Thoughts From a Therapist
Communication
The ‘communication’ category contains thoughts on how you might improve you interactions with others.
Browse by topic
-
How to Become a Better Communicator: The Four Purposes of Communication
Good emotional communication begins with recognizing what a conversation is for. We may be playing, solving a practical problem, seeking connection, or creating shared…
-
Why Can’t I Change Even When I Understand My Patterns?
Why can’t we change patterns we already understand? Analysis can circle a problem endlessly until curiosity, regulation, and connection create an off-ramp.
-
The Economy Is a Game We All Live Inside
Basketball, Monopoly, and the Psychological Skill of Arguing the Other Side When we talk collectively about the economy, we rarely sound like a society…
-
Most Disagreements Aren’t About the Facts
Two people can agree on every fact and still disagree about what to do. Not because one of them is wrong, but because they…
-
How to Listen Empathically | Staying Present When Defensiveness Takes Over
Listening empathically is less about technique and more about staying present with your partner’s experience—especially in the moments when defensiveness begins to reorganize your…
-
Why Do People Get Divorced? | The Myth We Blame and What Is Actually Happening
Most people believe divorce happens because couples fight too much. In reality, conflict is usually a symptom of deeper relational structures. Understanding differentiation, systemic…
-
Learning to See Clearly
A Workshop on Avoiding Misinformation and Psychological Manipulation We are living in an informational environment that places historically unfamiliar demands on the human nervous…
-
Social Anxiety and the Burden of Control | From Managing Perception to Living in Congruence
Social anxiety is often described as fear of judgment. That description is accurate, but incomplete. At a deeper level, social anxiety is more precisely…
-
When Compassion Silences Self-Worth
The content emphasizes the importance of balancing compassion for others with self-advocacy. Uncontrolled compassion can lead to self-abandonment and resentment, undermining true empathy. Healthy…
-
Invalidating Communication | What not to do when offering emotional support
For this post, I will list the most common disruptive communication mechanisms/patterns that people use when receiving another person’s emotions. People come into my office…
-
Double Binded Communication
Often we send ‘mixed messages’ to people. It can be a source of dis-ease in a relationship when a partner or loved one is giving…
-
Attunement Exercise
In building an empathetic ability it is very important that people first advance their ability to attune to another person. I will briefly explain…
-
Feedback loop in a Couples interaction
Quick summary: In a Couples interaction there tend to be dynamics that are reoccurring which spiral out of control and lead to a vicious…
-
Relationship Help | “My partner says that I don’t listen” | how to meet the emotional needs of your partner
I am going to talk to you about what you should be paying attention to and what you should not be paying attention to…
-
Compassionately Assertive – Maintaining Boundaries without Aggression – using empathy and clarity to get your needs met
Quick summary: This post will explain how to use empathy, self-awareness, and assertiveness to ensure that your personal boundaries are respected by others. Often…
-
Parenting questions for couples – Questionnaire to increase synergy, collaboration, empathy, and overall understanding for couples who are co-parenting a child.
The intention of this exercise is to foster an open dialog surrounding the different parenting philosophies and different desires/dreams that each individual has for…
-
Play therapy explained | How to use play therapy | Attuning to your child | how and why it works
Quick Summary: Play therapy is an effective and developmentally accommodating way for a child to communicate emotional or otherwise ‘complex’ information to an adult.…
-
What is empathy? How do I know if I am experiencing empathy?
Quick summary – Empathy is when a person opens up their emotional boundaries and allows another person’s feeling to be cradled and nurtured within…
-
Anger and Arguments – Are you defending the topic or your self?
Quick summary: as part of increasing your self-awareness I suggest that you take a look at the topics that really get you ‘heated’ with…
-
Empathy building exercise – learning to be empathetic – increasing emotional understanding
Quick summary: In difficult times often we really want someone to ‘just be there for us’ and to ‘show compassion and understanding for what…
Keep exploring
Browse by topic