Blog

Welcome to my Blog. This is a place where we'll journey through the complexities of retiring with purpose, navigating through life's trials, and uncovering the essence of true contentment. Explore the wisdom of age, conquer the shadows of past traumas, and unearth the beauty of resilience. Join me as we unravel the tapestry of the human experience, weaving threads of empowerment, healing, and joy.

How to Create New Neural Networks

Creating new neural pathways in your brain, often referred to as neuroplasticity, is a process of rewiring your brain through new experiences and habits. This can be achieved through various activities like learning new skills, practicing mindfulness, and engaging in challenging tasks. Here's a more

FEAR and its limits

I was in a workshop today about a technical area of my business: mainly, insurance. The speaker was very knowledgeable, and took us through a number of issues where the uninformed (which is most of us) can get in trouble unless forewarned. Forewarned is forearmed, isn't that the saying? So there

EMOTIONAL RECIPROCITY

Reciprocity contributes to the development and maintenance of lasting, committed relationships. • Improved well-being: Reciprocal interactions can positively impact mental and emotional well-being, reducing feelings of isolation and loneliness. How to practice relational reciprocity: • Communicate

Can't sleep? Try "Quiet Wakefullness"

When professional sports organizations arelooking to build a nap room for players, one of the first things that sleepspecialist W. Christopher Winter,M.D., tells them is: Don’t call it that.“We try to get teams to call these rooms something thatdoesn’t have ‘sleep’ or ‘nap’ in the title — the ‘resto

FEAR OF THE FUTURE-HOW TO BE BRAVE

To be brave, acknowledge and embrace your fears, cultivate a growth mindset, build self-confidence through action, and take calculated risks regularly, learning from both successes and failures. Here's a more detailed breakdown:Understand and Embrace Your Fears: Fear is a natural human emotion, and

Dealing with Political Stress

Do you find yourself feeling torn about what's happening political in your country, or your world? You are not alone. This is a time of great upheaval and great unrest. Political conflicts we read or hear about externally can stir us up internally as well, reminding us of past feelings of helplessn

RETIRE WITH PURPOSE

Life moves quickly and before you know it, we grow older. When we are younger, we have more help structuring our lives. School, graduate school, medical school, law school, MBA, professions, the arts, what will you be when you grow up? There were always things to look forward to when you were youn

sailing along

February 27, 2025

I write this on the train on my way home from work. A few rows ahead of me is a woman, laughing and speaking loudly to a friend on her cell phone. Oblivious to the tired commuters around her, she is happy as a clam catching up with a friend with her train sit as her living room, finding a moment t

DISORIENTED

February 25, 2025

I only now realized I had not written a blog post for over a month, an unusually long time for me. The reason I guess is that I feel disoriented, unhinged, from watching too much external news about matters I care about and somehow cannot fix. The painting here by Edvard Munch, "The Scream" says i

alcohol research

January 22, 2025

Alcohol is the go to drug for most of the country. Drinking is the one drug that is acceptable, even encouraged, in most circles. The advertising industry has been a loyal and profitable handmaiden to the alcohol industry, and telling people that they will be sexier, more popular, move loving, loo

WHY TIME ISN'T CAUSING YOU TO AGE

January 18, 2025

By Deepak Chopra, MD, FACP, FRCPThe promise that aging can be defeated is centuries old, and many biological approaches keep cropping up in medical science. It seems only natural to suppose that our bodies age because our cells do, and our cells age because something has gone amiss at the genetic le

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2025

January 3, 2025

Happy New Year-what an expression, right? Don't you love how happy people sound when they say that?? I think it's the tone more than the words. I think we could say all sorts of combinations of words that make no sense that would sound the same, if we used the same tone. Like making or breaking?

How to learn to listen for that still small voice inside.

December 18, 2024

My patients tell me that they do not know what I mean when I tell them to take some quiet time for themselves this holiday. So I thought I would spell it out. Taking quiet time is a skill like any other; it takes practice. It is difficult to sit quietly without distraction, without looking at our

Slowing Down for the Holidays

December 16, 2024

I am slowing down for the holidays. Slowing down. I love the lights. I love the colors. I love NYC, especially at this time. But I also like slowing down. No rushing. No pressure. No anxiety. I like to give gifts organically. Meaning I do not see gifts as a job. I wait to be moved, rather

Christmas Tree is Real

December 15, 2024

What does it mean to grow up and be real. I use the Christmas tree as an example. Honestly, I think it means being a bright light to others, even if it's cold outside. It means learning to acknowledge and tolerate all kinds of internal 'weather' inside, happy, sad, hurt, angry, and not caving, n

Planning not Snapping

December 13, 2024

A few days ago I made a blog post entitled WHY WE SNAP? That post addressed the reasons and circumstances under which people lose their cool, become overwhelmed and resort to extreme dramatic and violent actions in a way that feels extreme. But today i am adding another post, about how sometimes vio

Cold Weather

December 12, 2024

This week in NY has been cold, windy, clear, and bright. Lots of beautiful lights all over the city. What a city! The idea of a crime happening, confusion, misguided vigilantism, impulsive rage and people snapping, and a planned murder, are just some of the topics on everybody's minds. What to do a

VIGILANTE JUSTICE-WHAT IS HAPPENING????

December 7, 2024

This is a fraught time. The CEO of a huge insurance was murdered in midtown NYC this week and the entire country is on fire with excitement. At least according to the media. what's up here? Well from where I am sitting what's up is the anger many feel about how unfair the insurance

WHY WE SNAP!!!

