Adversity, setbacks, and even trauma may actually be necessary for people to be successful and fulfilled. Psychology Today June 2009 p. 67 I had a rare quiet lunch at home today and enjoyed some leisurely reading…and I found myself drawn to finish an article in Psychology Today that I had started months ago but …
When Mistakes Strengthen
The handling a mistake is often more remembered than the mistake itself. It was a beautiful day yesterday morning…and my first class of the year at University. I’ve taught this class before, but it was still hard to “get into it” when finally the weather seemed summery. I rode my bike to school to enjoy …
Candid Honesty-A Gift
No one likes being challenged–but not being challenged can be incredibly dangerous. Research is showing that the trend towards celebrity status CEO’s of companies can potentially lead to their downfall. As a CEO become a celebrity and an increasingly powerful head of the organization, the realtionship with the Human Resources department changes–the amount of discretion …
Hungering for Beauty
I forgot how much beauty restores the soul. I’ve just returned from spending several days with friends on the West Coast. I feel like my heart has been defibrillated by the sights, sounds and smells of beauty that is on the coast and has woken up restored and refreshed. I have energy and enthusiasm for …
Change
If change did not exist, a flower would be just a seed hidden in the ground. This on a beautiful card I received this week, encapsulating better than I ever could about what Bergen and Associates Counseling is all about. Our logo has a seed planted in dirt, recognizing that it is at …
When Hanging On is Impossible…but Happens
The bottom tree in this photo are growing out of the side of a cliff. This is a close up of the bottom of those trees: I realize I’m not an excellent photographer, so it may be difficult to see that the bottom of the trees literally curve into the side of the cliff…there is …
Loving expansively
It is interesting to me that we are so captivated by what is essentially a capitalistic discourse of grieving. Listen to the terms we use. We should finish unfinished business. We need to seek closure. We ought to withdraw emotional energy from the one who has died in order to invest it into other relationships. …
You are the butter to my bread
…and the breath to my life. So goes a line of love repeated in the movie Julie and Julia. I went to see it tonight…a lovely summer night that allowed me the treat of the long walk to and from the movie theater. It was a lovely movie, and no doubt, men from all over …
The Long Scream
Depression is a condition that many who have “not been there” is difficult to understand. Henri Nouwen, writes in one of my favorite books, The Inner Voice of Love, a description of his own depression. It captures feelings and concepts that parallel the descriptions people have described to me. It hit shortly after he began …
A Thought
“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, ‘What! You too? I thought I was the only one.’” -C.S. Lewis