Is there a dual nature to vulnerability? Our next topic is one that I am excited and deeply passionate about, and because there is so much to vulnerability, I am going to break it down in to a three part discussion over the coming weeks, so that we can truly have the time to go […]
Book Series 17: How Parents Influence How We Handle Feelings
How Our Parents Effect How We Handle Feelings Did you know that challenges in facing difficult feelings generally start in childhood. (To a lesser degree, they can begin with very painful events experienced in adulthood.) There is an extensive body of research on how infants and children bond with parents or caretakers that describes the […]
Book Series 16: Lingering Feelings
LET’S TALK ABOUT LINGERING FEELINGS I hope you are enjoying my weekly emails, covering ‘90 Seconds To A Life You Love‘. If you’ve finished the book, these weekly reminders can be really helpful! For those of you who have not purchased the book yet, remember the weekly ‘chats’ so to speak are only a small […]
Book Series 12: Are You An Emotional Flatline?
Do You Address Emotions Like Dr. Spock? Because of the intensity and overwhelming nature of unpleasant feelings, many of my clients have expressed a desire to be a bit more like Star Trek’s Dr. Spock, moving through life in a robotic and unfeeling manner. While this can certainly seem appealing when we think of what […]
Book Series 11: Do Your Feelings Come Up or Come Down?
Heartfelt, Gut Feeling or Gut Instinct … Is it science? Did you know that the terms “heartfelt”, “gut feeling” or your “gut instinct” are grounded in science? Our bodies contain vast amounts of information – far more than most of us realize and the brain and body constantly feed information back and forth from the […]
Book Series 9: The Rosenberg Reset – One Choice
Let’s talk about the ‘ROSENBERG RESET’ and the first of the 3 steps – One Choice. The Rosenberg Reset is a strategy that enables people to more fully lean into those unpleasant emotions. It is one simple formula. You make the decision to allow yourself to fully feel your feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations. It […]
Book Series 8: The Rosenberg Reset – Coping with life’s challenges in healthy ways
Let’s talk about the ‘ROSENBERG RESET’ and learning to cope with life’s challenges in healthy ways. While working at the UCLA student-counseling center 25 years ago, I drew a diagram that became my blueprint for counseling clients. I can look back now and recognize that this drawing marked the beginning of the Rosenberg Reset. Essentially, […]
Book Series 7: Asking for Help & Relying On Others
Let’s talk about ‘asking for help and relying on others’ this week. Being resourceful is the second defining element of emotional strength. Particularly important in being resourceful is having the ability to depend on others. It involves being comfortable with your need for both independence and dependence, as well as your feelings associated with both. […]
Book Series 6: Feeling Capable – Relying on Yourself
Let’s talk about ‘relying on yourself’ this week. You might be thinking ‘I do that every day Dr. Joan!”. Let me be clear … if you are avoiding unpleasant feelings, that is NOT relying on yourself. In my tens of thousands of hours as a therapist and studying how I could help clients deal with […]
Book Series 4: How To Achieve Emotional Mastery – Emotional Strength and Weakness
Over my three and a half decades of counseling, I came to recognize a pattern among many of my clients that involved common-yet-destructive misconceptions about emotional strength and emotional weakness. I found that individuals with the lowest levels of self-confidence generally held tightly to the beliefs or behaviors described below. In my book ‘90 Seconds To A Life You […]