Mindfulness
Positive Emotions Build Resilience
“Positive Emotions Build Resilience” is Chapter 14 in Bouncing Back. In researching the neuroscience of how and why, I came across the original research findings of Barbara Frederickson, a psychologist whose “broaden-and-build” theory has provided much of the scientific basis for the rapid growth of the positive psychology movement in recent years. Since turning in […]
Compassionate Connection Deepens Resilience
Greetings! [a re-posting of the April 2008 e-newsletter. Thank you for your patience!] The morning I sent out last month’s e-newsletter, Shifting Perspectives Leads to Resilience, a close friend’s sister-in-law was having surgery for breast cancer, another friend was in the ER for a flare up of back pain, and a client’s house burned down. […]
Do One Scary Thing a Day
“Do one thing every day that scares you” was the sage advice of Eleanor Roosevelt, a stellar role model of courage and resilience. Modern neuroscience is validating the very practical wisdom of Eleanor Roosevelt. When we succeed at doing one scary thing a day, we actually build out the circuitry in our brains that supports […]
Synergy of Mindfulness and Psychotherapy – Part One
There is no stronger influence on psychotherapy these days than mindfulness. – Michael Yapko, PhD Mindfulness is coming out of the closet (or retreat centers) and into clinical sessions very, very rapidly these days. The synergy of mindfulness and the empathic relationship helps patients better trust, reflect, and heal, as millions of patients and therapists […]
Crossing the Threshold
Whenever we’re about to venture into something new – moving across country, getting married again, taking on a new job, finally fixing the leaky shower head – we often feel a hesitancy, a pull-back within. An unconscious somatic marker of “Uh oh! Strange territory! Don’t know if I should be doing this!” even though, consciously, […]
Presence
Presence – Simply Being…and Being With – Heals Trauma The Healing Moments in Trauma Treatment conference, at UCLA four weekends ago, began with a morning of mindfulness practice led by Jon Kabat-Zinn, developer of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, and Dan Siegel, author of The Mindful Brain and The Mindful Therapist, and Trudy Goodman, senior vipassana […]
Intention
I came across an article in Scientific American recently on The Willpower Paradox. Briefly, folks who adopt a “Will I?” approach are significantly more successful in meeting a goal than folks who adopt an “I will” approach. Counter-intuitive, but profound. We explore the implications of that research below in Reflections (the link is in Resources). […]
Weekly Quotes 2011
1-3-11 Weekly Quotes: John O’Donohue [A tribute to the beloved Irish poet and philosopher John O’Donohue (January 1, 1956 – January 3, 2008). His poetry and reflections on New Beginnings from To Bless the Space Betagotween Us:] To live a truly creative life, we always need to cast a critical look at where we presently are, attempting […]
Weekly Quotes 2010
1-11-10 Weekly Quotes: For A New Beginning For a New Beginning In out-of-the-way places of the heart, Where your thoughts never think to wander, This beginning has been quietly forming, Waiting until you were ready to emerge. For a long time it has watched your desire, Feeling the emptiness growing inside you, Noticing how you […]
Compassionate Connection Deepens Resilience
RESILIENCE RE-VISITED The morning I sent out last month’s e-newsletter, Shifting Perspectives Leads to Resilience, a close friend’s sister-in-law was having surgery for breast cancer, another friend was in the ER for a flare up of back pain, and a client’s house burned down. By the end of the week, a different client’s husband had […]