The Gift of Slowing Down – Musings in Missoula
Seeing as this is a blog in the realm of Missoula therapists, I write a lot about slowing down, savoring, meditating, and letting go of our busy lives. Mostly I write as a reminder to myself to do this. Usually, I do this when I find myself muttering quietly about how busy I am. This happened again this week. After a few good weeks coasting on a well-balanced schedule, I
Gestalt Therapy and the Empty Chair Technique – Musings in Missoula
Gestalt therapy is a type of psychotherapy that emphasizes integrating the mind, body, and spirit to achieve balance and harmony. The goal of gestalt therapy is to help people become more aware of their thoughts, feelings, and actions in the present moment so that they can make more mindful choices going forward. When we are not living in alignment with our true selves, we can end up feeling disconnected, lost,
Weekends for Better Health – Musings in Missoula
You might know that the idea of the weekend, a couple days every week when we are free to relax, clean, travel, read books, do lawn work, and so on, evolved from the idea of the sabbath. The sabbath comes from the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Book of Genesis. There, the sabbath is described as the seventh day of creation on which God rested. For Jews, the rest day is
The Dao of Parenting: Impulse Control – Musings in Missoula
Today I want to share with you another adventure in what I call “the Dao of parenting.” As I’ve stated before, I’m a first-time parent raising a toddler (now almost 3 years old). So I’m no expert on raising kids. I am, however, an expert on Buddhist moral practice, and that is relatively close to Daoism. And while I think Buddhism has abundant wisdom for living our lives, I’ve found
Ancient Roman Solutions to Modern Unhappiness – Musings in Missoula
“All men … wish to live happily,” wrote the Roman philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca in the year 58 A.D when he was 62 years of age. However, he noted, men are “dull at perceiving exactly what it is that makes life happy.” When it comes to many of our issues around psychology, the ancients had some staggering wisdom that we can still use today. Seneca was an expert on eudaimonia,
Contemplating Longevity in Love – Musings in Missoula
This month my parents celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. Such a number and event is staggering in many ways. One measure of marital statistics says that just 5 percent of marriages in America will last that long. Half will end in divorce. Liberty Kovacs, Ph.D., a marital therapist working with couples of all ages, discovered the perhaps obvious truth that relationships unfold over time. The relationship after 5 years might