Author: Tory Joseph
Start Right , Stay Connected The beginning of the New Year is a good time to think about goals for the year ahead. We canset goals anytime, but these built-in dates on our calendar are helpful. Just as Thanksgiving is atime to focus on gratitude, New Year is a good time to focus on changes […]
READ ARTICLEGetting help with grief never occurred to me My father died by accidental drowning six months before my wedding. The idea of seeking counseling or attending a grief group was never suggested. I couldn’t process the loss at the time, or what it meant for my mother. I was 28 years old, absorbed in my […]
READ ARTICLEConnectedness in Childhood “More than any single factor that we can control, connectedness in childhood is the key to a happy adulthood” says Edward Hallowell in “The Childhood Roots to Adult Happiness”. He cites a comprehensive study in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, Journal of the American Medical Association, 1997. This study, on […]
READ ARTICLEIn a session I had recently with a couple, a husband told his wife that he wants to help her find peace when she is “off the rails.” He does this by problem-solving and suggesting different ways of looking at the situation. They both agreed that this almost never works, but only escalates her anger […]
READ ARTICLEBoundaries are the root of self-care and are necessary for creating a healthy life. They are limits we create for ourselves to have the life we want and deserve as unique human beings. They are not the rules and limits that we have internalized from our childhood or by comparison with others. It’s a tricky […]
READ ARTICLEAlbert Einstein said: “In the midst of every crisis, lies great opportunity.” If handled well, a crisis can shake up the status quo, so that new resources and new ways of being emerge. We see clearly how this is true in business. The pandemic crisis caused the suffering of some businesses, like brick-and-mortar retail, health […]
READ ARTICLEBreaking the Cycle of Punishment and Fear: Teaching Children to Problem Solve There are two big problems with punishing children. First, it is a bad model for problem-solving. It does not actually teach a person anything, and most likely instills fear and resentment. The purpose of punishment is to control someone’s behavior. When we use […]
READ ARTICLE2020 has been a challenging year for all of us, but I have particular sympathy for teens and their parents. I remember very well when my three kids were teenagers, and I can’t imagine having them all in the house with us 24/7 for ten months. We all thrived due to the physical separation that […]
READ ARTICLEWe are in the worst time of this pandemic, and the holidays are upon us. It may be a tough time for some of us to feel grateful, and it can also be a time when we find gratitude for things we may have taken for granted before. In the Greater Good Magazine, Psychologist Nathan Greene […]
READ ARTICLEYom Kippur in the Jewish religion, is a day of mourning and reflection, of taking responsibility for the role we may have played in the pain of others. While Yom Kippur is always a somber day in the Jewish faith, this year is particularly difficult as we face not only a global pandemic, but also […]
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