Tag Archives | Language

onelife

The Path of Self-Improvement

What’s the right path for you? Where are you going—in terms of your self-improvement and personal growth? And how are you going to get there? Is there only one way, or many? Charting your own course This is kind of how I think about psychotherapy, as a chance for each of us to chart our […]

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3 Degrees of Consciousness

Imagine a circle. There are 360 degrees. You are locked inside the circle. The circle is—let’s call it your ego, or identity. The truest “you” is on the outside of the circle. To get out of the circle you must fire your booster rockets and go through an opening that is 3 degrees wide. If […]

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Young girl sitting on a stack of books and reading

Can We Stop Telling Stories?

Freedom is man’s capacity to take a hand in his own development. It is our capacity to mold ourselves. –Rollo May As a human being, I am a meaning maker. I’m compelled to make sense of the world around me. I do this by telling myself stories. But I’ve discovered, as I become more present, […]

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Close up view of upset couple, guy holding hands of crying woman, trying to comfort and console her, boyfriend apologizing offended lady, asking for forgiveness. Support, regret and compassion

Law of Acceptable Dishonesty

Long before we go to school we are trained to be dishonest, often by well-meaning, good people. Our parents, neighbors, friends, coaches and teachers all do it. We are all taught that white lies, omissions, minimizations and exaggerations are acceptable, especially if we justify our lies as a way to protect someone’s feelings. Law of […]

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Grow Your Brain

Would you like to grow your brain—learn how to use more of your brain? What if you could go from using 15% to 20%? Imagine the changes that would occur. The 2014 movie “Lucy,” explores this subject by dramatizing what happens when the main character gains access to 100% of her brain. Essentially, she expands […]

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Detail closeup of New Testament Scripture quote Thou Shalt Not

There is a time to whine

In my office I have a sign that my clients can see from their chair. It says, “Thou Shalt Not Whine.” It’s partially meant to be a joke, but it’s also indicative of my approach to therapy. I’ll say more about that in a minute, but in this article I want to acknowledge that I’ve […]

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leo-rivas

Healing Myself With My Dreams

One of the many things I love about the practice of Live Conscious is that it invites me to embrace all of me—the practice hinges on self-acceptance—not tolerance of poor behavior, but acceptance. I begin exactly where I am—accepting my past, my present, my failures and successes and then honestly ask myself, “Am I pleased […]

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