I am a therapist who spends a lot of time talking about boundaries. I deeply believe in the importance of setting and holding firm boundaries. Still, being faced with a situation that tests my own boundaries reminds me of how hard it actually is to do! I am worried and anxious today because I have to tell someone something that is going to make them upset. [...]
How can you tell if you are in a healthy relationship? I work with clients every day to try and answer this question, and it is always a hard question to answer. It’s hard to answer because it is different for every person, for every relationship. Clients often come to me asking if their relationship is “normal,” “healthy,” if they are “supposed to be doing this,” [...]
I recently lead a group in a discussion about vulnerability. Doesn’t that sound like fun? No, vulnerability is definitely not fun! Who likes being vulnerable? Who likes opening themselves up to pain, rejection, embarrassment, loss? Nobody likes being vulnerable, but avoiding vulnerability also means avoiding true connection, which can lead to depression, loneliness, anxiety and isolation. Vulnerability is a scary proposition because there are very real [...]
I usually start my day with reading the newspaper. It’s easy to let that lead into hopelessness, or at least discouragement. There are so many terrible things going on in the world. I start to feel hopeless about the sustainability of our planet, the senseless violence in my community and around the world, the racial inequality in our country after hundreds of years, the social inequality [...]