Author: wplive

The National Coalition of Domestic Violence (NCADV.org)  defines Domestic Violence as “the willful intimidation, physical assault, battery, sexual assault, and/or other abusive behavior as part of a systematic pattern of power and control perpetrated by one intimate partner against another.” http://www.ncadv.org/learn-more/what-is-domestic-violence)  It has been said that the Law is the lowest level of socially acceptable behavior.  Thankfully most of us …

FIRST PUT ON YOUR OWN OXYGEN MASK Domestic violence is a tricky issue to discuss.  People can be quite sensitive over being accused of being abusive or violent.  A not infrequent response to this accusation might be, “that’s not violent, that’s just the way we did it back home” while the other partner, having had a different upbringing, might experience …

BY DEVELOPING EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will really harm me. It has been said that the Law is the lowest level of socially acceptable ethical behavior.  Thankfully, most of us do better than that. Referring to the National Coalition of Domestic Violence (NCADV.org) for a legal definition, they define Domestic Violence as “the …

Dealing with change is different from creating change. Dealing with change involves adaptation to what has already taken place and empathy for those who may be having a difficult time doing so. Regardless of one’s plan of action in the face of change, we all benefit from adapting to the stress of change, especially if it requires acceptance of an …

What is “Cognitive Dissonance” and how can we reduce the stress it causes? I define Cognitive Dissonance as the stress we experience when our actions are out of alignment with our beliefs, attitudes, principles or morality.  Cognitive Dissonance was first identified and defined by MIT/Stanford Social Psychologist Dr. Leon Festinger in his (1957) “Theory of Cognitive Dissonance”.  Festinger taught us …

What does “Past is Prologue” mean: Psychologically Speaking? “What’s past is prologue”, (Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act 2, Scene 1)” How often have you asked yourself, “Why do we continue to say and do things that create problems for ourselves and those we care about?”   The answer is because we haven’t yet identified the unconscious causes and motivation for those behaviors.  …

A messenger announced to a village of blind men and women that the king is riding an elephant nearby their village.  None of the villagers had ever seen an elephant so they sent three of their wisest citizens to discover, “What is this thing called an elephant?”.  One blind villager grabbed hold of the elephant’s leg, another grabbed an ear …

It is commonly accepted that Stress negatively influences Health, well-being and level of anxiety. What is stress? The Miriam Webster Dictionary’s definition off stress includes, stress is “a physical, chemical, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension and may be a factor in disease causation.”  and “a state resulting from a stress; especially:  one of bodily or mental tension …

Living in the moment: easier said than done. What does it mean when someone says “live in the moment”, or “You’re not living in the moment”. The most obvious explanation of “living in the moment” involves paying attention. If you are distracted by a thought, you are missing the moment. Mindfulness awareness trainings abound.  Mindfulness is a form of meditation …