When psychologists speak of assertiveness, they typically are referring to being able to express your thoughts and feelings honestly while not impacting on the rights of others. Unassertive people are easily taken advantage of because they don’t stand up for their own rights – and they may make purchases that they don’t need or work…
Willingly or unwillingly, most of us have had the experience of taking a geometry class and learning about such things a circles, trapezoids, and tangents. They are necessary components of the subject and help to build a foundation for advanced math and science applications. The tangent is a particularly interesting concept. It is a straight…
The year 2019 will soon be upon us. As happens every new year, gyms will get temporarily more crowded, cigarette sales will drop a bit, some bars will temporarily sell a little more tonic water and a little less alcohol, and more people will start eating primarily plant-based diets, at least for a little while.…
When working with people to help them change habits for the betterment of their lifestyles and health, I’m often met with a response on the order of, “I really want to – but it’s hard.” It seems like an acceptable excuse for not going on a diet, not implementing an exercise program, not going back…
This blog is being written at the end of Thanksgiving weekend in America. I hope that you had a chance to celebrate with family and friends, and I hope that you all found lots of reasons to feel grateful and give thanks. I started thinking that I may never have adequately given thanks to those…
I don’t consider myself to be a guy who scares very easily, but there are two kinds of people who scare me – not because I consider them to be dangerous to me but rather to themselves. The first type are the ones who don’t know how to say “No” whenever they are asked to…
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is one of the most widely used approaches to psychological treatment throughout the world today. It is based on the principle that, in order for behavior to change, we must first make a change in our thinking. Emotional problems are essentially created by the negative or irrational messages we give ourselves about…
It was an especially comfortable in Philadelphia this evening, so my wife and I took a moderately long walk to try out a restaurant that was new to us. We’d heard good things about it – and we weren’t disappointed. Not only was the food very good but the service was outstanding. The food came…
Whenever I interview a prospective new psychologist or intern for our practice, I always ask some form of the question, “What do you do for self-care?” or “What do you do for fun?” Those who have to struggle to answer the question automatically disqualify themselves from further consideration. The issue of self-care is particularly important…
My new book will be out this summer, and I hope that you will read it regardless of your age. It’s titled, “Rejuvenaging: The Art and Science of Growing Older with Enthusiasm”. As it’s title implies, the target market is made up of those who are in the second half-century of their lives. The message…
All of us hear it on a regular basis from others. If we’re honest with ourselves, most of us would have to admit that we do the same thing – using an extreme term to describe an emotion when a less loaded term would actually be more accurate. I often hear people speak of how…