Personal Perspectives

Stress is a normal part of living. It affects people of all ages, genders and circumstances and can lead, when it becomes chronic, to physical and psychological health issues. Many of the stressors that we deal with today turn into chronic stressors. They are issues that are not easily resolved.  Things build up. One thing leads to another. We feel overwhelmed.  Read More

I know that with all that I've accomplished in my recovery, I still have this problem. I've perpetrated some pretty horrific acts on myself - suicide attempts, starving, cutting, drug addiction and others I don't care to specify. I've gotten control over those but there is one more behavior that I feel compelled to continue to commit. Read More

Have you ever met someone and felt such an instant and amazing bond of attraction and connection that you thought this person must be The One? You feel so comfortable with them and such a closeness that you think you must have, at last, found your soul mate. But is it true love? Or have you found yourself attached someone, not because you love them, but because you need them? Read More

In the following, some of the language is shocking, but it is meant to help each of you improve some of your worst negative thoughts about other people, from children to romantic partner, to groups such as minorities. In improving this way, you will be improving yourself psychologically. Read More

The Chrysler Super Bowl commercial featuring Clint Eastwood has certainly generated considerable discussion. Unfortunately, most of it has been about whether Eastwood and the commercial were a promo for Obama and his administration. Read More

Sometimes a writer’s stories are guided by his deepest unsatisfied needs. I’m talking about how his unresolved issues, ones that hark back to his childhood, will emerge as traits in his fictional characters. What shocked me, when I recently revisited some of my earliest writings, was that I too had done this. Read More

I've been in a serious funk for the last two weeks. We've had a family crisis which made me sad with feelings reminiscent of depression. I've had a hard time concentrating and motivating myself to get anything done. Read More

Marriage has existed longer than written history. When I ask students where they see themselves in ten years, they almost always answer married. Marriage is an integral part of our culture. With marriages failing at nearly fifty percent, and with the multitude of unhappy marriages in existence, why do people still want to get married so badly? Read More

It's Valentine's Day weekend—which always brings up for widowed persons the question of loving again after loss. Clearly, this is a matter I have avoided because, in surveying my present circumstance, I realize that I have replaced my husband with Apple products, not with a sentient being. Read More