Dreaming for Freud

Ethics and Morality

My Great Expectations and the Pursuit of Worth

Sheila Kohler on September 7, 2026

Personal Perspective: We all need worthy work, but not at the expense of those we truly love.

Personal Perspective: We all need worthy work, but not at the expense of those we truly love.

Personal Perspectives

The Importance of Love in Life

Sheila Kohler on June 7, 2026

Personal Perspective: In my book, "Bluebird, or the Invention of Happiness," Lucy loved her husband despite the great difficulties of their life.

Personal Perspective: In my book, "Bluebird, or the Invention of Happiness," Lucy loved her husband despite the great difficulties of their life.

Ethics and Morality

How to Get What You Want

Sheila Kohler on March 5, 2026

Personal Perspective: Powerful women in history taught us that real power comes from one's moral code and the courage to act on it.

Personal Perspective: Powerful women in history taught us that real power comes from one's moral code and the courage to act on it.

Altruism

How Strength and Wisdom Emerge from Adversity

Sheila Kohler on January 21, 2026

Personal Perspective: While walking home from the grocery store, I had an accident. It was a moment of suffering and public humiliation that led to inspiration.

Personal Perspective: While walking home from the grocery store, I had an accident. It was a moment of suffering and public humiliation that led to inspiration.

Personal Perspectives

Speak the Truth as We See It

Sheila Kohler on October 21, 2025

Personal Perspective: History can be interpreted in many different ways, but certain facts need to be confronted with as much truth as we can muster.

Personal Perspective: History can be interpreted in many different ways, but certain facts need to be confronted with as much truth as we can muster.

Loneliness

What Are the Reasons and the Cures for Loneliness Today?

Sheila Kohler on July 21, 2025

Personal Perspective: I was appalled to learn that so many people are turning to A.I. for therapists, for friends, and even for lovers.

Personal Perspective: I was appalled to learn that so many people are turning to A.I. for therapists, for friends, and even for lovers.

Relationships

How to Find Love in Your Life

Sheila Kohler on April 21, 2025

Personal Perspective: If we turn to the great love stories from literature, we can learn that love comes from both our memories and our imagination.

Personal Perspective: If we turn to the great love stories from literature, we can learn that love comes from both our memories and our imagination.

Optimism

How to Remain Optimistic When Life Gets Tough

Sheila Kohler on February 6, 2025

Personal Perspective: When all seems hopeless, the news depresses you, and others are disappointing or distant, reach out and try not to isolate yourself.

Personal Perspective: When all seems hopeless, the news depresses you, and others are disappointing or distant, reach out and try not to isolate yourself.

Happiness

How to Find Joy in Your Life

Sheila Kohler on March 27, 2024

A film review: The brilliance of Perfect Days is that it never explains why the hero, HIrayma is cleaning toilets for a living. There is no back story or moment of revelation.

A film review: The brilliance of Perfect Days is that it never explains why the hero, HIrayma is cleaning toilets for a living. There is no back story or moment of revelation.

Empathy

A Sense of Community: How to Feel at Home

Sheila Kohler on September 25, 2023

A personal perspective. Strangely in that huge crowd of strangers, who came from such different backgrounds, I felt a sense of belonging.

A personal perspective. Strangely in that huge crowd of strangers, who came from such different backgrounds, I felt a sense of belonging.

Identity

How Do We Know Who We Are?

Sheila Kohler on June 26, 2023

How do we form our identity? Why do we use certain celebrities as models? Why do we try and dress like them or speak like them or act the way they do? What are the characteristics which enable people to become famous?

How do we form our identity? Why do we use certain celebrities as models? Why do we try and dress like them or speak like them or act the way they do? What are the characteristics which enable people to become famous?

Fantasies

How to Detect a Lie

Sheila Kohler on May 10, 2023

A Personal Perspective: Every time my mother began to talk of our dead father, my sister and I, as girls, would roll our eyes as if to say, "Here she goes again."

A Personal Perspective: Every time my mother began to talk of our dead father, my sister and I, as girls, would roll our eyes as if to say, "Here she goes again."

Law and Crime

How to Discover the Origins of Crime

Sheila Kohler on November 14, 2022

A Personal Perspective: Why does the young anti-hero, Raskolnikov, murder the old pawnbroker, Alyona Ivanovna in cold blood, wielding an axe?

A Personal Perspective: Why does the young anti-hero, Raskolnikov, murder the old pawnbroker, Alyona Ivanovna in cold blood, wielding an axe?

Depression

How to Beat the Blues

Sheila Kohler on June 21, 2022

A Personal Perspective: When you're depressed, it's important to resist the impulse to isolate and turn inward. Taking action instead is key.

A Personal Perspective: When you're depressed, it's important to resist the impulse to isolate and turn inward. Taking action instead is key.

Friends

How to Adapt to a Changed World

Sheila Kohler on June 21, 2022

A Personal Perspective: Now that things seem to be moving towards the life we once knew pre-pandemic, we realize that many things have changed irrevocably and that the world will never be the same.

A Personal Perspective: Now that things seem to be moving towards the life we once knew pre-pandemic, we realize that many things have changed irrevocably and that the world will never be the same.

Relationships

How to Know if a Feeling for Someone Is Really Love

Sheila Kohler on September 5, 2021

How much is ambition, a need for success, or a position in society part of love for another? Can people truly love another without some feeling of self-worth?

How much is ambition, a need for success, or a position in society part of love for another? Can people truly love another without some feeling of self-worth?

Child Development

How to Detect an Unreliable Partner

Sheila Kohler on July 22, 2021

A Personal Perspective: How great writers depict villains.

A Personal Perspective: How great writers depict villains.

Midlife

How to Make a Decision That Will Change Your Life

Sheila Kohler on July 5, 2021

We must face the difficult decisions that change requires. Should we go back to the work we did before? Should we choose perhaps in mid-life a new profession, a new partner?

We must face the difficult decisions that change requires. Should we go back to the work we did before? Should we choose perhaps in mid-life a new profession, a new partner?

Friends

What Has This Pandemic Done to You?

Sheila Kohler on March 29, 2021

We have all been made crazy by this enforced solitude.

We have all been made crazy by this enforced solitude.

Cognition

How to Find a Common Language?

Sheila Kohler on January 18, 2021

How can we reach others who have perhaps very different views from us, who use words differently, for whom the words "patriotism" and "democracy" have different connotations?

How can we reach others who have perhaps very different views from us, who use words differently, for whom the words "patriotism" and "democracy" have different connotations?