Blog

Good communication is essential for many kinds of relationships and situations, but it can be a challenge for nearly everyone. I know this because I frequently work with couples, families, and individuals on communication issues in my therapy practice. This usually involves helping my clients develop communication skills that promote empathy and reduce conflict. I teach them how to engage in reflective listening and how to express themselves using non-blaming language that focuses on their feelings, rather than their judgements. I encourage them to be authentic and direct, while also being sensitive to others.

However, the skills I’m describing rest upon something more fundamental than learning what to say: self-awareness. Communication breaks down because we don’t understand our feelings and how to handle them.  Successful communication requires us to be able to recognize what we are feeling and to choose how we respond, rather than reacting automatically. So improving communication is innately connected to developing self-awareness. 

Continue reading “Self-Awareness: The Key To Better Communication”

We don’t often step back and observe the way we relate to our feelings and inner experience. However, it’s essential to do this in order to better understand ourselves and to be able to process our feelings in an authentic way that supports growth and healing. In particular, we need to recognize the ways that we reject, judge, manipulate, and try to control what is going on inside of us. Continue reading “Our Relationship With Our Feelings”

Our society is highly polarized by political and cultural issues. This touches all of us on some level and has the potential to impact therapy. How therapists work with political issues is not only important for their clients’ trust and sense of safety, but also may be useful, or not, for the therapy process. In order to contribute to a discussion about this topic, and address concerns of potential clients, I’d like to share how I deal with politics in my therapy practice. Continue reading “Political Division And Therapy”

Imagine that some mean, judgmental person followed you around all the time, putting you down and accusing you of screwing up. From the time you woke up in the morning, until you went to sleep at night, they would be there pointing out your supposed mistakes and flaws. To make matters worse, let’s assume that you believed everything that they said about you. How do you think this would affect the way that you see yourself, and how you live your life?

Continue reading “Freedom From The Inner Critic”