Craving Silence? Reach for Your Cell Phone!
As many of you know, I have been a concerned critic on the topic of technology and its affect on our ability to relate to each other and on consciousness in general. But today, in honor of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, I feel moved to express my gratitude to technology and specifically, the modern device […]
If It Goes So Fast Then For G-d’s Sake, Let Me Enjoy It Now!
Nearly every time I am out with my nearly two-year old daughter, someone cheerfully instructs me to “Enjoy the time with her now because it goes so fast.” The same was true and continues to be true with my nine year old. I guess you could say that I have been listening to this line […]
What If This IS Your Olympic Moment?
I am a runner—a reluctant runner. After nearly three decades of pounding the streets, my runner’s high has reached an all-time low, and unless I am filled to the brim with caffeine, I mostly grin and bear it, and wait for my run to be over. And yet, I do enjoy the post-exercise endorphins, […]
The Myths of Happiness and Why They Make Us Unhappy
Our lives are an endless search—a search for something we call happiness. We continually gain it and then lose it, again and again. And yet, despite its inherently transitory nature, we continue trying to capture happiness, permanently, like a moth in a cage. Permanent happiness is the goal of our life—a goal that we […]
What if We Didn’t Have to Be Happy?
We want to be happy. Everyone, everywhere, is trying to find—and hold onto—happiness. We do everything we are supposed to do: diligently follow the instructions, practice the techniques, and still, more often than we should be (given the amount of effort we are putting in) we are not consistently happy. As a psychotherapist and […]
The Dial-In Conversation: When Auto-Responders Meet
At a certain age, does everyone feel like they have had every conversation they are ever going to have—that every conversation (other than those with intimates) is pre-packaged, as if chosen from a sampler menu on an airplane playlist? Is it an inevitable part of living longer, that conversations begin to feel like some kind […]
Death by Cheesecake: A Day at the Mall
The ad said that they were building a dynamic city experience in the suburbs. There was already one condominium and soon there would be four, with a fitness pavilion, movie theatre, parking garage, and all the other perks that come with suburban life. But what made this experience different was that the condos would […]
Dreams to Dollars… Says Who?
Live your passion and the money will follow… or so the myth goes. If we ignore the thought that says, “I can’t afford it,” and replace it with the thought that says, “Trust the universe,” then all of our material desires will be fulfilled. Like a Burger King, we simply put our order in with […]
Technology: Your Mind on Crack
If generating “to do” lists were an Olympic event, the human mind would surely take home the gold. While undoubtedly useful for many tasks, the mind is also an unsettled and frantic creature whose basic state is agitation. The mind is in a state of constant craving; desperately seeking something to do, fix or figure […]
Making Friends with Fear
My dear friend is in a new relationship. It is her first in nearly a decade. It has been only a short time, but she is positively head over heels in love with this new man. It was a delight to listen as my friend sang her new boyfriend’s praises and expressed her deep joy […]