I am often so caught up in problem solving (or problem not-solving) I forget there’s always the option of noticing my inner suffering and making a compassionate turn toward self care. Does this sound at all familiar? We tend to fixate on what is outside us–my partner’s behavior, my financial woes, a confusing dilemma–in part […]

We often use what I call “placeholder” words which tend to obscure, rather than illuminate, the fuller meaning in what we’re describing. Perhaps the most blatant example I can think of is a word that has received a great deal of attention recently, “should.” What does it mean when I say I should go to the gym and exercise? […]

I have noticed how stuck people tend to get when they ask themselves “why” questions, which has led me to do a lot of thinking about the peculiar power of this little word, “why?”. We are probably all familiar with the universal developmental marker that young children new to language hit when they discover the […]

From time to time I’ll be blogging here about how I understand the therapy process. It’s likely to be a mix of clinical observations and theory addressing topics such as: what keeps us stuck, what promotes therapeutic change, and how I approach person centered and experiential therapy.