I’ve been wrestling around with the ideas and concepts presented in Individual Psychology. Specifically with the idea of task separation. Task separation is the recognition that every individual has their own responsibility to manage their emotions, choices, and behaviors while avoiding taking on responsibility for other people’s emotions, choices, and behaviors. Problems begin to arise […]
Let’s do some thinking about fear this morning. Fear is a core spectrum of emotions that help us respond to our perception of threats. These threats can be either real or imagined. Regardless of the source the physiological response is the same. Hyper focusing of the senses, quickened breathing, tense muscles, and increased blood pressure
Don’t confuse acting under the raw influence of your emotional compulsions with being the same thing as making a wise choice. I think I see this most in people (and in myself) when they start to live their lives like “work-acholoics,” but I’m sure it manifests in other ways as well. The work-aholic is constantly
Raw Impulses vs. Wise Choices Read More »
I love this question for a few reasons. First, the answer is typically a binary yes or no and that helps with clarity. Another reason is that the language of the questions is not seeking a subjective judgement of quality or morality. Perhaps my favorite reason is that we can use it to challenge our
Is this helping me, or is it getting in my way? Read More »
If you find yourself living at the mercy and whim of raging emotions this may be a sign you need to increase your capability and capacity to regulate your emotions. In the years that I have been studying philosophy I often see quippy snippets of wisdom that advocate for some form of emotional control or
Regulating Emotions Read More »
I get to spend this weekend working with Vantage Point Foundation helping my fellow veterans make peace with the past, become more present in the moment, and discover their purpose for the future. For me this is game time. It is the reason I study and train. My hope is that I can be at
Not everything matters and you don’t have to care. I have to tell you it feels good to write that, and at the same time I have a sense that reading it might “split the room.” The idea I am digging at here is the pressure we sometimes feel to get involved cognitively or emotionally
Not everything matters and you don’t have to care. Read More »
Society and popular culture puts a lot of pressure on us to “be yourself.” There are a lot of presumptions that go into quippy catch phrases like this, not the least of which is that we have the slightest idea of what we want ourselves to be. Thankfully, we have the capability and capacity to
You Are More Than Just “Yourself” Read More »
The past few weeks I’ve been trying out this idea of “doing” more. I’m not talking about adding more to my to-do list, the idea is to take more small deliberate actions to live the life I want to live. Maybe some examples will help me illustrate what I’m talking about. My wife and I
One of the trends I see in my role as a teacher and as a counselor is the harm that can be caused by oversimplification. Typically what I see is that someone will exaggerate their thoughts or emotions by using language that may speed up expression of thoughts and feelings but can also minimize or
The Risk of Oversimplification Read More »
