And what happens in your body when your emotions feel overwhelming — The bad traffic on your way home from work. The fight with your partner. Your kids who are refusing to listen and go to bed. The stress of an upcoming deadline. The passive-aggressive comments of your least favorite relative at a holiday dinner. The really bad news you suddenly received. …

Few things are certain in life except for the storms, but that doesn’t mean you should lose hope — A few evenings ago, I was out walking with a friend, and we got caught in a storm. We both were completely drenched and a little bit muddy, but it was actually really fun. I felt like a kid again. And once the storm passed, a beautiful rainbow appeared. The…

And why do bad things happen? — I would imagine many of us, at one time or another, have pondered the meaning of our existence and questioned the reason we’re here. Perhaps it has been during a period of darkness. Perhaps it has been during a search for purpose. Perhaps it has been during moments of awe…

If you don’t take hold of your shame, it will take hold of you. — It is a beautiful spring day, and you are sitting outside on a restaurant patio. The sun is warm, but the breeze is cool, and the combination feels delightful on your skin. The restaurant is crowded and understaffed. You waited a while for the waitress to take your order, and…

And why don’t they leave? — My friend and I were talking about dating, and she was telling me about the guy she was seeing before her current boyfriend. “He was abusive,” she said. “We were on-and-off for about a year. It was so bad. He wanted me to stop doing all my other activities. And…

Who do you see when you look in the mirror? — Several years ago, someone did something that deeply hurt me. I was feeling angry and bitter, and I wrote a journal entry expressing my anger and bitterness. During a session with my therapist, I read the journal entry. My last sentence, which I read aloud, said, “Who would I be…

The only person who needs to understand is you — Many of the arguments we get into are over before they begin. They’re not discussions where both people go into it with an open mind. Quite often one, or both, has an agenda. And that agenda is to win. A sign of emotional maturity and emotional health is openness. Openness…

And it says much more about them than it does about you. — One of my readers, who had read a piece I wrote on toxic relationships, emailed me to ask if there was anything he could do to fix his relationship. …

It’s time to unlock the prison doors and be yourself — Before a young child learns the rules and societal norms of life, they exist freely in this world. They are not constrained by the ideas of who they are supposed to be. They simply are who they are, alive and unbound. They are not focused on achieving or keeping busy…