When was the last time someone really listened to you? Gave you their full attention with no time limits? Where they sat down and listened instead of Swiffering their kitchen floor or silently surfing Facebook while you talked on the phone? It's a rare and precious gift — listening. I used to meet weekly with a [...]
In order to be happy you have to stand out. Make different choices based on your desires not the status quo. Often it takes guts to choose happy. Choose to give up a stable but unfulfilling job. Choose to let a dying marriage die. Love yourself instead of caring for everyone else all the time. Love [...]
Not a FIGHTER. Be my friend, lover or family member but please don’t be my competitor. I will run from you if I feel you are in any way interested in one-upping me. This is the ultimate turn off for me. I will not relax in your presence. I understand that competition is invigorating [...]
As an introvert, there have been countless times when someone else got the job/attention/raise/praise/boyfriend because they were quicker on their feet, vibrantly outgoing, tireless and more aggressive than me. If you lose out enough times, you start to feel inadequate or incompetent. There’s a fair amount of shame that goes along with feelings of incompetence. I [...]
I avoid conflict. Frequent challenges to my beliefs, words or actions wear me down and suck away priceless energy. Despite that confession, I am in the middle of training to become a Family Mediator (primarily a Divorce Mediator). A strange choice for someone who avoids conflict, right? Oddly enough other people’s contention doesn’t bother me as [...]
Once again I find myself without a partner. I feel an ache when my phone chimes and it’s not a sweet text from my sweetheart. It’s a text saying my Verizon bill is available for review. Thud goes hope, and yet for now, I choose to relax and focus on my kids and writing. Why am [...]
