In a study of adult human development, Harvard psychiatrist George Vaillant once observed 30 adolescents from a group of 456 inner city youths, “whose childhoods were the most barren and the least conducive to continued adult development.” When children get a rough start in life, developmental psychologists predict that problems will follow them into adulthood. […]
“Life is pain . . . anyone who says differently is selling something.” This is a quote from the “man-in-black” in the movie The Princess Bride, and it’s not too far from the truth. Pain is part and parcel of the experience of living and try as we might, we can’t seem to avoid it. […]
by Tali Shenfield, PhD, CPsych Dr. Tali Shenfield is a Clinical Psychologist and Director of Richmond Hill Psychology Center. In this article Dr. Shenfield speaks from personal experience, practicing yoga and meditation for over 10 years. When she has free time from psychological assessments and psychotherapy, Dr. Shenfield also enjoys writing articles for her psychology […]
Have you ever had a friend age 10 years before your very eyes? Have you ever seen someone put on about 50lbs literally overnight? I have had both of these things happen recently. How is that possible? It is actually a common symptom […]
My son Dylan is fascinated with garbage men. He will scream with glee, “The garbage truck is coming!” and rush to the window of the house to watch them load their rubbish into their giant truck. Sometimes, if we are lucky, we time it right and come out in front of the house just as […]
Paul Nicholson via Compfight I am not a religious man. In fact, in a survey of character strengths, spirituality or “religiousness” comes out as my lowest strength, number 24 out of 24. If there is a weakness that I need to work on . . . this is it. A lot of the guidance that […]
Shandi-lee Cox via Compfight We all know great conversations when we find ourselves in one. We find an area of common interest with another human being and the dialogue just flows. But these moments don’t come along as often as we like. With a stranger, we don’t know where to begin. And in a long-term […]
PC – My Shots@Photography via Compfight As October comes to an end, so too does my season of fun. Every year, from April to October, I spend almost every weekend at the beach in Long Beach, Long Island. My wife and I both surf and play beach volleyball, and we bring our kids, who play […]
Longtime readers of my blog will know that I am not a vegetarian (see Confessions of a Carnivore,) but that I believe in both the physical and moral benefits of eating less meat (see On Eating Animals and Exercising Your Moral Muscles.) One of the most compelling voices in this area is Sandra Higgins, an Irish […]
I recently had the opportunity to see His Holiness the Dalai Lama speak as our keynote speaker at the Global Spa & Wellness Summit that took place in New Delhi just over a week ago. To be completely honest, I wasn’t very excited about seeing the Dalai Lama. People who know me are surprised by […]
