been a surge in the sale of pearl necklaces, and...[ read more ]

The New Dad’s Guide to the Postpartum Mom

Introduction: Welcome to the New Normal So she just had a baby, and you’re feeling like a third wheel – or like someone who just landed in a country where you don’t speak the language. Your home is full of strange paraphernalia like baby swings and baby slings, diapers and their genies, nursing bras and what my husband used to...[ read more ]

The Top 4 Reasons Therapy Works

I get it. The idea that your problems get better just by talking to a therapist sounds a little too fantastic. You prefer to rely on more concrete treatments, ranging from prescription medications to essential oils and acupuncture. At least those give you something you can touch. Besides, if talking to a therapist really helps, why not just talk to...[ read more ]

Exploring the Unconscious Mind, Part 3

We have already discovered the intimate bonds between physiology and psychology. We have discovered how there are more ways of knowing than conscious processing. We now need to know how to harness these discoveries to heal from mental, emotional, behavioral, and medical distress. I believe in a multimodal approach to healing: After you have identified what works and what is...[ read more ]