Mindfulness is that quality of conscious awareness of whatever arises in our present experience in which there is an attitude ofengaged-presence.

In my last article ‘The Healing Power of Mindfulness Meditation', I introduced the concept ofengaged-presence, something that is central to our understanding of mindfulness and the transformational effects of mindfulness meditation on emotional reactivity and trauma.

Engaged-presence describes the attitude...

1. Stress Inoculation Training (SIT)

The goal of stress inoculation training is to teach people to identify and anticipate stress-provoking situations, and defuse potential stress by rehearsing thoughts and actions to be implemented in actual stressful situations. This rehearsal of newly learned skills equips the individual to deal more effectively with a wide range of situations that have been potentially be stressful. SIT include, (1) Teaching clients the role of cognitions...

As you grip the steering wheel during your life, it requires that you be focused and alert to what's coming ahead of you.  Driving is a common task that can cause anxiety because you either pay attention or pay the price.  Further down the road could be hazards so you always need extra time to react.

The average American spends 540 hours a year in their car.  As you grow older you will have spent a lot of time visiting places and observing faces.  Whether you...

Stress falls on a continuum, with distress at one end and eustress at the other. Distress is the anxiety that can immobilize us. Eustress, by contrast, is associated with happy or anticipated events that have some degree of stress associated with them.  Someone facing an unexpected eviction notice experiences distress. Someone about to perform in the Olympics has more eustress than distress. More than 80% of all illnesses are linked to stress so it's important we learn to cope with...

"No man is an island."

We've all heard that quote.

And although it might stir up feelings of community, connection, and being a part of something much bigger than ourselves, it also brings to mind something quite unavoidable: the amount of influence that other people and circumstances inevitably have over us.

Loved ones might use negative words. A boss might make loud, unreasonable demands. A stranger might bump into you and shuffle on, without uttering an...

"Every week when I go to school to take the test I feel like there's a gun at my head - a loaded gun pointed directly at my head."

It was shocking to hear my client talk this way; a very capable, highly articulate woman in her forties who was struggling to finish court reporting school.

The test she was referring to was the "Qualifier" - the extremely difficult exam which signals the completion of school and qualifies the student for the State Exam...

"I have to pass the Bar Exam the first time. My father passed the Bar the first time. HIS father passed it the first time. Both of my uncles passed the first time. And, my older brother passed the first time. There's a position waiting for me in the family law firm - contingent upon my passing the Bar the first time. I have to pass. I have to."

This was the opening statement from my 11 AM client that day - an intense 28 yr. old law school graduate who was six...

Procrastination is a common problem for students in high school and college. Frustrated parents often believe their child's procrastination comes from laziness or lack of motivation. But this is not always case. In many cases, procrastination is the result of test anxiety.

One spring morning, a mother and daughter entered my office. The girl, Jenny, was beautiful, athletic, talented, and a highly intelligent sophomore in college. Her angry mother was upset about her daughter's...

No matter if it's voice mail, email, your Blackberry, a text, your next meeting or perhaps even an letter delivered the old fashioned way - in an envelope with a stamp, every once in a while you have to pull the plug and scream an obscenity ridden with - ENOUGH!

What a concept...... becoming unattainable for some degree of time. I was looking around a website belonging to Harrison Barnes, the Job Guru, and caught his article " The Importance of Disconnecting from Your...

Know the Power of Letting Go

Kahlil Gibran:
"If you love somebody, let them go, for if they return, they were always yours. And if they don't, they never were"

This famous love quote has implications for other facets of your life too.

When you let go of a problem, a goof, a project, a chore or a puzzle; The answer will come to you, perhaps not as you had envisioned it, but as is should be.

Sometimes the answer comes as an AHA moment. You will know...