positive psychology

Solid Rock among early spring flowers and seedlings

Until today, I’ve never loved the word compassion. Is that harsh? Let me ask you this: what does compassion mean to you?  For me, it’s always had an undercurrent of sympathy, pity, of understanding and relating to someone else’s (or one’s own) pain.  It’s also meant to convey love, yet so often it seems to […]

Hot Air Balloons

  Is summer a playful, fun, adventurous time for you and your family?  Fun might not seem all that important, but playing and joy and experimenting is great for well-being– at any age. As renowned expert, Dr. George Vaillant, says, “Real sophistication…is epitomized by knowing how to play.” Wouldn’t it be great if you could […]

Even though I know better, it’s easy to forget that where I put my attention is a choice. My choice. Sometimes I get caught in the trap of feeling stressed and I keep thinking about the stressful thing… I may even talk about it, which keeps it front and center…. and it’s like a whirlpool, […]

Happy Golden Retriever Photo and Quote

  You may have heard people say, “you’re only as happy as your unhappiest child…”  I try to remind myself: that’s only true when I choose to let it be. I try to remember this when my child is going through a tough time.  It can feel more painful to see her suffer than to […]

Standing amid the trees

People — students, recent graduates, parents, adults– are always talking to me about finding their “path.”  The notion being that if they can just figure out all the elements of what they’re good at, what careers they’re suited to, and where they can earn the living they want, they’ll discover  the path they should walk […]

Did you know that you are a storyteller?  Or that you are just one story away from what you really want? Most of us don’t realize that we have a few central narratives running through our lives because the stories we tell ourselves are so familiar that we don’t even realize they are stories.   […]

What Scares You? For Anna, it’s driving. Watch her learn to use imagination to make it less scary:

A “significant majority” of the 5000 self-made British millionaires struggled in school, says a BBC study. Think about that for a moment. One of the myths we tell about education is that kids who struggle in school are not smart, have learning disabilities, or are just plain lazy. Yet, I imagine these terms don’t normally […]

Imagine you were asked to help improve the future prospects of Jill, a high school junior with a GPA of 2.0 who daydreams in English, History, and Spanish. What would you advise Jill to do? a) Get screened for a learning disability and, if needed, take medication to focus. b) Visualize a report card with […]

In a Wellesley Townsman column, Jeanne Mayell alerted parents to the teen suicide risks of anti-depressants. She said, “…they found that after being on the drug for many months, significantly more people became suicidal on the antidepressant than on the placebo.” This naturally leads to the question: are there alternatives? The short answer is: yes. […]