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

The Secret Cost of Pursuing Your Dreams

“Should I start walking, or stay here and buy another pair of cute earrings?”

If you have a dream and you try to make it a reality, you might fail. Then you won’t have your dream anymore.

This is the hidden cost of pursuing your dreams. It’s not just the risk of failure that’s off-putting, it’s the loss of potential success.

I’ve found this to be a common reason why people with goals don’t move toward them. Read More

Find Your Passion and a New Career Path, Part 2

happy chefLast week in Part 1 of Find Your Passion and a New Career Path, I explained that unless depression is obscuring your career bliss, your passion may be hiding behind a bunch of “shoulds” left over from childhood.

I promised specific ways for you to get your heart back, and here they are.

Hold these loosely. Just try them and see what happens.

Listen to Your Heart

1. Dare to Dream About Your Dream Job

Imagine doing something you think you could never make money doing. Read More