December 2, 2024

What makes somebody transform in a sudden and traumatic way? Why do some of us go through life relatively consistent and otheres seem to reach a breaking point that is public, visible, and unmistakable in nature, that requires the intervention of 'authorities' of one kind or another, that requires h

stay calm

November 23, 2024

i had an MRI today. The face mask went on me and I was told not to swallow for 15 minutes. Ear plugs ear muffs blindfold it was fun. have you ever tried to not swallow for even a few minutes. it was weird. I found myself grasping at my TM mantra, counting to 60, waiting for the minutes to end.

ALLNESS NOT ILLNESS

November 3, 2024

john dorsey was a psychiatrist who felt the main motivation in life was love. he thought that every emotion we had, we meaning human beings, was stemming from love. Love welcomed, love denied, love deprived, love rejected, love not enough. he felt it was all about love and so i write this blog in

what might have been

November 2, 2024

well this sums it up. we all have dreams and this is the joy of the human condition. we all have that vision of some wish some desire that some part of us managed to hang onto even as we succumbed to the conformity demanded of us by our parents our culture our peer group we have that truth inside an

THE SCREAM-HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

October 23, 2024

Happy Halloween. What does it mean?? Pumpkins and goblins, chaos and screams!! Halloween means so many things to so many people. To me, it is nostalgic.I remember it being a time my mother tried to bond with me and my siblings, when schools made a big deal out of the day, the costumes. dunking f

Trauma happens!!

October 11, 2024

Trauma doesn't have to last forever, on your body or in your heart. There are ALWAYS ways to find a way through, with patience, understanding and faith.

The Beach -(where the conscious and unconscious come together)

September 4, 2024

Do you ever wonder what is going on below the surface of your everyday worries-?- and what would happen if you put down your to do list and actually listened to yourself for a moment-?-asking yourself what you were feeling-?- without all the pressures from the outside world?

What is comfort food?

September 1, 2024

I found myself baking brownies the first weekend I was home from my summer vacation. I was missing my vacation friends who lived thousands of miles away, and missing my vacation feelings of ease and excitement and leisure. I had made brownies while on vacation also; and so now I wanted to revisit

According to Gregg Levoy in Psychology Today: DREAMS DON'T COME TRUE THEY ARE TRUE

August 26, 2024

We have access to some very direct knowledge. Some years ago, a university researcher found that pregnant women who had an intuition about about the sex of their baby were correct 77% of the time. But women who had a dream about the sex of their baby were correct 100% of the time! So what does th

Vacation Dreaming

August 25, 2024

Time to dream and just be, time to listen to yourself inside, not merely go through the checklist of outside. Without your soul, your inner vision, what do you have? Pay attention. Life is not a dress rehearsal. Pay attention to yourself, as you are all your have got.

EMPTYING OURSELVES OF PRECONCEPTONS ABOUT OURSELVES AND THE WORLD

August 24, 2024

Thomas Moore, author of Care of the Soul, has talked about how important it is for us to empty ourselves of preconceptions and busyness, so that our deeper nature can eventually emerge when it feels safe enough to do so.

What does it even mean to "be" yourself?

This post is about what it means to be yourself, and all the complexity which that process involves.

MAKE SUMMER GREAT AGAIN!

BREAK OUT the picnics. isn't this a cute picnic table. its square and perfect for four people two parents two babies two friends

THANK YOU FOR NOT SMOKING

This post is about a sign I saw in 7-11 today, stating that smoking kills 1200 people a day, and stating that the federal government asked the tobacco companies to make and display these signs. I was so shocked. I remember trying to get my mother to stop smoking years and years ago. Maybe the child

Loving the Summer...

summer is time to rest and regroup. time to reflect without necessarily coming to any conclusions.

HANGING OUT ON A SATURDAY EVENING IN QUEENS

how great to spend time with old friends and new on a saturday afternoon and evening in queens. how fun to talk and eat and compare notes about politics about addiction about life about death about philosophy it was delicious

When did Ageism begin in the US?

when did ageism begin in the US? Was it always this way? Was it every okay or is this ageism just in our DNA? A biological imperative?

Fun with friends!

Birthdays are a chance to have fun, socialize with others, and extend your life. So get baking!!

Retire with Confidence and Purpose

I am looking forward to hosting a program for people aged sixty and over, professionals, who are looking to retire with a sense of confidence and purpose, and a keen awareness of the world around them.

Ageism: The Last Frontier

Ageism starts when we are tiny. Children as young as three can tell old people from others.

Learning From Feelings

We can no more stop our feelings than we can stop a sneeze.

Winter Feelings

Spring is coming up soon, despite NY still having storms and cold, rain and wind.

Sometimes in therapy…

February 29, 2024

Sometimes a therapist just needs to listen, without interrupting, without commenting, without doing anything but being our audience.

Communication anyone?

February 19, 2024

Ever wonder how people communicate? Ever wonder if it is even possible?

Happy Valentine's Day

February 14, 2024

I post here a good article from The Guardian. My friend and colleague Dr Rachel Feldman passed this along to me and I pass it along to you.

Tempted to have an affair?

February 11, 2024

Take your fantasy beyond the sex – to your daughter’s heartbreak, your wife sobbing and the loneliness you will all feel.

Understanding Dreams

February 6, 2024

Did you ever have a dream that was so upsetting, that you couldn’t think of anything else for awhile; a dream that might even qualify as a nightmare??!!!

Is this Ageism?

January 22, 2024

Ageism is all around us. It’s the last acceptable prejudice. Why? I have different thoughts.

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