Anxiety

George Gurdjieff, the inscrutable Armenian mystic of early last century, insisted that we humans are constantly bearing false witness against ourselves, by glibly using the pronoun "I" to refer to who we are. Rather, he pointed out that careful scrutiny would reveal that this presumably singular person we call "I" is in fact a constantly changing persona simply sharing the same name.   Read More

So What's Wrong with Criticism, Anyway?

It's something absolutely crucial to grasp. Criticizing another makes them feel attacked. Not that it's our intention--at least consciously--to attack them, or even to make them feel bad. But the immediate experience for almost everyone being criticized is to feel "invaded," as though under assault. . . . Read More

What about a  diagnostic label for folks who fail to get anxious when they should? Read More

The serenity prayer is more than how they close AA meetings. That thing is deep and speaks to the fundamentals of the human condition, including everything that drives psychology and the behavioral sciences in general--the pursuit of wisdom whereby we can make better decisions, trekking the winding mountain ridge of life in the dark about the future without sliding down the slippery slopes on either side of the ridge top. Here are some new variations on that greatest of prayers. Read More

At one BBC party, as I was trying to shove as many shrimp as possible into my cheeks in order to get some kind of protein into my system, a producer asked me to appear on a TV show that was a sort-of grown-up version of College Bowl.

The show was called "Mastermind" and was very popular in Britain at the time.

You sat under a spotlight on a stage and an announcer fired questions at you concerning a special subject and what was vaguely titled "general knowledge." Read More

You have thoughts that pop into your head, you fear them, you try to suppress them, and you feel responsible for everything that can go wrong. You are not alone. OCD is not a mystery. In fact, there is some "regularity" and "rationality" to your thinking. See if you see yourself in this post" Read More

A few years ago, my friend Ally, who had a somewhat unwarranted confidence in my knowledge of Things Psychological, asked if I knew anything about EMDR; she had suffered some severe childhood trauma, and was thinking of trying it. "EMDR?" I asked, "Is that a new street drug?" I guess that showed her what I knew. Read More

It's 1976, and I'm speaking to Karen, my partner at the time, bemoaning my lack of commitment to anything. All of my close friends over the years, up to and including my wife, Shari, will attest to the fact that I am a habitual bemoaner. (Be·moan: "To express grief or disappointment about something." In Yiddish, it is translated to "kvetch," which adds the elements of whining and complaining. It could be argued that, depending on my audience, I am both a bemoaner and a kvetcher.) Read More

A husband and wife were having dinner at a very fine restaurant when
this absolutely stunning young woman comes over to their table, gives
the husband a big french kiss, then says she'll see him later and walks
away.

The wife glares at her husband and says, "Who the hell was that?"

"Oh," replies the husband, "she's my mistress...." Read More