June 20
Substance Use: Escaping or Embracing Life?
This is my latest post for Psychology Today. It is part of their “Hot Topic” on Addiction. You can access the topic with the link above, or my post here.
May 31
May, Thoughts For…
31. Worship and it will not be augmented. Ignore it and it will not be diminished. Deng Ming Dao
This is my final quote in the purely Taoist rant I have been on. Taoism will always be appear occasionally (or more) throughout my Thoughts for… segment though…
30. The dynamic nature of their philosophy (Tao & Zen) laid more stress upon the process through which perfection was sought than upon perfection itself. Kakuzo Okakura
29. Taoism is neither formal religion or structured philosophy. Tao: Sacred Symbols
28. Tao follows no fixed rules. Huai Nun Tzu
27. I came across this explanation of the meditative / spiritual path toward enlightenment the other day …
May 17
Where I am At
I haven’t written anything that reflects a personal look within lately. Maybe it is because I need to be more professional for Psychology Today. Maybe finding time for writing is generally tougher. Maybe right now I just have too much time on my hands teaching only one course and having a smaller caseload of clients. Whatever the reason, I thought I’d do some reflecting on where I am currently.
I guess I’ll start with the writing. I probably haven’t been writing enough, especially on the book(s). Most of my writing has focused on Psychology Today, and producing the best articles for them I can. It has been a lot …
May 11
Were The Hippies Right?
My latest article for Psychology Today is here.
I wanted to provide a little backstory to why I wrote this one. As I’ve mentioned, I’ve been working on being a more loving person. A while ago I wrote the quote “Is there any human ailment for which more love is not an effective intervention? I have come to find in therapy that often the most effective intervention is unconditional positive regard. As I say in the article, although the solution is simple (more love) it is not always easy to apply.
Thanks for reading.
April 29
April, Thoughts for…
29. I’ve seen the nations rise and fall.
I’ve heard their stories, heard them all.
but love’s the only engine of survival. Leonard Cohen ~ The Future
28. All this death must need a counterweight, always someone born again
First a mother bathes her child then the other way around
The Scales always find a way to level out. Bright Eyes, If The Brakeman Turns My Way
27. Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It’s courage that counts. John Wooden
26. Just as we need all of our organs in order to be whole and functioning, so too must we accept all emotions as part of the cohesive and …
April 14
Coping With Secondhand Drinking/Drugging Wires Coping Skills As Well
The following is a guest post from Lisa Frederiksen. Lisa Frederiksen works in addiction, substance abuse, and secondhand drinking/drugging education, prevention, and intervention. She is the author of If You Loved Me, You’d Stop! and Loved One In Treatment? Now What! and the blog, www.BreakingTheCycles.com.
In previous posts, such as: “How Teens Can Become Alcoholics Before Age 21,” I’ve written about how the brain’s developmental processes from ages 12 – 25 make a person’s brain especially vulnerable to developing a problem with alcohol abuse, even alcoholism.
The same is true of wiring coping skills for dealing with a family member’s substance abuse and/or substance addiction (alcohol or drugs); in other words, wiring skills to cope with secondhand drinking/drugging (SHDD) — coping …
March 31
March, Thoughts For…
31. The mind can make a heaven out of hell or a hell out of heaven. John Milton
30. The life process is reinforcing whether headed for heaven or for hell. David Brazier, Zen Therapy
This one might bare a little elaboration. What Brazier is saying is that our conditioning leads to our thoughts and behavior. Unmonitored it is reinforced, and we continue in the same direction. The goal is awareness of thinking and the ability to change direction. He also makes the point that we all have positive and negative thoughts, and if caught in negative we can focus more on …
March 29
How Teens Can Become Alcoholic Before the Age of 21
The following is a guest post from Lisa Frederiksen. Lisa Frederiksen works in addiction, substance abuse, and secondhand drinking/drugging education, prevention, and intervention and is the author of If You Loved Me, You’d Stop! and Loved One In Treatment? Now What! and the blog, www.BreakingTheCycles.com.
Underage drinking is often considered a right of passage; something most teens and young adults under 21 go through. As such, the focus is often on keeping young people safe, whether that be parents hosting a party with alcohol and taking away all car keys or offering to drive, no questions asked. Yet, young adults, ages 18-20, have the highest rate of alcohol dependence (alcoholism) in the United States, according to the U.S. Surgeon General’s “2007 Call to …