This year I started asking my clients three questions at the end of every counseling session. …
Continue Reading about Self-Compassion is the New Self-Esteem: How to Not Be So Mean to Yourself. →
Suicidal Thoughts? They’re Not a Good Predictor of Suicide
Thinking about suicide is not a very good predictor of a suicide attempt. Thinking about suicide isn't even one of the eight big risk factors for a suicide attempt. …
Continue Reading about Suicidal Thoughts? They’re Not a Good Predictor of Suicide →
My Father, Money and Me
Several years ago, the church I attended tried something new. A member of the congregation, rather than the minister, would deliver the customary offertory message during the Sunday morning contemporary service. It’s the part of the worship service that involves the opening up of wallets, purses, and checkbooks — and nowadays maybe even an app on your phone — to give money. Someone made the mistake of asking me to do the offertory message one Sunday. (It never happened again.) “Who knows …
When Mother’s Day Hurts
Whether it's low contact or no contact, Mother's Day is one of the hardest days of the year for mothers estranged from a son or daughter. If there's one thing I've learned in the current epidemic of estrangement from an adult child, it's this. The ordinarily reliable norms and guidelines we use to navigate any other interpersonal breakdown successfully can go up in flames and backfire beyond imagination with our adult children. That's why estrangement from an adult child is so confounding and …
The Easiest Way to Change Something About Yourself
Dilemmas are different from ordinary problems. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnVtioDqRgo Problems have solutions. Dilemmas are more about resolution than solution. …
Continue Reading about The Easiest Way to Change Something About Yourself →
Estranged From Your Adult Child: The Last Thing You Ever Expected
Holidays, birthdays and other family-oriented times of the year can be a time of heartache for parents whose adult children have cut them off — and the growing phenomenon is much more common than our idealized notions about family would have us believe. …
Continue Reading about Estranged From Your Adult Child: The Last Thing You Ever Expected →