Just Freaking ASK

asking for somethingI’ve written before about how it never hurts to ask for what you want, but…

Since Elizabeth Gilbert is a far better writer than I am, I thought I’d share with you a short article of hers that inspired me this week.

It was a timely read for me, because just the other day someone suggested I expand my work into an intriguing new arena.

My response was hesitant — not because I didn’t want to do it, but because I couldn’t imagine who would hire me. Read More

Do You Feel Younger Than You Are?

The year was … well, never mind. I was in college, and I was having an unusually candid conversation with one of my college professors.

He was forty-three at the time, and he remembered sitting on a hill with his friends when he was twelve, back in the country of his birth.

He told me he hadn’t changed since then; he was exactly the same young, bewildered boy he had been… only now he had a job as a university professor. Read More

Should You Self-Improve or Self-Actualize?

There are two kinds of people in the personal development world. As a therapist, I’ve worked with both.

The first kind of person, let’s call him the Self-Improver, seems to be looking for specific changes in his behavior.

He seeks the kinds of changes that are hard to accomplish but, once in place, help him feel better about himself.

An example would be someone who suffers from anxiety but holds his own feet to the fire by making himself do the things that make him anxious. Read More

Throw Out the Need to Be Right

Schoolboy tossing paperI recently read a book by Gail Blanke called Throw Out Fifty Things. It’s about clearing clutter, and it was a really good read. An eye-opener.

She talks in the book about not only physical but also mental and emotional clutter, and how to deal with it.

The need to be right is one that struck chord with me. I think the need to be right often gets in the way of my being the person I want to be. Read More