Empowering People Strengthening Relationships

I realize that there is a strong connection between resilience and the discipline to do hard things. Knowing that I can do hard things gives me the inner strength to face all the challenges of my life–be they physical, social, emotional or mental. So in this post I want to share about a personal experience […]

I’ve long been interested in understanding happiness and, consequently, have stayed abreast of this body of research over the last several years. Now I want to share what I’ve learned from the  science of happiness (as well as share a number of tips to be happy). According to science, our happiness can be attributed to […]

In my last blog post, I talked about how we are responsible for our own happiness in marriage. This is not something we can sluff off on our spouses. That doesn’t mean I always walk my talk. In this article, I want to share a story about playing the victim in my marriage. Hopefully, it […]

I recently read an analogy about love written by Don Luis Miguel called the magical kitchen. I want to share and also expand on his analogy in my post today. It’s about opening your heart to the love inside. The Magical Kitchen Imagine that you have a magical kitchen. You have any food you want […]

Stop over-managing and over-indulging your children and learn parenting skills to build trust, self-worth and personal responsibility.

Expectations are the specific beliefs that you have brought into your marriage about the way things will or should be. In general, if your expectations are met then you are happy. If not, you experience disappointment and frustration. Therefore, understanding and learning to negotiate your expectations is a key factor in your marital success.

Yesterday I fell into a state of overwhelm. I’ve had some personal/family worries going on plus a number of significant and unpredicted work projects that landed on me in the past week, which not only raised my level of anxiety but are also squeezing me to get more done in a relatively short period of time.My initial reaction was to feel immobilized, not knowing where to start or how to proceed in dealing with these challenges. It seemed like they were all not only big but of equal importance. So I spent my day shifting my attention back and forth from one task to another, in the end feeling quite unproductive and emotionally unsettled.

I recently watched the 1982 movie “Gandhi.” What an incredible story about the power of integrity, living from ones deepest beliefs, even in the face of severe opposition and danger. Standing for Something In one poignant scene, early in the movie as he is just beginning to rally his fellow Indians against the tyranny of […]

Three Levels of Vision There are three levels of a personal vision or rules to define your purpose, all equally important—why, how and what. “Why” do you exist? What is your personal mission or your purpose? As you step back from your day-to-day routine, how do you define what your life is about? Answering this […]

In my last post I talked about the relationship between positive relationships and happiness. Unhappiness is not a mental illness caused by something mysterious going on the brain. Generally, it can be linked to what is going on in your relationships. How are you and your boss (or co-workers) getting along? To what extent do […]

If you’ve read The Hero’s Choice, or followed me for very long, then you’re familiar with the Serenity Model, which suggests four different ways of being–Survival (all about fear and just getting by), Security (about being safe and pleasing others), Success (about achieving and accomplishing), and Serenity (about living consciously, from choice). Serenity Serenity is […]

Hal hated Charlie, everything about him, from his knowing sneer to his rolling swagger. When he saw him enter the restaurant with Keith, he wished fervently he could get away and considered getting up and walking out of the breakfast meeting, without a word to either of his two former partners. But then he garnered his faculties and decided to accept this reality. He would choose how to respond, and his choice would be to be cordial and cooperative. He felt a surge of strength as he realized that handling himself in a dignified manner with both these men would be a bigger personal victory than if he met with Keith alone.