Guest Blogger: "Hyde, Hulk, Gollum, and I: An Exploration of Our Dark Sides"

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Guest Blogger: "Hyde, Hulk, Gollum, and I: An Exploration of Our Dark Sides"

Our bad emotions are what people usually call their dark side, C. G. Jung likes to call this part the “shadow”.  But just as everyone’s personality is different, everybody’s dark side is different too someone could have problems controlling their anger, frustration, sadness, etc. These differences can be explored by looking at Dr. Jekyll from the book The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Marvel’s super hero Dr. Bruce Banner, the character Smeagol from the trilogy The Lord of the Rings, and myself.

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Parenting > Marketing Disconnection: When Did "You don't have to connect with your kids" Become a Selling Point?

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Parenting > Marketing Disconnection: When Did "You don't have to connect with your kids" Become a Selling Point?

This car ad is touting quiet, non-interactive children as a primary benefit of a car with built-in wifi. Now bear in mind I'm a big tech fan and readily welcome advances. However, I'd rather hear my child in her boredom come up with something imaginative like "I'm jumping on a chocolate chip trampoline" than have them plugged in and tuned out. 

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Our Vintage RoadRunner Camper Project

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Our Vintage RoadRunner Camper Project

Documenting fixing up our vintage RoadRunner camper trailer. Kara and I have wanted something like this for years. I normally don't detail such a project, but there's little online about the RoadRunner and the L & M Manufacturing Co, I thought I'd put what I found all here in one place for the benefit of others. This post is an ongoing draft that will be updated as the project progresses.

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Self-Mastery: De-fusing Triggering Words with CBT

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Self-Mastery: De-fusing Triggering Words with CBT

"Sometimes words can become your worst enemy. Clinical psychologist and cognitive behavioural therapist Dr Jane Gregory tells how to defuse their power." —Helen Zaltzman, The Allusionist Podcast

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ADHD: Classroom Discipline When I Was a Kid

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ADHD: Classroom Discipline When I Was a Kid

This cartoon sparked a memory. I was an ADHD kid back in the day when ADHD was not known or understood. Back then Little Jonny was "lazy, distracted, distracting, creative, a class clown, and smart." This combination usually led to the need for Little Jonny to be frequently disciplined. We didn't have IEPs back then to accommodate for different "learning styles." I remember the following discipline methods I received on a regular b

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"Good enough" is Both Good and Enough

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"Good enough" is Both Good and Enough

Please, (PLEASE!) banish the comparison/"not good enough trap". For too many people "good enough" is settling because they didn't achieve perfection or excellence in X thing/endeavor/aspect of life. 

People (maybe even you) are constantly living in mortal fear that they have not reached the "standard" of how they "should" be, that they have, or will, "screw it all up" and ultimately fail... 

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Real-life sassy super hero saves two kids while munching Ritz Crackers.

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Real-life sassy super hero saves two kids while munching Ritz Crackers.

I am walking behind a young lady who is wasted and can't walk without help by her date. They are very young. Obviously underage but out of high school they are headed to their room. This guy is getting all sorts of high fives from his friends on his way to the elevator and reminders to use protection while this date can't stand up straight...

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Why (weak) men call women "bitches"

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Why (weak) men call women "bitches"

For years I've said, "Strong men call strong women strong. Weak men call strong women bitches."

Further, strong men are attracted to strong women, are happy for their successes, and her confidence only enhances his own. Strong men are strengthened by strong women. Thus, strong men want women to be strong because strong men like being strong men and strong women only help them be stronger. See how that works? 

So, why do weak men call women bitches?

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7 Red Lines: The Importance of Having a Realistic Approach to Change

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7 Red Lines: The Importance of Having a Realistic Approach to Change

People come wanting a solution to a train wreck of a marriage: Save our marriage and transform it into a truly GREAT relationship. "Certainly. That's what I'm here for and I love to help people do... Let's get cracking...". And then they proceed to tell me how it should be constructed based on myths, what they heard, opinions and preferences that are contrary to how healthy relationships actually function; in what ridiculously short time frame it should occur; with minimal to no actual study, practice and effort on their part because  "really it shouldn't be this hard" nor "take this long." And then if they don't accomplish their goals in those parameters they quit therapy saying, "Well, we tried. Counseling just doesn't work." And they stay discouraged and stuck. 

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Cheater! Cheater! Booger eater! 15 cheaters who got their comeuppance.

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Cheater! Cheater! Booger eater! 15 cheaters who got their comeuppance.

Don't cheat. Duh!

Make a vow, keep a vow. Duh!

However, for those who are considering an affair, and are stupid enough to listen to consequence-free sounding "advice" like one popular cheating website promotes, "Life is too short: Have an affair.", let me offer this counter-advice:

"Life is too short: Be a man/woman — Live with honor."

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Guest Blogger Kara Sherman on "Managing My Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)"

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Guest Blogger Kara Sherman on "Managing My Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)"

Over the past month my Seasonal Affective Disorder has gone into overdrive with the onset of winter and less sunlight every day. I experience it in different degrees every year. Some years I don't experience it at all. This year it's obnoxious in it's intensity. My chronic neck pain has returned and my head has hurt for 5 days in a row (thank goodness for Exedrin and Dr Pepper) not to mention wanting to sleep All. The. Time. and becoming a hermit. But there are things I do to keep myself above and on top of the depression

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