Insights & Strategies for a Purposeful Life
Explore expert advice, powerful mindset shifts, and practical tools to help you overcome challenges, build resilience, and create lasting success.
The Power of POSITIVITY: 9 Key Traits to Transform Your Life
Positivity, or the power of positivity, is more than just a fleeting emotion—it’s a mindset, a way of living, and a powerful tool for success. Research has shown that people with a positive outlook experience better health, stronger relationships, and greater overall satisfaction in life. But how do you cultivate true positivity? One way is by understanding the essential traits that make up a positive mindset and embracing the power of positivity daily. Embracing the power of positivity can significantly impact your life. By harnessing the power of positivity, you can improve your overall well-being and create a ripple effect of positivity in your community. The power of positivity can transform your life in ways you never imagined. Using the
Just Get Over It
Have you said this before? Has this been said to you? The phrase is not really helpful itself, but the message could be useful for you. First of all, when someone says this, they are probably not meaning to be uncompassionate. Don’t take it personally. (You don’t need to pile
Positivity is Possible in a Pandemic (or anytime)
I don’t know if you have ever written something and looked back at it later and thought, “What was I thinking?” or “Wow, that is still relevant today.” I did this recently with this excerpt from my book, Pathological Positivity. Remember, I wrote this in 2014 and we know the
Impossible or I’m Possible
Both are an absolute. Which do you choose to believe? Sometimes all it takes is a subtle shift, or in this case, punctuation, for what was closed to open. Notice that I’m Possible doesn’t mean that you have arrived at your destination. It merely opens up the destination as something
Don't Accept Delivery
Are you the person that people feel comfortable dumping their problems on? Dumpers aren’t really looking for solutions to their problems, they just want sympathy and to restate the wrongs being done to them. And then pretty soon they want to do it again. Nothing changes because responsibility is not
I Will Be Happy When…
Do you ever get the feeling that some people are living for future happiness? For a time when there will be no problems and then they can be happy? They are waiting to be happy. That just makes me sad. I will be happy when I find someone and marry.
Who Do You Talk To the Most in a Day?
During the course of your day, who do you talk to the most? Your spouse? Your kids? Your boss? Your co-worker? Nope, the answer is YOU. A study suggests that we have around 6,200 thoughts per day. (I need a quick geek moment. OUR BRAINS ARE AMAZING!) OK, of those
Making Connections
Recently my daughter, Lyndi, published an article called, Seeing People Deeply: How to Be More Present in Your Relationships. She gave three really good ideas on how to do this and I wanted to share them with you. You can read the full article HERE. She starts the article talking
Drama and More Drama
You know the type. The person who constantly has drama in their life. They can’t SEEM to get away from it. Things are always happening and it is never their fault. Some people are just wired to feel things more than others, the highs and the lows. They are more
Choosing to Be Shocked?
People would rather administer a shock to themselves than spend time alone with their thoughts. Wait. What??? Those are the findings of a study by Timothy Wilson, University of Virginia, professor of psychology. The people were given a set number of minutes, between 6 and 15, and some were told
Just Tell Me What To Do
In coaching we often hear people say, “Just tell me what to do.” As much as we think we want someone else to just tell us what to do, a good therapist or coach is not going to tell you what to do. They will help you explore your options,
Some people are surprised when they find out that I use coaches. I am a coach, and at different times in my career, I have sought out coaches and paid them a lot of money to coach me. To some this seems weird, if you are a coach, then why
Affirmation vs. Resolution vs. Consideration
Which is right for you? Maybe all three. We are used to making New Year’s Resolutions and for the majority of people, letting them dwindle away like the last piece of confetti falling at midnight. Now, we don’t INTEND to have that happen, but it does. If you haven’t been
Should I Give Advice?
Prevent opening mouth and inserting foot with these 5 questions Problems are universal. They might look different, but we all have them. When those problems are shared, well, that’s when it happens. We give advice. It is so plain to see (from our perspective), and it is so clear what
Practical Ways You Can Defend Against Suicide
As a psychologist, I talk to people who are struggling with different things. One of the saddest things I have had to deal with is the aftermath of someone dying due to suicide. Last week this hit close to home with people I know and recently a YouTube Comment made
How To Celebrate Christmas Alone This Year
A reader of my blog recently responded to an article I had written about conducting the Great Christmas Experience Experiment. The post talked about how we can make the holidays in 2020 memorable when so many of our normal activities have been canceled. The reader asked, what about those of
Time To Celebrate Festivus
In a Tough Year, There Might Be More Reason to Celebrate This Holiday Than You Know Event after event has been cancelled in 2020 and we could use a reason to celebrate. How about Festivus? Why not? It’s as good as any other reason. If you aren’t familiar with Festivus,
2020: A Holiday Experiment
In year’s past, many people at this time of year would begin complaining about the stress of the holidays. There are Christmas parties to plan and attend. And, what am I going to wear, add shopping at the mall for new clothes. There are cookies to bake for the neighborhood
Be At the Crossroads
Hey, I forgot to mention in our last email about family councils that you can do this with whoever is living with you. It could be your spouse and children, or just your children. It could be just you. It could be your roommate. This is about building the relationships
Family Councils Create Family Culture
How did your family conversations go? Did you try any of the “would you rather questions?” Now that we have everyone talking, I want to introduce you to something you may be aware of, Family Councils. This is a time where you come together at a regular time and discuss
Improving Family Culture
So, if you live in America, you still don’t know who will be our next president. What are you going to do about it? That’s right, nothing. Let’s talk about something we can do something about. In November we talk a lot about things we are grateful for and many
What is Your “So That”
People come to me and say, Dr. Paul, I want to be a better person, a better mom. I want to develop better relationships or people skills. I want to be happier or more positive. And I ask them, so that…? The things they want to accomplish are all good,
Find the Funny, Find the Pain
Welcome Back! How did it go? Did you try the experiment? Did you step back from seeing all the annoying qualities of your coworker and observe them? Did you try to choose to be amused by their antics? It can take some practice, but I hope you tried it out.
Do You Know Someone who is Cranky or Annoying?
A lot of people are working in a different way or even in a different environment in 2020, but there are plenty that still work with others on a daily basis. I get asked how to deal with difficult co-workers. Since it is Cranky Coworker Day, I thought we could
If Not This, Then What? Using Creation to Live On Purpose
How are you doing dealing with your frustration? When we are frustrated, we tend to feel stuck, we are in blaming mode and we aren’t using the executive function of our brains. If you missed our last email on why it is important to deal with the feeling of