Insights & Strategies for a Purposeful Life

Often when I meet people they aren't at the best place they have ever been in their lives. They may have been beaten down by another person, circumstances, the economy, or themselves. Regardless, they often feel that they have tried EVERYTHING. In fact, they tell me they have. There is nothing else

Love it or Hate it, Your Choice Some people love Valentine's Day. Some people hate it. Some call it SAD (Singles Awareness Day). Some celebrate extravagantly.  Others ignore it. Whatever your feelings, notice something as we approach Valentine's Day. Everything we do is either because of love or hate. We

Have you noticed how some things can’t exist together? They are both exist, but they can’t inhabit the same space at the same time. Take light and darkness for example. The light may be dim, but there is still light. We can’t place all the light in one part of

The comment went something like this, “I like the majority of what you say, but I just cannot agree with you on forgiveness. Can you honestly expect someone to forgive their abuser? That is just not o.k. Understanding what forgiveness is and what it isn't will help us to see

It happens in marriages; it happens in families. It happens at work, school and in your community. Problems. There are always problems. News alert: There will always be problems… If you see them as problems. In my book, Pathological Positivity, I talk about “propportunities.”  Instead of seeing a problem, see an opportunity. 

In my Merry Christmas Email (and I hope you all had a Merry Christmas), I talked about The Feeling of Christmas. The Feeling is something I write about in Chapter 3 of my book, Pathological Positivity.  The Feeling is a universally sought-after emotional state. We seek love, why? To have

Hello Friends, There are many things about the Christmas Season that I look forward to and you may also. Decorating our tree. Buying gifts for family and friends. Seeing light displays. Hearing Vicki sing in her Christmas Chorale. Reading Christmas books to the grandkids. Decorating gingerbread houses. Eating Christmas cookies.

Don’t wait until everything is perfect. I recently gave this advice in the video just dropped to the YouTube Channel. This advice doesn’t apply only to the topic that Vicki and I were discussing. It applies to almost everything we do in life. If we waited until everything was perfect,

Take Control of You and Your Home I promise myself I am not going to yell and do good for a day or so, then find myself back in my bad habits, help me to stop. I hear myself yelling and it reminds me of my mom. I don’t want

I like hacks.  Not the kind of hack that gets personal and sensitive data from a computer system. I like the hacks that help us cut through thick things. Small hacks, help to cut through to what is really vital. Like when it seems there are 5 balls being thrown

I was trained as a traditional psychologist, so I practiced like one. My patients were taught how to be a patient so they made an appointment, showed up, we talked for 50 minutes and they made another appointment on the way out.  What I have discovered is that there are

But that is the way I am made. I can’t change. You are changing from the moment you are conceived. We were meant to change. We were meant to grow and develop. Even though your body may stop growing taller, what is inside, your brain, your character, your emotional maturity

Recently I wrote a post about how we were meant to change. We are not meant to stay the way we are, but are constantly evolving, hopefully for the better as we have experiences and figure things out. As I work with people who want to make changes, they usually

Remember the mood ring?  You put the ring on your finger and watched the stone change color. It would tell you what you were feeling.  It sounds so silly now, especially since I have learned so much about the brain, but it was fun. Recently I heard someone talking about

I often say that, “kids don’t keep,” or “babies don’t keep,” meaning that they are constantly changing and growing. Becoming something else than what they were six months ago.  I was reminded of this in my interview with Shane Torres that appeared last week on the Podcast, Live On Purpose

Unexpected Lesson from 9/11 I recently listened to a fascinating episode of a podcast about a man’s experience being in the World Trade Center on 9/11. The man is blind and had his guide dog there.  The story is masterfully weaved of the relationship between the man, Michael Hingson, his

Good things come to those who wait. Time heals all wounds. Forgive and forget. What doesn’t kill you will only make you stronger. Money can’t buy happiness. It is what it is. You have heard these before. Platitudes.  They are said to help someone feel better.  They are said because

Let’s take the example of someone in a relationship that is not serving them well.  It could be a relationship where you desire affection and want to spend time with your partner. They say they are committed, but they continue to schedule things ahead of you and don’t put you

“There is no comfort in change and no change in comfort.”  Since the last 16 months have been full of times of discomfort we should have grown a lot. This may not have happened. While I love the quote and think it is true that there is discomfort in change,

At Live On Purpose TV, our YouTube Channel, parenting is a huge piece of what people are looking for. There is another piece that recently got a big surge and that was personal development. I have met some people who either aren’t really sure what that is or they say

Evaluating Your Mental Health One reason why the Olympics might be such a big deal is the scarcity. They don’t happen every year and so we look forward, anticipating, reading up on who will be competing and listening to “experts” critique the athletes and their training.  You never know what

“We are not responsible for what breaks us, but we can be responsible for what puts us back together again. Naming the hurt is how we begin to repair the broken parts.” Desmond Tutu Nobody gets through life alone. I know many people who because they have been hurt terribly,

The saddest part of YouTube is some of the comments. Sometimes people will write in and say because of (insert bad thing), their life is ruined, it is awful and will never get better. Hope is missing. We NEED hope in our lives. The episode of Live On Purpose Radio

Something you may know about Dr. Paul is that I love family.  I love my family. We had an opportunity recently to have all 4 kids at home for a week with their spouses and kids (and dogs). It was a crazy time as it seemed Jenkins’ were spilling out